ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T's swimming team will get its first opportunities for competition this weekend as the Miners will host Delta State Friday evening before heading to Lebanon, Ill., for a Saturday meet at McKendree University.

Friday's meet with Delta State, ranked 22^nd in the latest CollegeSwimming.com rankings and sixth place finisher at the NCAA Division II Championships last season, will begin at 5 p.m. at the S&T Pool in the Gale Bullman Multi-Purpose Building.  On Saturday, the Miners will join Delta State in taking part in a tri-meet with sixth-ranked McKendree at the Metro RecPlex in Lebanon starting at 1 p.m.

"The guys are really excited to get to swim in front of family, friends and fans again," said S&T head coach Doug Grooms. "We have put in seven weeks of solid training and look forward to seeing how that translates to racing.  Delta State and McKendree were both major players at the NCAA Championships last season, so we will have our hands full."

S&T finished fourth at the Great Lakes Valley Conference Championships and 13^th at the NCAA Division II Championships last season and brings back a majority of that squad which includes four individuals that competed at the national meet.  That group is led by Andy Huffman (Lee's Summit, MO/Lee's Summit), who finished third nationally in the 200-yard breaststroke after winning the GLVC title in that event and added a sixth-place showing in the 200-yard butterfly.

Josh Umrysh, one of two fifth-year seniors on the S&T roster, also claimed a GLVC title last season in the 100-yard breaststroke and set a new school record in the event in the process.  That performance also earned him a spot at the national meet, where he scored in that event as well as in four relays.

The breaststroke figures to be one of the Miners' deepest events this season with Huffman and Umrysh leading that group along with Chris Sprenger (Shawnee, KS/Mill Valley) – another national qualifier last season – Jay Mercer (Kansas City, MO/Whitefield Academy), Daniel Matlock (Peoria, IL/Richwoods) and Nate Baxter (St. Charles, IL/St. Charles North) all returning.

In the butterfly, Huffman will be joined by Nolan Fergus (Aurora, IL/Marmion Academy), Baxter and newcomer Greg Driesewerd, while in the backstroke, the Miners return school record holder and national qualifier Noah Clancy (Alton, IL/Alton) along with Mark Cavanaugh (Papillion, NE/Papillion-LaVista) and Aidan Walters (Olathe, KS/Olathe East) and add newcomer Tristan Dawson (Brainerd, MN/Brainerd) to the mix.

The Miners return all of their distance freestyle competitors from a year ago, headed by Alex Graham (Parker, TX/Homeschooled) who had three top-eight finishes at the GLVC Championships and Martin Melinder (Upplands Vasby, Sweden), who scored in the 500-, 1,000- and 1,650-freestyle at the conference meet as a freshman.  S&T also brings back Marcelo Busch (Sao Centrano Do Sui-Sp, Brazil/Colegio Ateneu) and Sam Weber (Portage, MI/Portage Central) in the distance events.

In the sprint freestyle races, S&T has five individuals that made an NCAA Division II B-cut last season in those events back in the fold.  Alec Davis (Joplin, MO/Joplin), who had the team's best time in the 100-yard freestyle last season and Connor Wiedemeier (West Monroe, LA/West Monroe), who recorded the top 200-freestyle mark are both back, as are Fergus, Cole Akal (Alton, IL/Alton) and Gabriel Asevedo (Singapore/Canadian International School); Fergus had the fastest 50-free time among the returners of 20.78 seconds a year ago.

The Miners also figure to be deep in the individual medley with Huffman, Matlock, Sprenger and Mercer – all of whom reached B-cuts last season – back for the coming year.

"The guys have had a great attitude to this point and we have had tremendous leadership helping us gel as a team," Grooms said.

Friday's meet will be the third competition of the season for Delta State, who lost a dual meet in late September to Alabama and defeated Rhodes two weeks ago.  McKendree, the fourth place finisher at last year's national meet, has won all three of its competitions thus far including winning both ends of a tri-meet over the weekend against Drury and Lindenwood.