COLUMBIA, Mo. – Missouri S&T opened its men's track & field season Saturday by capturing the team championship at the Missouri Holiday Opener at the University of Missouri, while the women's team finished fourth in the team scoring among the six teams competing Saturday.

In addition to the Miner performances in Columbia, Ezekiel Buck (Elburn, IL/Geneva) made two NCAA Division II provisional qualifying marks as he was completing the heptathlon competition at the Boo Rogers Multi-Events Classic at Pittsburg State.

Buck was in 12^th place after the first four events on Friday, but racked up 895 points in the pole vault with the best mark in the competition of 16-2¾, which also cleared the NCAA Division II provisional qualifying standard.  He followed that with the fourth-best time in the 1,000-meter run at 2:45.20, allowing him to finish with a final total of 5,077 points that also made the NCAA provisional mark.

At Mizzou, the Miners had the top six finishers in the 3,000-meters, led by Wil Crutcher's (Rolla, MO/Rolla) winning time of 8:59.77.  Duncan Clark (Kirksville, MO/Kirksville) finished second in 9:07.97, while Bristol Hargis (Webb City, MO/Webb City) was third in 9:08.50.  S&T's top six in that event was finished by Andrew Lofgren (Chesterfield, MO/Parkway West) in 9:11.72, Hayes Pateidl (Overland Park, KS/Blue Valley West) in 9:21.39 and AJ Knowles (Papillion, NE/Papillion South) in 9:33.63.

Aaron Jones (Kansas City, MO/Ruskin) captured second in the high jump as he cleared 6-7, while Nick Janke (Rolla, MO/Rolla) took third at 6-3¼.  Jones later added a third place finish in the triple jump with his leap of 46-8¼.

The Miners grabbed four of the top five spots in the mile, led by Alex Staples' (River Forest, IL/Oak Park River Forest) second place finish in 4:34.46.  Staples was followed to the finish line by Ethan Haller (Ballwin, MO/Marquette) in 4:36.63, Mark Krueger (Smithville, MO/Smithville) in 4:51.42 and Brandon Religa (Manhattan, KS/Manhattan) in 5:02.97.  The winner in the event was Logan Shearer (The Woodlands, TX/Woodlands Christian Academy), who is not competing for the Miners during the fall semester and was running in the meet as an unattached competitor.

Dane Rodriguez (Barnhart, MO/Windsor) led six Miners in the top 10 in the long jump with a third place showing, as he leaped 22-6½ to edge teammate Luke Allen's (Jefferson City, MO/Calvary Lutheran) mark of 22-2¼.  Augie Bindbeutel finished right behind Allen with a jump of 21-9, while Janke finished eighth at 20-3¾, Josh Hallum (Burnsville, MN/St. Thomas Academy) took ninth at 19-1¼ and Jake Anderson (O'Fallon, MO/Fort Zumwalt West) placed 10^th with a mark of 19-3¼.

The Miners got a fourth place showing from Justin Hawkins (O'Fallon, IL/Montrose) in the 600-meter run with a time of 1:25.74, while Garrett Miller (Kearney, MO/Kearney) finished fourth in the weight throw with a mark of 52-6½, finishing just ahead of Justin Murdock's (Camdenton, MO/Camdenton) throw of 51-7¾ and Nathan Swadley's (Willard, MO/Willard) mark of 51-1¾ that placed him sixth.

S&T also had three finishers in the top six in the shot put, led by Swadley's fourth place effort with a mark of 49-3¾.  Miller came in fifth at 47-2¼ and Murdock was sixth with a toss of 46-10.

Bindbeutel was fifth in the 60-meter dash in 7.40 seconds, while Rodriguez had a sixth place performance in the triple jump at 44-6¼ as did Marshall Vaccaro (O'Fallon, MO/Fort Zumwalt West) in the 600-meters in 1:27.78. Daniel Miller (Jefferson City, MO/Jefferson City) was ninth in the weight throw at 45-10¾.

The Miners finished with 114 points in the meet, nine more than the host Tigers recorded.

The women's performances Saturday were highlighted by Delaney Guy posting two finishes among the top four in her first collegiate meet, as she took third in the triple jump with a mark of 33-8½ and fourth in the long jump with a leap of 16-9¾.  AnnMarie Tyson tied for fifth in the high jump as she cleared 5-2¼, while Jessica Rhoads had a fifth place showing in the shot put with a mark of 38-7¾ as did Aly VanCardo in the mile in 5:21.84 and Audrey Jansen finished seventh in the high jump after going over the bar at 5-0¼.

Tori Bonnot finished seventh in the mile in 5:23.36, while Tyson also came in eighth place in the long jump with a performance of 15-9¾, while Rhoads finished ninth in the weight throw with a mark of 44-6 as S&T finished with a total of 42.5 points.

Missouri S&T will resume its indoor track & field season on Jan. 18 at the Central Missouri Invitational.