ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T kicked off its outdoor track & field season on a rainy afternoon at Allgood-Bailey Stadium with the first day of the Miner Invitational, which saw seven Miners finish among the top eight in the hammer throw events to highlight the day.

The hammer throw was the only individual event contested Friday, where Jacob Luebbert (Warsaw, MO/Warsaw) captured the title in the men's competition with a throw of 184-2 that came in the final round to win the event.  Nathan Swadley (Willard, MO/Willard) placed fourth with a throw of 172-8, while the Miners also had three others among the top eight in Kevin McCole (St. Charles, MO/Francis Howell) in sixth with a mark of 158-7, Owen Fraser (Kirksville, MO/Kirksville) in seventh at 153-5 and Tyler Marchert (Frankfort, IL/Lincoln-Way East) in eighth with a throw of 148-4.

S&T's had two of the top four finishers on the women's side in Sydney Stephens, who placed third with a mark of 141-2 and Jessica Rhoads, who was fourth with a top throw of 135-6.

Besides the hammer throw, the only other events that took place were the first half of the decathlon and heptathlon.  S&T has four of the top five in the decathlon at the midway point, led by Otto Knittel (Spring Hill, KS/Spring Hill) with a score of 3,195 points.  Knittel recorded the fastest time in the two track events, posting a mark of 11.45 seconds in the 100-meters and 50.95 seconds in the 400-meters to close the afternoon.

Dawson Shearer, who had the best marks in the long jump and shot put portions of the event, sits third with 2,962 points; he had performances of 20-1¼ in the long jump and 36-6½ in the shot put.

Caleb Craft (Jackson, MO/Jackson) is in fourth place in the standings with 2,892 points and Kamden Lockwood (Herscher, IL/Herscher) is right behind him with 2,757.  Missouri S&T has no competitors taking part in the heptathlon.

The Miner Invitational will continue Saturday with the multi-events at 9 a.m., followed by field events at 11 a.m. and track events at noon.