LEBANON, Ill. – Missouri S&T was picked to finish fifth in the Great Lakes Valley Conference for the upcoming 2022 season by the league's coaches, as the pre-season poll was released today as part of the GLVC Football Kickoff event held at McKendree University.

The Miners have finished above the .500 mark and in the top half of the GLVC in each of the past four seasons, including last year's marks of 6-5 and 4-3 that put S&T in a tie for third in the final conference standings.  S&T comes into the upcoming year with 11 returning starters, including first-team All-GLVC selections Jorge Escalante (Fresno, CA/San Joaquin Memorial) and Ben Straatmann (Washington, MO/Washington), the Miners' player representatives at Friday's event.

In all, the Miners will bring back six players that earned all-conference honors a year ago as they will report on August 7 to begin pre-season camp.

Indianapolis, who finished second in the GLVC last fall that has won six of the nine full season titles since the conference began sponsoring a football championship, was a unanimous selection to capture the 2022 title.  Truman State got the seventh first place vote – teams could not vote for themselves – and landed second in the poll, while McKendree was tabbed to finish third and Southwest Baptist for fourth with only four points separating McKendree, SBU and S&T.

Last season, Missouri S&T posted wins over three of the four teams picked in front of it in the poll as it defeated UIndy, McKendree and Southwest Baptist by a combined 10 points.  Quincy and William Jewell rounded out the pre-season rankings.

Two-time defending champion Lindenwood is no longer a part of the GLVC as the Lions have reclassified to NCAA Division I beginning this fall.

In the nine previous seasons, Missouri S&T has matched or exceeded its pre-season ranking on seven occasions.  The Miners have finished no worse than their pre-season ranking in each of the last four full campaigns and only finished below their projection in 2014 and 2016.

Missouri S&T will open its 2022 regular and conference season slates at home, opening the year against South Dakota School of Mines on Thursday, Sept. 1 at Allgood-Bailey Stadium.  S&T's conference opener against Quincy – one of three home contests in GLVC play – will take place exactly one month later when the teams square off on Oct. 1 in Rolla.

2022 GLVC Football Pre-Season Poll
1. Indianapolis, 36 points (6 first place votes)
2. Truman State, 31 points (1 first place vote)
3. McKendree, 22 points
4. Southwest Baptist, 20 points
5. Missouri S&T, 18 points
6. Quincy, 14 points
7. William Jewell, 6 points