GOLDEN, Colo. – Jaivion Lattimore and Maya Ries tied their own school records for the women, and three men ran to provisional qualifying times in the 800 meters on Saturday as the MSU Denver track & field teams had a strong day at the Mines Winter Classic.
 
In the 800, Nick Nowlen placed third in 1 minute, 55.16 seconds, Brandon Bodner was fourth in 1:56.08 and Tommy Gilfillan placed fifth in 1:56.15. With the conversions for altitude and track size, Nowlen ranks 22^nd in the country with a converted time of 1:51.85, Bodner is 42^nd at 1:52.73 and Gilfillan is 44^th at 1:52.80.
 
"Today was a pretty special day for this team," MSU Denver coach Janis Christopher said. "Not only were there a lot of personal bests set or tied, but we had three men set provisional marks in the 800. It has been so fun to see the entire team continue to raise the bar for themselves and support one another through it all.
 
"There are only a couple of weeks left in the indoor season, but I can confidently say that these Roadrunners are not done yet."
 
Lattimore (60 meters) and Ries (60 hurdles) each won her event. Lattimore matched her school-record effort of 7.81 seconds, while Ries matched her best time of 9.09.
 
Other highlights for the men included Ethan Loper finishing second in the 60 meters (7.07 in the final after 7.02 in the prelims), and a solid triple-jump debut from Brant Killmon who sailed 13.66 meters (44 feet, 9 ¾ inches) in his first-ever attempt at the event.
 
"Day Two was another great day got our team," Christopher said. "They went out and focused on race plans as well as supporting and sacrificing for one another. We are coming together as a team that sees the value in competing hard for one another. (Associate) Coach (Amanda) Rego and I couldn't be more proud of the way this team competed today, of how they made the most of the opportunity to compete, and the reward was a whole lot of season bests and personal-best performances."