EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Missouri S&T's swimming team produced two school records, a second place finish and five new NCAA Division II provisional qualifying marks Thursday night as the Great Lakes Valley Conference Championships reached the midway point with the Miners remaining in fifth place in the standings.

Connor Bichsel (Lee's Summit, MO/Lee's Summit West) finished second in an event for the second day in succession, placing second in the 400-yard individual medley with his record time of 3:48.75 that broke his own mark set earlier this season by better than two seconds.  The mark also fell less than a second off of the automatic qualifying standard for the NCAA Division II Championships.

The other school record fell in the 400-yard medley relay where the team of Aidan Walters (Olathe, KS/Olathe East), Noah Clancy (Alton, IL/Alton), Nate Baxter (St. Charles, IL/St. Charles North) and Adam Wiedemeier (West Monroe, LA/West Monroe) shattered the previous standard by more than two seconds with a time of 3:11.06.  The time, which was good for fourth, also fell under the NCAA provisional standard and was highlighted by Wiedemeier's anchor leg of 43.54 seconds.

S&T also had two top-eight finishers in the 200-yard freestyle on Thursday, led by Wiedemeier's fourth place finish in 1:37.42.  Wiedemeier's time was an improvement on his previous NCAA provisional mark, while Walters made one in the event by finishing seventh in 1:38.49 and Kevin Williams (Houston, TX/Westside) also did so in the C-final, where he took second in 1:39.39.

Baxter placed 12^th in the 100-yard butterfly in a time of 48.38 – which made an NCAA provisional mark – while Oscar Iden (Oslo, Norway/Oslo Private Gymnasium) improved his provisional time in that event in tying for first in the C-final in a 48.45 seconds.

Jay Mercer (Kansas City, MO/Whitefield Academy) scored in the B-final of the 400-IM with his time of 4:05.35, as did Martin Melinder (Upplands Vasby, Sweden) in the C-final in 4:04.25.  S&T's second 400-medley relay team of Oskar Fridsell (Solna, Sweden/Solna Gymnasium), Jordan Christensen (Coralville, IA/Iowa West), Iden and Eli Wetzel (Springdale, AR/Don Tyson School of Innovation) had a time of 3;17.04 to finish fourth in the B-final.

The Miners trail Lewis by 35 points heading into Friday's competition, with those two well behind the top three in the team competition.  Indianapolis has 785 points and holds a 50-point advantage over McKendree and a 74-point lead over Drury.

Friday's meet will feature competition in the 500-yard freestyle, 100-yard backstroke, 100-yard breaststroke, 200-yard butterfly and 200-yard freestyle relay.