DENVER – MSU Denver coach Janis Christopher was watching Audrynn Street run the second leg of the 4x400-meter relay at the RMAC Championships last Sunday, and she was concerned.
 
Street was getting passed by other competitors and maybe wasn't at her best. But then Street handed off the baton to Claire Hummel and Christopher checked her stopwatch. It turns out those other runners were flying because Street's split of 57.9 seconds was perhaps the fastest she'd ever run.
 
And that meant it was game on for MSU Denver.
 
In an impressive third-place finish, MSU Denver broke the program record by a stunning 9.23 seconds, with a 3:46.20 clocking that is also a provisional qualifying time for Division II Outdoor Nationals. The time was so good that the Roadrunners are going to take another shot at qualifying – Christopher thinks they realistically need to run three seconds faster – at Saturday's CSU Pueblo Last Chance Meet.
 
"If you had asked me two weeks ago if the 4x400 had a chance at qualifying, it would have said it was a long shot," Christopher said.
 
But considering a couple of the exchanges cost the Roadrunners time – Street had to weave from lane to lane trying to line up with Hummel, and Hummel's handoff to Naleia Sowell was sticky – those three seconds could be made up right there.
 
And, unlike the full track at the RMAC meet, Saturday's race is scheduled for just three relay teams, making the exchange zones less chaotic.
 
Not to mention, all of the Roadrunners' relay runners will be on fresh legs – they had a full meet of individual events in the days and hours leading up to their historic run last week.
 
Allyssa Romero runs the leadoff leg before handing off to the aforementioned trio.
 
"Allyssa likes to be with people racing – she doesn't love being out front or behind – that's where she feels best, so that works really well on the first leg," Christopher said. "Audrynn gives you everything she can – she's steady and even if she's behind, those 800 runners are great at chasing. Then Claire really likes to chase, and Naleia loves to chase."
 
The team ranks 39^th in Division II, though it's more like 25^th considering there are multiple schools with more than one relay in that ranking. Roughly 18 to 24 qualify for the NCAAs, and many teams will be running at highly-competitive conference meets around the country this weekend.
 
A couple of other Roadrunners with provisional qualifying marks will look to improve their standing and potentially qualify for outdoor nationals as well – Maya Ries in the 100 hurdles and Grace Solarin in the discus.
 
Ries ranks 30^th in Division II with a converted-for-altitude clocking of 14.03, while Solarin is 36^th at 45.34 meters (148 feet, 9 inches) in her event.
 
Sowell is already in solid position to qualify for nationals in the 400 with a school-record and provisional-qualifying altitude-converted time of 54.41 that ranks 15^th in Division II. She won't run the individual event this weekend.
 
Several other team members will be looking to improve upon quality efforts at the last chance meet.
 
JJ Ramey will run in the men's 5,000, with redshirting teammate Noel Lopez pacing him. In the men's 1,500, Brenden Sands will pace twins Jonathan and Jordan Duran as they seek to improve their standings in potential bids for the Paralympics Games. In the 800, both Elijah Garcia and Ty Schauer ran personal-best raw times – at altitude – in the RMAC Championships and will seek even more improvement.
 
For the women, Taylor Engram broke the program record in the 3,000 steeplechase at 11:18.01 and will seek to top that. Taylor Weber will compete in the triple jump, and Lushous Davis will compete in the discus with Solarin.