It will be an uphill battle for all concerened, taking on Grand Valley at their home facility, but Colorado's DII representation had a nice first day of it in Michigan at DII nationals on Thursday.
Many of events were simply working their way through preliminary rounds on Thursday, but several finals were contested as well.
Among the events contesting finals was the 10,000 meters. That event was won on the women's side by Adams State's own Lauren Martin, a graduate of Alamosa High School. Martin ran 35:25.33 to win by just over a second in the thicker Michigan air. Western's Tara Richardson finished 15th, and was the only other competitor in the field with a Colorado pedigree.
On the men's side, Colorado schools were represented on the podium by Adams' Jovanny Godinez in fourth at 29:52.99 and Mines' Sean Gildea on seventh at just a whisker over 30:00.
Adams State got a win and 10 points in the long jump when Carlton Lavong went 26-6.25w.
The rest of the highlights involving Colorado-connected athletes was strictly of the prelimary rounds variety.
For the women, Adams State's Kayon Robinson topped all finishers in the 400 with a 53.90. Four Colorado high school alumni advanced to finals of the women's 1500 including Breanna Hemming of Metro State, Hannah Schuster of Mines, Maura O'Brien of Adams State, and Elizabeth Luckel of Southwest Baptist. Alicia Nelson of Adams State and Anna Marshall of Western advanced to finals of the women's 3000 Steeple.
A similar story unfolded on the men's side with nice representation out of Colorado. Jordan Edwards' 46.41 was the second-best preliminary round time in the 400. Matt Daniels of Adams and Frank Socha of Mines had the top two times in the 1500 prelims, but also advancing to finals were John Cusick of Colorado Mesa and Keifer Johnson of Western. The 3000 Steeple finals will be heavy in Colorado representation with Tabor Stevens of Adams, Adam Sinda of Western, Tyler Curtis of Mines, Kirk Harvey of Metro, and Neal Anderson of Mines all making the cut.