ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T's swimming team will kick off its home schedule Friday when its hosts Delta State in a matchup of nationally-ranked teams at the S&T Pool in the Gale Bullman Multi-Purpose Building. The meet gets underway at 5 p.m.
The Miners are ranked 18
th in the latest CollegeSwimming.com national rankings for NCAA Division II, while the Statesmen are ranked eighth nationally after taking part in two meets in mid-September.
It will be one of two meets for the Miners this weekend, as they will compete again Saturday in a quadrangular meet on the road at the St. Peters Rec-Plex at noon against Delta State, Saint Louis University and the event host, fourth-ranked Lindenwood.
S&T's only competition to date took place at the Show-Me Showdown at the University of Missouri on Oct. 2, where the Miners finished seventh in a field that included three NCAA Division I program and four others that are with them in the latest national rankings.
The Miners got two top-ten finishes from relay teams in that opening meet, the 200-yard freestyle quartet of
Jon Anderson (Allentown, Pa./Salisbury Senior),
Kevin McPherson (Oakdale, Minn./Tartan),
John-Martin Schmidt (Topeka, Kan./Hayden) and
Morgan Meyer (Ruston, La./Ruston) and the 200-yard medley relay team of
Ethan Shih (Papillion, Neb./Papillion-LaVista),
Miguel Chavez (Chihuahua, Mexico/Colegio de Bachilleres),
Eirik Nielsen (Stathelle, Norway/Toppidrettsgynmaset) and
Jon Glaser (Wildwood, Mo./Lafayette). The time of 1:26.63 by the 200-free relay is the second-best in the Great Lakes Valley Conference this season, while the 200-medley time of 1:35.27 also ranks second.
Individually, the Miners' top finish came from Shih in the 100-yard butterfly where he placed 11
th with a league-best mark of 51.78 seconds, while Nielsen was 14
th in that event and McPherson had a 14
th place showing in the 200-yard freestyle. Nielsen and McPherson both have the GLVC's third-best times in those events.
Delta State's two meets came against the University of Alabama and Rhodes. In the Alabama meet, the Statesmen posted the nation's second-best mark in the 400-yard medley relay of 3:25.73 and also own top-five marks in the 200- and 400-freestyle relays this season.
Sprint freestyler Mattia Schirru has the second-best time in NCAA Division II in the 50-yard freestyle of 20.86 seconds and third-best time in the 100-free of 45.57 seconds, both of which have met the NCAA-II provisional qualifying standard.
College Swimming Rankings (Top 25 teams)1. Nova Southeastern (Fla.)
2. Queens (N.C.)
3. Wingate (N.C.)
4. Lindenwood (Mo.)
5. California Baptist
6. Grand Valley State (Mich.)
7. Saint Leo (Fla.)
8. Delta State (Miss.)
9. Oklahoma Baptist
10. Simon Fraser (B.C.)
11. Florida Tech
12. Colorado Mesa
13. West Chester (Pa.)
14. Drury (Mo.)
15. Limestone (S.C.)
16. Truman State (Mo.)
17. Bridgeport (Conn.)
18. Missouri S&T19. Indianapolis (Ind.)
20. Henderson State (Ark.)
21. Carson-Newman (Tenn.)
22. St. Cloud State (Minn.)
23. Indiana (Pa.)
24. Northern Michigan
25. William Jewell (Mo.)
