DENVER – It's another big week for MSU Denver Athletics, with a home cross country meet and a women's soccer showdown highlighting the home schedule.
 
On Saturday at Washington Park, the annual Roadrunners Invitational will feature some of the top cross country runners and teams from around the region.
 
Runners from 19 different men's teams and 17 different women's teams are expected.
 
The 8-kilometer men's race is scheduled to start at 8:30 a.m., with the 6K women's race to follow at 9:15.
 
Following the collegiate races, a number of high school races will be contested as well.
 
MSU Denver opened the season two weeks ago at the UCCS Rust Buster, with both teams finishing a strong third.

Noel Lopez led the men, finishing second overall. JJ Ramey, like Lopez a returning qualifier for the NCAA Division II National Championships, finished 13^th.
 
For the women, past cross country All-American Mia Salas finished third individually, while Marissa Bruno placed 15th.
 
The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference is the best cross country league in Division II, and many of its top teams will have representatives Saturday. And, since the Division II South Central Regional is scheduled for Nov. 9 at Washington Park, some Lone Star Conference teams will also be competing Saturday to preview the course.
 
The list of ranked teams competing includes, for the men, No. 2 Colorado School of Mines, No. 6 Adams State, No. 14 CSU Pueblo, No. 18 Fort Lewis and No. 20 UCCS. For the women, ranked teams include No. 1 Adams State, No. 9 UCCS, No. 12 Colorado School of Mines, No. 19 Fort Lewis and No. 23 Colorado Christian. The MSU Denver women, ranked ninth in the South Central Region, received votes in the top 30 poll.
 
WOMEN'S SOCCER
MSU Denver at Angelo State (Texas), Thursday, 7 p.m. MDT
#7 Cal Poly Pomona at MSU Denver, Sunday, noon
 
The undefeated MSU Denver women's soccer team continues playing one of the most challenging schedules in the country.
 
First it travels for a Thursday night game at 2-1 Angelo State (Texas), picked to finish third in the Lone Star Conference. The the Roadrunners return home to play seventh-ranked Cal Poly Pomona (4-0 with a victory over then-No. 1 defending national champion Point Loma) on Sunday at noon.
 
MSU Denver beat Angelo State 1-0 last season.
 
It's the second straight week the battle-tested Roadrunners will play in Texas on a Thursday and back at home on a Sunday, a difficult task indeed.
 
MSU Denver, 1-0-3, is unbeaten through four games for the first time since starting 3-0-2 in 2021 and hasn't been unbeaten through six games since opening the 2014 season at 11-0-3.
 
"Right now, the first four games don't matter," MSU Denver coach Kat Mertz said. "We have to go into a difficult place to go play Angelo. They probably want some redemption after last year. … I told our players, we're road warriors."

Sunday is Latinx Heritage Day. MSU Denver will recognized its status as an Hispanic Serving Institution by doing the on-field public address in Spanish.
 
VOLLEYBALL
No. 2 MSU Denver at Colorado Christian, Friday, 3 p.m.
No. 2 MSU Denver at Chadron State, Saturday, 6 p.m.
 
The second-ranked MSU Denver volleyball team, coming off a strong third-place finish at the rugged Colorado Premier Challenge, opens Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play on the road Friday at 3 p.m. against Colorado Christian and Saturday at 6 p.m. at Chadron State.
 
The Roadrunners (7-1) moved up in the national poll after a wild Premier that saw top teams beat one another, creating a puzzling rankings picture. MSU Denver, a mainstay in the Division II top five for the past four seasons, survived and advanced to its highest ranking since it was No. 1 late in the 2022 season.
 
MSU Denver has had back-to-back RMAC Offensive Players of the Week in outside hitters Annika Helf and Riley Anderson, and back-to-back RMAC Defensive Players of the Week in right-side hitter Maddy Williams and middle blocker Kryssa Moerman.
 
The Roadrunners rank second in Division II with 3.02 blocks per set and ninth with a .302 team hitting percentage. Moerman is 10^th in the country with 1.46 blocks per set, and true freshman Alyssa Boyte ranks 11^th nationally in that category at 1.43 per set. Moerman leads the RMAC in hitting percentage (.408), and Helf is first in service aces at 0.59 per set. Anderson recently became the newest member of MSU Denver's career 1,000-kill club and currently ranks 16^th with 1,021.
 
Colorado Christian, picked to finish seventh in the RMAC, is 5-3 this season, while Chadron State, picked eighth, is 2-6. MSU Denver is 54-10 all-time against Colorado Christian, with 13 straight wins dating to 2014, and the Roadrunners are 55-2 all-time against Chadron State, with 32 consecutive wins dating to 2004.
 
MSU Denver coach Jenny Glenn is two wins away from 200 for her career. She is an incredible 198-48 overall (.805 winning percentage).
 
MEN'S SOCCER
MSU Denver at #10 Cal Poly Pomona, Friday, 7 p.m. PDT
MSU Denver at #3 Cal State Los Angeles, Sunday, 2 p.m. PDT
 
The MSU Denver men's soccer team will take a second shot at some California teams on the road this weekend, playing Friday at 7 p.m. PDT at 10^th-ranked Cal Poly Pomona before playing a 2 p.m. PDT game Sunday at third-ranked Cal State Los Angeles.
 
The Roadrunners played in tough luck last week, losing 2-0 at Dominican (Calif.) in a game that was closer than the score indicates, and then in difficult wind conditions in a 0-0 tie with Academy of Art (Calif.).
 
Now 1-2-1, the Roadrunners have a tall task against the teams picked to finish first (Cal State Los Angeles) and second (Cal Poly Pomona), respectively, in the California Collegiate Athletic Association.
 
Cal Poly Pomona is 2-1 after reaching the round of 16 in last year's NCAA Tournament, while Cal State LA – national tournament quarterfinalists last season – is 2-0-1 heading into a Friday home game against Colorado School of Mines.
 
WOMEN'S GOLF
Wasatch Invitational, South Jordan, Utah, Sunday and Monday
 
The MSU Denver women's golf team will look to put together two solid rounds Sunday and Monday at the Wasatch Invitational.
 
The Roadrunners showed earlier this week what they are capable of achieving – they were tied for first after the first round of the RJGA Shootout at Estrella before slipping to 13^th on the second day.
 
Mackenzie Carpenter has been steady this season, with rounds of 76, 75, 75 and 80. Meanwhile, Izabella Pesicka (73), Neige Dunn (73) and Callie Burns (77) have all had outstanding individual rounds.