ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T's swimming team will host the first of its two January meets Friday when it takes on McKendree at 1 p.m. at the S&T Pool in the Bullman Multi-Purpose Building.

The Miners, ranked 14^th in the most recent CollegeSwimming.com rankings, will face the eighth-ranked Bearcats in a matchup of two of the top teams in the Great Lakes Valley Conference.  McKendree finished second at last year's GLVC Championships while S&T came in fifth and both teams were in the top 10 – with McKendree first and S&T ninth – at the NCAA Division II Championships when the meet was halted after the first day of competition last March.

McKendree has posted eight times this season that have met the NCAA Division II B-cut standard, all in freestyle events which includes the time of 9:19.18 posted by Fabio Dalu that is the fifth-best in the nation in the 1,000-yard freestyle.  Alexander Skinner has B-cuts in each of the three sprint freestyle events, while the Bearcats' 200- and 800-yard freestyle relay teams ranks among the top 10 in the nation.

Missouri S&T got its first B-cut mark in its most recent competition on Dec. 18 when Alec Davis (Joplin, MO/Joplin) posted a time of 1:40.29 in the 200-yard freestyle in the Miners' dual meet win over Missouri-St. Louis.  The Miners also have the ninth-best mark in the nation in the 200-yard medley relay of 1:31.59 and have also recorded high marks in the in the 400-yard freestyle relay (3:08.97) and 400-yard medley relay (3:25.36).

No spectators will be permitted per Great Lakes Valley Conference guidelines to the meet on Friday, but live coverage will be available through the GLVC Sports Network.