The NCAA has released its participant list for the NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field Championships next week and three members of the Missouri S&T men's team will be heading to San Angelo, Texas to take part in the national meet over Memorial Day weekend.

 

The three -- pole vaulters Jordan Henry (St. Charles, Mo./Francis Howell North) and Peter Hollenbeck (O'Fallon, Ill./O'Fallon), along with javelin thrower Heath Groom (Overland Park, Kan./Shawnee Mission West) – will head to Texas along with two members of the women's squad to make up the S&T contingent at the meet.

 

Henry, who was the NCAA Division II runner-up in the pole vault at both the 2008 and 2009 indoor championships, will be making his sixth appearance at a national meet next week. He placed fourth at the 2008 NCAA Outdoor Championships and also had a seventh place showing in 2007.

 

The Great Lakes Valley Conference champion in the outdoor pole vault, Henry has a seasonal-best performance of 17-0 ¾ -- the Missouri S&T school record – and is currently tied for fourth in the nation in the event.

 

Hollenbeck is heading to a national meet for the fourth time and has earned All-America awards at the last two he has taken part in. A year ago, Hollenbeck finished sixth in the pole vault at the NCAA Outdoor Championships and ended up in a tie for eighth at the NCAA's indoor meet in March. He was the GLVC runner-up in the pole vault in the 2009 outdoor season and owns a top mark of 17 feet on the year.

 

The pole vault competition is scheduled for Saturday, May 23 at 5 p.m. Heading into the meet, the top performance of the season is a clearance of 18-0 ½ by Grand Valley State's Bryant Wilson, while indoor national champion Dan Tierney of Ashland is tied for second at 17-6 ¾.

 

Groom will be making his second national meet appearance in the javelin throw, where he earned All-America honors in 2007 with a school record throw of 210-4. He also had a mark good enough to qualify for the national meet a year ago, but had to miss the meet due to an injury.

 

This season, Groom posted a seasonal-best mark of 206-2 at Missouri Southern which ranks as the fifth-best mark among the competitors in the meet. The top javelin mark of the season has been recorded by Puerto Rico-Mayaguez sophomore Felipe Ortiz of 225-3; the competition is scheduled to take place at 11 a.m. on Saturday, May 23.