Top Story
June 25, 2009
Metropolitan State University of Denver
Track star makes history, USA Championship
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Anthony Luna is the first in College history to qualify for the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. |
Metropolitan State College of Denver student athlete Anthony Luna entered the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships on June 25 as the only NCAA Division II athlete to compete in the 800 meter preliminaries.
During the competition, held in Eugene, Ore, he placed 24th out of 36 runners. Luna finished in 1:49.59, less than two seconds off of first place
professional runner Christian Smith's time of 1:47.84. He finished sixth among college competitors.
The remaining 11 college competitors were all from NCAA Division I schools.
The experience closed out a winning season for Luna and the College's athletic department.
On June 17, Luna placed fourth out of 26 runners in the 800m run at the American Milers Club Series in Indianapolis, Ind., qualifying him to compete in the championships. In the process, he broke his own school record. It’s a "surreal feeling" says the criminal justice and criminology major, as he continues to build on his successes.
This past spring, the junior from Westminster, Colo., won NCAA Division II championships in the 800m run at both the indoor and outdoor national meets, becoming the College's first-ever national champion in track.
Luna's performances have contributed to the overall success of Metro State’s athletic program, which just capped off its most successful year in college history. The Roadrunners finished 13th nationally in the 2008-09 Learfield Sports Directors' Cup standings of the Division II schools in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Their last notable finish was 22nd in 1999.
The standings are determined by a scoring system that ranks 232 schools in their performance in 14 out of 27 sports.
The Roadrunners have been on fire, with 11 out of the College’s 15 varsity teams qualifying for postseason play during the 2008-09 season. Metro State was one of only two schools to have all five fall sports reach the NCAA postseason while winning four regular season Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) championships and four other tournament titles. Student-athletes earned 15 All-America, one Academic All-America and four RMAC Player of the Year honors.
To learn more about athletics at Metro State, visit http://gometrostate.com/.
To view a video about Luna produced by The Denver Post, go to:
http://photos.denverpost.com/photoprojects/galleries/video.html
