EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Missouri S&T swimmers earned a pair of NCAA Division II provisional qualifying marks and five top-eight finishes as it concluded the Great Lakes Valley Conference Championships in fifth place in the team standings on Saturday night.

Aidan Walters (Olathe, KS/Olathe East) had an NCAA Division II provisional qualifying time of 1:46.26 in the 200-yard backstroke to finish fourth, while Connor Bichsel (Lee's Summit, MO/Lee's Summit West) took fourth in the 200-yard breaststroke in a NCAA provisional time of 1:58.38.  Walters also anchored S&T's 400-yard freestyle relay team that finished fourth, as he was joined by Adam Wiedemeier (West Monroe, LA/West Monroe), Noah Clancy (Alton, IL/Alton) and Kevin Williams (Houston, TX/Westside) to finish in a time of 2:58.96.

Wiedemeier also got sixth in the 100-yard freestyle in 44.26 seconds and Clancy placed eighth in the 200-breaststroke in 2:00.59.

Martin Melinder (Upplands Vasby, Sweden) finished 12^th in the 1,650-yard freestyle with a time of 15:59.12 as did Cameron McCrary (O'Fallon, MO/Fort Zumwalt West) in the 200-backstroke in 1:49.45 and Jordan Christensen (Coralville, IA/Iowa West) in the 200-breaststroke in 2:02.46.  Nate Baxter (St. Charles, IL/St. Charles North) finished in 15^th in the 200-breaststroke in 2:02.17.

Lane Werth (Wichita, KS/Wichita North) also scored for S&T in the 1,650-freestyle with his time of 17:00.22 as did Greg Dreisewerd (Ellisville, MO/MICDS) in the 200-backstroke in 1:53.93 and JP McCann (Houston, TX/Westside) in the 200-breaststroke in 2:07.23.  S&T's second team in the 400-freestyle relay – consisting of Eli Wetzel (Springdale, AR/Don Tyson School of Innovation), Dreisewerd, Oskar Fridsell (Solna, Sweden/Solna Gymnasium) and Oscar Iden (Oslo, Norway/Oslo Private Gymnasium) – ended up fifth in the B-final in 3:05.61.

The Miners had closed the gap on Lewis to 15 points heading into Saturday, but the Flyers outscored the Miners by 33 points in the competition on the last day to remain in fourth.  Indianapolis repeated as the conference champion as it held off McKendree and Drury, winning by 13 points over McKendree and by a 22.5-point margin over the Panthers. 

The NCAA will announce the competitors for the national championship meet – which will take place in Geneva, Ohio beginning March 12 – on Wednesday, Feb. 28.