GUNNISON, Colo. – Erin Norton finished third in the 5,000 meters on Friday to lead MSU Denver on the opening day of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships.
 
Norton, who finished in 18 minutes, 16.13 seconds, earned six points for the Roadrunners, who finished with nine for the day.
 
"We are especially proud of Erin Norton's 5K performance," MSU Denver coach Janis Christopher said. "It was her last conference championships, and she represented MSU Denver in the best way possible. She fought to the end of the race and found herself on the podium.
 
"Her time (as well as that of the top two finishers) was faster than the fieldhouse record, and that's something to be proud of for sure! We are so thankful for our time with Erin and are still hopeful for her to have one more race in the NCAA Championships in two weeks."
 
Also, although Jaivion Lattimore didn't qualify for the finals, she did break her own school record in the 60 meters with a time of 7.77 seconds, improving upon her old mark by .04.
 
Earning two points for the MSU Denver women was the distance medley relay of Audrynn Street, Raygen Ivins, Graciela Leal and Alliyah Molina, who turned in a time of 13:04.98 for seventh. And Jocelyn Korbe earned a point by finishing eighth in the pentathlon with a score of 2,626.
 
The MSU Denver men earned one point Friday, with an eighth-place finish from the distance medley relay team of Justin McDaniel, Brayden Hamby, Ty Schauer and Colin Szuch.
 
Most finals are scheduled for Saturday and they include several with MSU Denver competitors who advanced in Friday preliminaries.
 
Allyssa Romero qualified second in the 400 meters with a 58.54 that ranks as the third-best ever indoors by a Roadrunner. Kamryn Scott just missed the final, but she ran MSU Denver's sixth-fastest time ever of 59.54.
 
Maya Ries qualified ninth in the 60 hurdles in 9.19.
 
For the men, Anthony Martinez qualified ninth in the 60 hurdles in 8.24, while Ethan Loper's 22.32 in the 200 put him eighth among qualifiers.
 
Also of note Friday, as in the 60, Lattimore didn't qualify for the finals in the 200 but still ran one of the program's best times ever – her 25.80 has been topped only twice at MSU Denver.
 
Anna Swanson and Abi Read just missed scoring in the 5,000 behind Norton, finishing ninth and 11^th, respectively.
 
"It was a great first day with some inspiring performances from everyone who competed," Christopher said. "We talked to them yesterday about making the most of every opportunity, and the team definitely did that today."