BOLIVAR, Mo. – Missouri S&T opened its cross country competition Friday by getting fourth place finishes from Andrew Lofgren (Chesterfield, MO/Parkway West) and Emma Puetz (Rolla, MO/Rolla) at the Great Lakes Valley Conference's Pod 4 Tri-Meet held at the Bolivar Golf Course.

Lofgren covered the eight kilometer course in a time of 26:44 to help lead the Miners to a second place finish in the team standings, while Puetz – running in her first collegiate meet – posted a time of 18:53 over six kilometers as S&T finished third in the women's standings.

Lofgren moved up throughout the race into the fourth spot as he was one of three Miners to place among the top 10 overall.  Hayes Pateidl (Overland Park, KS/Blue Valley West), who also ran with the race leaders over the course of the evening, ended up in sixth overall with a time of 27:04 and Ethan Haller (Ballwin, MO/Marquette) ended up in eighth in 27:25.

S&T's top five on the men's side was rounded out by Elijah Araya (Spring, TX/John Cooper) in 11^th place in 27:42 and freshman Lucas Rackers (Florissant, MO/St. Louis University HS) in 14^th place with a mark of 28:00.  The next two finishers for the Miners were Nathan Gillespie (Enterprise, AL/Enterprise) in 23^rd place in a time of 28:53 and Spencer Teske (Naperville, IL/Neuqua Valley) one spot behind him in 28:56.

Southwest Baptist won the team title with a score of 24 points and had the top two finishers in Tyler Goatley, who won in 26:29 and Blaine Jimerson.  Drury's Sean Lowry finished between that duo and Lofgren.

S&T had 43 points in the meet to finish 10 points in front of Drury.

In the women's race, Puetz was followed across the finish line by Krista Hilmas (Rolla, MO/Rolla) in 13^th place with a time of 19:50, while a pair of freshmen -- Clare Holmes (Camdenton, MO/Camdenton) finished 15^th in 20:26 and Grace Giesler was 16^th in 20:28. 

Hope Strausbaugh (Rogersville, MO/Logan-Rogersville) rounded out the Miners' top five in 19^th place in 20:52, while the next two finishers were Aubrie Caldwell (Dripping Springs, TX/Dripping Springs) in 22^nd place in 21:19 and Julia McIntyre (New Haven, MO/New Haven) in 24^th in a time of 21:30.

Southwest Baptist's Elysia Burgos recorded a time of 17:34 to win the race and pace the Bearcats to the team title.

S&T's next competition will take place in two weeks at the GLVC's Divisional meet that will take place at Principia College in Elsah, Ill.