DENVER – A Minnesota native who has competed collegiately in South Dakota, Mia Salas had to get used to the altitude once she joined the MSU Denver women's cross country program.
 
"Oh gosh," she said. "That's been quite the adjustment for sure. My first five to 10 days, that was the roughest part. But I've been here for about six weeks now, so I feel like I'm starting to get acclimated."
 
That process seems to be going quite well indeed.
 
Salas finished second Saturday at the Roadrunners Invitational at Washington Park, just ahead of teammate Abi Read, helping the Roadrunners to a fifth-place team finish.
 
Then the MSU Denver men, led by a seventh-place finish from Noel Lopez, finished a strong third in the team race.
 
Salas, a 2021 All-American in cross country at Augustana (S.D.), ran six kilometers in 22 minutes, 23.02 seconds.
 
"There's still more to come from Mia," said Amanda Rego, MSU Denver's associate head coach. "She has really high expectations, which is a great thing that she brings to this team. She's raising the bar for everyone, and our younger girls have already said how much they look up to her.
 
"She's a great leader by example who does all the little things. Our team is going to get better and better for having her."

Salas came to MSU Denver for graduate school and still had one season of eligibility remaining.

"I'm just happy to be part of the program and to be able to contribute, and give everything I have left to a new program," Salas said. "I was looking for something new, something different – a fun challenge – and that's exactly what I'm getting."
 
Read, 38^th in this race last year and MSU Denver's top finisher in every race in 2022, clocked 22:33.22 while placing third.
 
"My strategy was to go out with Mia and then try to hang on as long as I could," Read said, laughing. "And it worked. Toward the middle of the race my goal was to keep putting in more effort.
 
"I love training with Mia and having her up at the front. It takes the pressure off all of us, and I think it's helpful for everybody. And I hope that Mia doesn't feel the pressure. It's just more evenly distributed."
 
Said Rego: "I told Mia and Abi that they could be in the top five. Based on the last race (two weeks ago), I knew Mia was ready for it, but for Abi that was a big ask. But she delivered.
 
"Both of them ran really gutsy, really smart. I told them mid-race to silently stalk people, and that's what they did."
 
Taylor Engram finished 29^th in 24:06.51, Audrynn Street was 31st in 24:13.58 and Caitlin Cornell was 39^th in 24:47.51.
 
"I'm excited about the third-place finish," Read said, "but what I'm even more proud about is the effort that everybody put in as a team. It felt really good to be out racing with our team on our home course and with our fans. It was awesome."

In the men's race, Lopez did some silent stalking of his own, moving up from about 15^th a mid-race and completing 8K in 25:17.51, which was fifth-best among collegiate competitors.
 
"That was the plan, to start more conservatively and move up, just see how much I could progress the second half of the race," Lopez said. "For the most part it worked out, but it was definitely rough that last lap. But overall it was a pretty good race for me."
 
JJ Ramey placed 19^th (14^th among collegiate runners) as he and Lopez seem set to continue last year's pattern of trading top performances.
 
"I think JJ is a little disappointed, but they have a friendly rivalry, which is good," Rego said. "Our men's team has a great culture. They're competitive, but they are super supportive of each other. They drive each other to get better."
 
Not far behind Ramey were Brenden Sands (21^st, 26:10.86), Jonathan Duran (22^nd, 26:20.75) and Jordan Duran (34^th, 26:45.67).
 
"We've got a strong top five," Rego said. "That next group of three has been flip-flopping in workouts."
 
With 76 points, the Roadrunners trailed only Division I Air Force and Colorado School of Mines, the No. 1-ranked team in Division II.
 
"It's really exciting, especially knowing that not all of our guys had the best day," Lopez said. "It's a big step up from last year. Our guys are working really hard, and I know we're going to move up throughout the season, so it should be really exciting when we get to championship season."