BOLIVAR, Mo. – Missouri S&T's women's track & field team got five scoring performances from its field event competitors on Friday to put itself in sixth place after the first day of the Great Lakes Valley Conference Outdoor Championships at Southwest Baptist University.

Rhoads placed second behind William Jewell's Cydney Banks in the discus as she recorded a top throw of 138-8 that was reached in the fifth round.  Rhoads was one of three Miners to score in the discus, as Paige Lambright (Poplar Grove, IL/Belvidere North) took sixth at 127-1 and Sydney Stephens (Plattsburg, MO/Plattsburg) finished right behind her in seventh with a throw of 126-4.

Sydney Gratz (Geneva, IL/Geneva) finished in a tie for fifth place in the pole vault Friday as she cleared 11-2½ and Stephens also recorded a seventh place showing in the hammer throw with a mark of 139-3.  Grace Giesler (Owasso, OK/Owasso) just missed finishing in the top eight in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, finishing ninth with a time of 11:59.29.

The performances by the throwers and Gratz gave the Miners 18.5 points on the day, where they sit a point and half in back of Southwest Baptist and 5.5 in front of William Jewell.  Defending champion Lewis has a lead of 13.5 points over Indianapolis.

Also on Friday, Maya Washington (St. Louis, MO/Homeschooled) qualified for the finals in the 100-meter dash as she recorded a time of 12.07 seconds in the preliminaries.  The finals in that event will take place on Saturday, when competition begins at noon.