ALLENDALE, Mich. – Two school records fell, and top performances were turned in across the board Friday as MSU Denver competed at the first of two days at the GVSU Big Meet.
 
Erin Norton broke her own school record in the 5,000 meters, with a time of 16 minutes, 54.87 seconds that blew away the 17:09.83 clocking she turned in a last year's NCAA Division II Indoor Nationals, which was good for 10^th in that race. Norton finished second in her heat Friday, and her time would have been good for eighth at last year's national meet. As it is, it's 32 seconds under the provisional qualifying time for this year (there are no longer automatic qualifying times) and had been topped by only six athletes in Division II this season prior to Friday.
 
Meanwhile, Allyssa Romero shattered a 38-year-old school record in the 400, finishing in 57.95 – 18^th among the competitors at the high-level event. Not only did Romero surpass Rosalind Martin's 58.40 mark from 1984, she also clipped her previous-best time by 1.82 seconds.
 
Also turning in an historic time Friday was Jaivion Lattimore in the 200. While finishing 38^th, her time of 25.85 is the second-best ever by a Roadrunner, trailing only Belle Kiper's 25.76 clocking in 2014. Lattimore's previous best had been 26.26.
 
"We are so pleased with the way the athletes represented themselves and MSU Denver today," MSU Denver coach Janis Christopher said. "They all put themselves out there, took risks, competed hard and learned from their experience. They will have a chance to apply their knowledge tomorrow, and we are excited to see what they have in store."
 
Other performances of note for MSU Denver came in the men's 800, where Nick Nowlen (1:52.50), Brandon Bodner (1:53.88) and Tommy Gilfillan (1:54.53) all turned in personal-best raw times. Now only All-Americans Shawn Lindbom and Anthony Luna have run faster indoor 800s for MSU Denver than Nowlen, while Bodner improved his sixth-place time on the individual list and Gilfillan moved into eighth all-time in program history among individuals.
 
And, while Norton set the school mark in the 5,000, Anna Swanson also made an impact in that event, winning her heat in 17:57.91 to become just the third Roadrunner ever to break 18:00.0, behind Norton and Xenia Flores. Swanson's time is the seventh-best in program history.
 
MSU Denver is back at it at the same location Saturday as a new meet starts up. Most of the same competitors are back to work, while several others will get their first action of the weekend.