ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T's track & field teams will head to Bolivar, Mo., this weekend for the Great Lakes Valley Conference Outdoor Championships, where the S&T men's team will seek to repeat as conference champions when the meet begins on Friday at Southwest Baptist University.

The meet was originally scheduled to begin Thursday, but potential weather issues in the area forced the switch to a two-day meet instead of the usual three-day event.

The men's team won last year's meet – that took place at Allgood-Bailey Stadium – by a 60-point margin and return individuals that won five individual titles in that meet.   Three of those titles were captured by Nathan Swadley (Willard, MO/Willard), who enters this weekend's competition with the GLVC's best performance in the shot put with a mark of 57-7.  Swadley also sits in second in the hammer throw with his mark of 191-feet and is fourth in the discus throw at 158-9 and

Mitch Fairless (St. Charles, MO/Duchesne) returns to defend his championship in the high jump and owns the top mark in the GLVC this season of 6-11 that he recorded at the Dewey Allgood Invitational in April while Hayes Pateidl (Overland Park, KS/Blue Valley West), who recently set the S&T school record in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, will look to repeat as the champion in that event.  His time of 9:08.94 is second in the GLVC to the mark of 9:07.35 that was posted by Southern Indiana's Dustin Macuiba.

S&T has four additional individuals that rank high in the throwing events, as Jarett Johnson (Webb City, MO/Webb City) is second in the javelin throw with a top mark of 209-11, Jacob Luebbert (Warsaw, MO/Warsaw) is third in the hammer throw at 190-3 and eighth in the shot put at 47-11, Tyler Marchert (Frankfort, IL/Lincoln-Way East) is sixth in the shot at 49-3½ and Matthew Hoffman (Reading, PA/Exeter Township) has the sixth-best mark in the discus of 150-0.

The Miners have several others ranked among the top eight in their respective events.  Jake Anderson (O'Fallon, MO/Fort Zumwalt West) and Joseph Nickell (Nixa, MO/Nixa) rank one-two in the pole vault, as Anderson has cleared 16-7½ this season and Nickell has cleared the bar at 16-7¼.

Aaron Jones (Kansas City, MO/Ruskin) is second in the GLVC in the triple jump with a top mark of 47-9 and Luke Allen (Jefferson City, MO/Calvary Lutheran) is ranked second in the long jump where his best leap this season was 23-3½; he also sits fifth in the triple jump with a mark of 45-10½. Nick Janke (Rolla, MO/Rolla) is tied for third in the high jump with a top clearance of 6-4¾ and is fifth in the long jump at 22-1¾, while Aaron Toben (Wildwood, MO/Lafayette) has the fourth-fastest time in the 400-meter hurdles of 54.84 seconds.

Anderson is ranked sixth in the long jump with a top mark of 22-1½ and Kyle Burke (Plainfield, IL/Plainfield) has recorded the sixth-fastest mark in the 110-meter hurdles with his time of 14.95 seconds, while Daniel McMurran (St. Louis, MO/St. Louis University HS) is tied for sixth in the high jump at 6-2¾.  Otto Knittel's (Spring Hill, KS/Spring Hill) time of 56.74 seconds is the seventh-fastest in the conference this season and Tristan Jones (Hillsboro, MO/Hillsboro) is ranked seventh in the long jump with a mark of 22-1.

Samuel Schmidt is ranked eighth in the 200-meter dash with a top time of 21.92 seconds as is Michael Pate (Wildwood, MO/Lafayette) in the 400-meters at 49.82 seconds, Lucas Rackers (Florissant, MO/St. Louis University HS) in the 1,500-meters with a top mark of 3:56.07 and Knittel in the 110-meter hurdles at 15.28 seconds and javelin throw at 161-1.

S&T's relay teams rank third in the conference in the 4x100-meter event and eighth in the 4x400-meter race.

The S&T women's team has had a number of strong performances in recent weeks and look to continue that in seeking to improve on a 10^th place finish last year; the Miners placed eighth at the GLVC Indoor Championships in February.

Annmarie Tyson (St. Louis, MO/St. Joseph's Academy) has the top performance in the GLVC this season in the high jump with a clearance of 5-7¾, while Jessica Rhoads (Holts Summit, MO/Jefferson City) is second in the discus at 142-2 and Maya Washington (St. Louis, MO/Homeschooled) has the third-fastest time in the 100-meter dash of 11.79 seconds.  Rhoads is among the top eight is a second event, as she is seventh in the hammer throw with a mark of 153-11.

Sydney Stephens (Plattsburg, MO/Plattsburg) has the fourth-best mark in the discus with her mark of 132-4 and is also seventh in the shot put at 40-1½ and eighth in the hammer at 146-10, while Grace Giesler (Owasso, OK/Owasso) has the sixth-best mark in the 3,000-meter steeplechase of 11:40.48.  Paige Lambright (Poplar Grove, IL/Belvidere North) ranks eighth in the shot at 40-1¼ and in the discus at 124-feet.