KIRKSVILLE, Mo. – Make it four in a row for Missouri S&T's men's track & field team, as the Miners captured the Great Lakes Valley Conference's outdoor championship for a fourth successive year with a dominant final day at the conference meet in Kirksville, Mo.

The Miners, who entered the final day with a two-point advantage over Lewis, extended that margin throughout the afternoon to become the third team in GLVC history to capture four consecutive championships, joining Southern Illinois Edwardsville and Indianapolis on that plateau.  SIUE won five straight title from 2004-08, then UIndy won four in a row from 2010-13.

S&T got conference titles Saturday from Paulvin Horton (Raleigh, NC/Garner) – who cleared his own school record in the triple jump with a leap of 49-2¼ -- Rhet Liley (Jackson, MO/Jackson) in the javelin with a mark of 198-11, Lucas Rackers (Florissant, MO/St. Louis University HS) in the 1,500-meters in an NCAA Division II provisional qualifying time of 3:48.73 and Kyle Burke (Plainfield, IL/Plainfield) in the 110-meter hurdles in a season-best 14.26 seconds.

In addition, the 4x100-meter relay team of Kyle Burke (Plainfield, IL/Plainfield), Sam Wright (Hillsboro, MO/Hillsboro), Reece Johnson (Festus, MO/Festus) and Samuel Schmidt gave S&T the title in that event for the second year in succession in a season-best 41.07 seconds.

The Miners won nine titles during the three-day meet, including a win in the hammer throw Thursday by Jacob Luebbert (Warsaw, MO/Warsaw) and wins Friday from Owen Fraser (Kirksville, MO/Kirksville) in the discus, Isaac Pollard (Lindale, TX/Lindale) in the pole vault and Otto Knittel (Spring Hill, KS/Spring Hill) in the decathlon.  S&T finished with a total of 226 points to finish 43 points ahead of Lewis and well ahead of third place Indianapolis, leading to Miner head coach Shaun Meinecke being selected as the GLVC's Coach of the Year.

S&T dominated matters in the javelin with five of the top eight finishers, as Liley was followed by Dawson Sherer (Galena, MO/Galena) in second at 195-11, Matthew Hoffman (Reading, PA/Exeter Township) in fourth at 179-8, Justis Braden (Liberty, MO/Liberty North) in fifth at 174-2 and Landon Oelschlaeger (Ballwin, MO/Lafayette) in eighth place with a mark of 165-5.

Horton added a second place finish on the day in the high jump as he cleared 6-5½, while second place showing were also recorded by Fraser in the discus with a mark of 166-8, Wright in the 400-meter hurdles in 54.19 seconds and Henry Born (Lake Quivira, KS/Shawnee Mission Northwest) in the 5,000-meters in 14:36.17.

Third place finishes came courtesy of Schmidt in the 100-meters in 10.64 seconds and 200-meters in 21.67 seconds, while Born was fourth in the 1,500 in 3:51.10 as was Nathan Apple (Louisburg, KS/Louisburg) in the 110-hurdles in 14.72 seconds.

Tyler Marchert (Frankfort, IL/Lincoln-Way East) had a fifth place showing in the discus at 147-11 as did Luke Myzska in the 110-hurdles in 14.93 seconds, Andrew Bacon (Webster Groves, MO/Webster Groves) in the 800-meters with a time of 1:54.63.  Rackers added on a sixth place performance in the 5,000-meters in 14:45.35.

Johnson took seventh in the 100-meters in 10.79 seconds and Burke was seventh in the 200-meters in 22.03 seconds, while the 4x400-meter relay team consisting of Ethan Ptacek (Louisburg, KS/Louisburg), Wright, Michael Pate (Wildwood, MO/Lafayette) and Knittel finished seventh in 3:23.19.  S&T added an eighth place showing from DJ Carter in the discus with a mark of 143-2.