Home > Sport

'Runners getting on track indoors
Gleason, Hughes lead metro in RMAC track championships
By Eric Lansing
lansing@mscd.edu

Photo by Jeremy Billis • jbillis1@mscd.edu Metro sprinter Sheila Hughes finished second overall in the 60-meter dash (7.87) and third overall in the 200-meter dash (26.54) at the RMAC championships Feb. 23-24 in Golden.

Metro’s men’s and women’s track team competed in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference championships Feb. 24 at the Colorado School of Mines.

Although the Roadrunners finished last in points as a team, it was the individual efforts and team camaraderie that turned the competition into a victory for this brand-new track team. Most of the team’s runners also participate in cross country, a very different sport than short-distance running and sprinting.

“It speaks of the direction we want to be in,” Metro head coach Peter Julian said regarding his team’s first competition. “We’re not all about distance running. We definitely are going for sprinters as well.”

Metro’s first event on the second day of the championships was the men’s mile. Distance runner Anthony Luna competed in the event for Metro and finished second in his heat. For the first three laps, Luna stayed with the leaders in fourth place. On the final lap, he passed three runners to finish in second place in the second race of two heats. The first race was the leader heat and was won by Reuben Chebon-Mwei of Adams State with a time of 4:17.86. Luna’s time of 4:36.85 earned him 11th place out of 18 competitors.

“I did all right,” Luna said. “Last night we ran the distance medley … and that is what we were really going for. Coach wanted us to win our events, but I guess my legs are a little tired from yesterday.”

Luna, who had a stress fracture earlier in the season, said he is still recovering and trying to get back into shape.

In the distance medley, Metro finished fourth out of seven teams. The team consisted of Anthony Luna, Greg Zadina, Todd Tolentino and Gabe Luna. They finished with a time of 10:25.57 and qualified for the NCAA regional tournament. The Adams State team finished first with a time of 9:53.09.

Distance runner Desarae Gleason won her 1-mile heat in a time of 5:39.78. She made it through the preliminaries the day before with a time of 5:34.84 and took first place in the second of two heats in the finals. The first heat featured the leaders and was won by Colorado School of Mines’ distance runner Heather Beresford with a time of 5:05.96. Gleason finished 10th out of 19 runners.

“I thought I did extremely well,” Gleason said. “My strategy was to stay with the first place person and when I thought I could pass her and win it, I did so, with about 800 (meters) to go.”

Julian said he believes Gleason is starting to run where she belongs in terms of time and is getting stronger with every race she competes in.

“She is just starting to come around,” Julian said. “She’s been having a knee injury that sort of limited her winter training, but it looks like she is getting control of that now. She’s one of the better runners in conference, and she showed that today. I think come spring, today will be slow by her standards.”

Sprinter Sheila Hughes was Metro’s best performer, finishing second overall in the 60-meter dash and third in the 200-meter dash.

Hughes qualified for the finals with a time of 7.87 in the 60-meter dash preliminaries and finished in second place. Drew Houston of Adams State qualified first in the prelims with a 7.80 time.

In the finals, Hughes again came in second behind Houston, finishing the 60-meter dash in a time of 7.85. Houston finished first in 7.74 seconds.

In the 200-meter dash, Hughes and Houston once again went toe-to-toe, with Houston pulling out another victory with a time of 25.91. Hughes finished third overall with a time of 26.30 behind Chadron State’s Barbara Goe, who finished the 60-meter dash in 26.10.

Considering how long Hughes has been out of sprinting, her times and finishes were remarkable.

“I actually haven’t competed in seven years,” Hughes said. “This is my first year back. I’m satisfied and I am glad I made it to the championships.”

Hughes has lined up at the blocks with Houston earlier in the season and actually finished ahead of Houston.

“The crazy thing is, a month ago I had her in the 60-meter dash,” Hughes said. “I can get her. I think that after all the false starts today, I was real nervous and I didn’t want to get disqualified, so I started late.”

Julian said that Hughes’ races were fantastic and for her to come into one of the toughest track competitions in the country and finish second is “pretty cool.”

The Roadrunners will now get ready for the Potts Collegiate Invitational March 13 in Boulder. It is an outdoor event in which Julian and the rest of the ’Runners can’t wait to compete.

“We really de-emphasize indoor,” Julian said. “What matters to us is April and May. It’s sort of the direction we want to take. We are very excited that these guys are running this fast right now in February.”

Hughes is one of the many Roadrunners who are proud of the team’s performance at the conference tournament, but eager to take her game outside.

“I think we did great. The spring – the outdoor season – looks promising. I can’t wait for outdoor. We did so well indoors, that when we get to outdoors, we are going to be great,” Hughes said.