DENVER – Talk about Roadrunners.
 
Some of MSU Denver's top track & field athletes will be all over the Los Angeles area Thursday and Friday, with Roadrunners entered in four different meets.
 
"We're making the most of the opportunity to take advantage of great weather, mid-70s, no wind and at sea level," MSU Denver coach Janis Christopher said. "For the distance runners, (sea level) is a really big deal."
 
MSU Denver athletes will be at the Bryan Clay Invitational hosted by Azusa Pacific (Calif.) on Thursday and Friday, the Cal State Los Angeles Twilight meet on Thursday, the Beach Invitational hosted by Long Beach State on Friday, and men's 800 meters runner Nick Nowlen will participate in the prestigious Mount SAC (Mount San Antonio College) Relays on Friday.
 
"Nick's goal is to qualify for nationals this weekend," Christopher said. "Mount SAC is a really good experience, a high-level meet with very elite people there. He'll be in a heat with people at his level in his heat."
 
Nowlen will also run Thursday at the Bryan Clay along with several other top MSU Denver performers, including a women's 5,000-meter contingent of Vanessa Kort, Alliyah Molina, Abi Read and Anna Swanson. Noel Lopez will run in the men's 5,000.
 
"The Bryan Clay meet is huge," Christopher said. "They have heats and heats of the 5K (20 in all). What that does for our kids is that they are inside of heats with 20 to 30 people who all run about the same time and are trying to run faster. It's sort of like being in a river, and if you can find the fast channel you get pulled along.
 
"Every time we've run there we had a great experience with kids running the fastest they've ever run."
 
Kort and Molina will also run the 1,500 on Friday at Cal State Los Angeles.
 
Colin Szuch and Yonatan Kefle will both run the men's 10,000 Thursday at the Bryan Clay, and Szuch will bounce back Friday to run the 5,000 at the Beach Invitational.
 
"With Colin being a triathlete, he's used to doing a lot of different things close together, and we feel like he'll handle it just fine," Christopher said. "Sometimes that's a double that people run in a normal meet. The 10K is the focus and then we'll see about the 5K. It's easier to run a personal-best at sea level. We have a lot of good personal bests with converted times (for altitude), but to actually physically run that raw time for a personal best is a huge benefit and gives you a lot of confidence."
 
Joining Szuch at Long Beach State is Brandon Bodner, who will also run the 800 Thursday with Nowlen at the Bryan Clay.
 
Sprinters, led by Allyssa Romero and Kamryn Scott for the women and Ethan Loper for the men, and hurdlers Maya Ries (women) and Anthony Martinez (men) will compete at Cal State Los Angeles on Thursday and at the Bryan Clay on Friday.
 
"I could see Allyssa and Kamryn run really fast 400 times, we're looking for Ethan to get back under 22 seconds in the 200, and for our hurdlers to continue to build on what they've already done," Christopher said.