ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T begins a new era in swimming Thursday as the Miners will open their 2022-23 season with a home meet against William Jewell at the S&T Pool in the Gale Bullman Multi-Purpose Building.  The dual meet with the Cardinals will get underway at 3 p.m.

Thursday's meet will be the first for the Miners under the direction of Danny Murphy, who took over as the head coach this summer following the retirement of Doug Grooms as he stepped down after 24 seasons at the helm of the program.  Murphy inherits a team with 14 returners from a squad that placed fourth in the Great Lakes Valley Conference last season and 19^th at the NCAA Division II Championships.

Heading that group of returners are five individuals who earned All-America honors during the 2021-22 campaign.  Noah Clancy (Alton, IL/Alton), who set the school record in the 100-yard backstroke at the national meet last March, will head up the contingent in that event that includes returners Mark Cavanaugh (Papillion, NE/Papillion-LaVista), Aidan Walters (Olathe, KS/Olathe East) – another All-America performer last season in the 800-yard freestyle relay – Tristan Dawson (Brainerd, MN/Brainerd) and Greg Driesewerd.

Three members of S&T's freshman class – Cameron McCrary (O'Fallon, MO/Fort Zumwalt West), Gabriel Porter (Ballwin, MO/Parkway South) and Lane Werth (Wichita, KS/Wichita North) – are expected to compete for spots in those events.

Clancy was also part of a school record relay team a year ago as well in the 200-yard medley relay along with Connor Wiedemeier (West Monroe, LA/West Monroe), who is the top returner in the freestyle races.  Wiedemeier had the Miners' best times in the 50-, 100- and 200-yard events last season and anchored the school record mark in the medley relay.

Walters is also expected to compete in the sprint freestyle events along with Nolan Fergus (Aurora, IL/Marmion Academy) and the aforementioned three freshmen, while Martin Melinder (Upplands Vasby, Sweden/), Marcelo Busch (Sao Centrano Do Sui-Sp, Brazil/Colegio Ateneu) and Sam Weber (Portage, MI/Portage Central) will head up the distance freestyle group.  Werth, one of the three freshmen, was a state champion in the 500-yard freestyle in his senior year of high school.

Jay Mercer (Kansas City, MO/Whitefield Academy) is the lone Miner returner that earned All-America honors last season in an individual event, as he landed his award in the 400-yard individual medley.  Mercer, who also competes in the breaststroke, is one of several returners in the IM along with S&T's fifth returning All-America performer, Nate Baxter (St. Charles, IL/St. Charles North), Daniel Matlock (Peoria, IL/Richwoods), Melinder and Driesewerd.  Newcomers Fletcher Smith (Olathe, KS/Olathe South), Monty Yetter (San Antonio, TX/Brandeis), Jordan Christensen (Coralville, IA/Iowa West) and Connor Bichsel (Lee's Summit, MO/Lee's Summit West) also figures to fill a role in the IM and breaststroke; Bichsel was a state champion in the 100-yard breaststroke in high school.

Baxter and Matlock are also part of the returning group in the butterfly, where they will be joined by newcomers Bichsel, Porter, Smith and McCrary.

Baxter and Fergus will head up the butterfly, a group that includes Driesewerd and Clancy, who earned an NCAA B-cut in the 100-yard event last season along with Baxter and Fergus.  McCrary is also expected to compete in the butterfly as well.

Thursday's meet will also be the season opener for William Jewell, who finished eighth at the GLVC Championships a season ago.