ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T will have competitors looking to find a spot on the awards stand this week in Birmingham, Ala., as members of the Miner swimming and track & field squads will be competing at their respective national championship events as part of the NCAA Division II Winter Sports Festival.

A total of nine Missouri S&T student-athletes – seven from the swimming team and two in track & field – will compete beginning Wednesday at the Birmingham CrossPlex, a 750,000-square foot facility that will house the competition in those two sports over the weekend.  The swimming championships will begin Wednesday, while the track & field competition will start Friday.

The swimming contingent is led by seniors Jacob Dole (Corbin, Ky./Country Day School) and Andrew Schranck (Alton, Ill./Marquette Catholic), with junior Matt Zieger (St. Joseph, Mo./Central), sophomores Ethan Goldfarb (Arlington, Texas/The Oakridge School) and Aljaz Kerc (Ljubljana, Slovenia/Gimnazija Bezigrad) and freshmen Danylo Mykhailov (Khankiv, Ukraine/Sport Collegue N.S.) and Keith Sponsler (Lincoln, Neb./Lincoln East) rounding out the S&T competitors.  The Miner track squad is represented by junior Adriel Hawkins (Jefferson City, Mo./Jefferson City) and sophomore Ryan McGuire (Hobart, Ind./Hobart).

The daily schedule of events for the S&T national competitors is as follows (all times Central):

Wednesday, March 6
Swimming (preliminaries at 10 a.m., finals at 5:30 p.m.)
200-yard individual medley (Schranck)
50-yard freestyle (Mykhailov, Zieger, Sponsler, Dole)
200-yard medley relay (team of Schranck, Mykhailov, Kerc and Dole)

Thursday, March 7
Swimming (preliminaries at 10 a.m., finals at 5:30 p.m.)
200-yard freestyle relay (team of Sponsler, Mykhailov, Kerc and Dole)
400-yard individual medley (Goldfarb)
100-yard butterfly (Schranck)
200-yard freestyle (Zieger, Sponsler)

Friday, March 8
Swimming (preliminaries at 10 a.m., finals at 5:30 p.m.)
500-yard freestyle (Goldfarb)
100-yard backstroke (Mykhailov, Schranck)
100-yard breaststroke (Kerc)
200-yard butterfly (Schranck)
Track & Field (preliminaries at 6:25 p.m.)
200-meter dash (Hawkins)

Saturday, March 9
Swimming (preliminaries at 10 a.m., finals at 5:30 p.m.)
100-yard freestyle (Kerc, Dole, Mykhailov, Zieger, Sponsler)
200-yard breaststroke (Kerc, Goldfarb)
400-yard freestyle relay (team of Zieger, Mykhailov, Kerc and Dole)
Track & Field (pole vault finals at 3:30 p.m.; 200-meter finals at 5:30 p.m.)
Pole vault (McGuire)
200-meter dash (Hawkins)

NCAA Division II Winter Sports Festival Link
Birmingham Crossplex