CLEVELAND, Miss. – Missouri S&T's
Tim Samuelsen (Stavanger, Norway/St. Svithun VGS) made his second NCAA Division II provisional qualifying mark of the season Saturday as the Miner swimming team opened competition at the Delta State Christmas Invitational.
Samuelsen, who already has a provisional mark in the 1,650-yard freestyle, made his B-cut in the 1,000-yard freestyle Saturday with a time of 9:22.07 that placed him fourth in the competition.
Only three events were contested in the pool on day one, the other two being relay events where the Miners' top teams finished third in both.
S&T's 200-yard medley relay team just missed the NCAA provisional qualifying time in that event, as the team of
Ethan Shih (Papillion, NE/Papillion-LaVista),
Marco Flores (San Pedro Sula, Honduras/SERAN Private Bilingual School),
Aaron Taske (Fairfield, OH/Saint Xavier) and
Morgan Meyer (Ruston, LA/Ruston) recorded a time of 1:30.57. That time, which put the Miners in third overall in the event, was just 1.37 seconds off the time needed to reach the qualifying standard.
The Miners' 800-yard freestyle relay quartet of
Kevin McPherson (Oakdale, MN/Tartan), Taske, Shih and Meyer posted a time of 6:44.88. S&T had a second team in that event finish seventh, getting a time of 6:54.23 from
Alec Davis (Joplin, MO/Joplin),
Colten Becker (Overland Park, KS/Blue Valley Northwest),
Alex Graham (Parker, TX/Homeschooled) and AndyHuffman.
Graham also finished in seventh in the 1,000-freestyle in 9:37.02.
The Miners, who are currently third in the team standings in the six-team meet, will continue competition on Sunday.
