DENVER – For Saturday's gigantic Alabama-Huntsville Chargers Invitational cross country race, MSU Denver has its own personal tour guide.
Taylor Engram, a senior transfer, is a former Alabama-Huntsville Charger.
"She has lots of tips about this course," said
Amanda Rego, MSU Denver's associate head coach. "We had a pretty good meet out there two years ago, and now having Taylor on the team was another big reason why we wanted to go back. She knows the course well. It's a fast course and it's a really good opportunity to see how good we are. When we're at altitude, it's really tough to compare us to the sea-level teams."
MSU Denver is part of arguably the best cross country region in Division II, for both the men and the women, and aren't ranked in the top 10 in either.
But Saturday's races, scheduled to start at 8 a.m. CDT, will give the Roadrunners some cross-regional comparisons that could prove beneficial should an at-large entry into the NCAA Championships come into play later this season.
Of the 48 teams scheduled to compete in the men's race, four are nationally ranked – No. 16 Charleston (W.V.), No. 23 Augusta (Ga.), No. 25 Mississippi College and the 29
th-ranked hosts – and 10 others are ranked in their regional top 10. Of the 51 women's teams, five are nationally ranked – No. 17 Cedarville (Ohio), No. 18 Charleston (W.V.), No. 19 Mississippi College, No. 21 Tampa (Fla.) and No. 30 Catawba (N.C.) – and nine more are regionally ranked.
"I'm excited to see what can do place-wise," Rego said. "There are several nationally and regionally ranked teams in this field, and I believe they guys especially are ready to race those teams.
"The women aren't quite there yet, but I think we're closer than we look on paper if our pack can close the gap on our top two (
Mia Salas and
Abi Read). This is a similar team to two years ago, when we just missed nationals. That year it all came together at the end, and we hope that's what will happen again this year."
Engram is one of those women looking to help close the gap. She was the Roadrunners' fifth finisher at the season-opening UCCS Rust Buster on Sept. 2, then jumped up to the team's No. 3 finisher at the Sept. 16 Roadrunners Invitational.
An Auburn, Ala., native, she finished in the top 40 of the South Region Championships three times for Alabama-Huntsville, including 24
th last year.
At the Chargers Invitational, she was 53
rd of 396 competitors last year, 77
th of 292 in 2021, 26
th of 100 in 2020, and 60
th of 124 in 2019.
"It's been great to have her on the team," Rego said. "She works really hard and does all the right things. She's fun to coach, and it's been neat to see her blossom with this group. She's fit right in with our women, and not just athletically. She seems to be enjoying her time here and that's what you want as a coach, to have your athletes enjoy their last season and go out on a high note."
Engram also figures to have a quality impact during both the indoor and outdoor track seasons as well.
Another transfer, men's competitor
Brenden Sands from West Liberty (W.V.), has also made an impact for the Roadrunners this season. He's finished behind teammates
Noel Lopez and
JJ Ramey in each of the team's previous two races (Ramey ran unattached in one).
"I'm excited to see what Brenden can do," Rego said. "He just moved here from sea level and has never trained at altitude before. … It's a really good opportunity for everyone to run fast and get experience competing in a really large field – that's what Nationals will be like, and we need to get used to that."
A smaller group of Roadrunners will compete Friday morning at the UCCS Open, with the men's race scheduled to start at 9 a.m. and the women's at 9:45. They'll be racing on the same course as they did in the season opener.
"It's another chance to go out and compete hard and see all the training pay off," Rego said. "It will be our last regular-season race and there are still spots up for grabs for us for the conference race."
