Metro State has a track team, but it doesn’t have a track.
Coach Pete Julian makes arrangements for the Roadrunners to train at tracks around town, such as the one at Jeffco Stadium or the one at Lincoln High School. They have been known to do “track workouts” in the parking lot at Pepsi Center, too.
One time Julian told his runners they were going to do a Fartlek workout, and one said he didn’t know where Fartlek was. Fartlek (“Speedplay” in Swedish) is a type of workout.
“We don’t have a track, we don’t have facilities, I can’t buy these guys shoes, we have none of these sort of amenities,” Julian said. “But they’re scrappers. They’re street runners.”
The school dropped track and cross country in 1986 but resumed cross country in 2005 and track in 2007. The success of NCAA champion Anthony Luna has helped Julian spread the word about his program.
“Anthony represents the student body here,” Julian said. “Minority student, grew up in Denver, used Denver regional public schools. We are here at Metro State to facilitate those sort of athletes.”
Julian declines to recruit foreign athletes, something Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference rivals Adams State and Western State do often. Julian believes there’s plenty of talent in Denver to win at the Division II level.
“Why would I want to spend money on an international athlete when I’ve got a (local) kid who needs that opportunity?” Julian said. “Why are (others) providing that opportunity to some kid in the Rift Valley (of Kenya) when there’s a kid on Federal Boulevard who is in just as much need?”
Eventually Julian hopes to get a track built at Metro — perhaps on a tract of land just south of campus that the school recently acquired — that would be open to the public.
