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March 31, 2008

Wieberg named as GLVC "Player of the Week"

For the third time this season, a member of the Missouri S&T softball team has been named as the Great Lakes Valley Conference's "Player of the Week" as senior second baseman Kandi Wieberg is this week's selection.

Wieberg batted .464 in eight Lady Miner contests last week, in which S&T won six including four-of-four in GLVC play over Bellarmine and Northern Kentucky. She had 13 hits in 28 at bats in the eight contests with seven runs scored, three home runs, four runs batted in from the leadoff spot in the lineup and one double.

In Sunday's doubleheader sweep at Northern Kentucky, Wieberg was five-of-seven with three runs scored and two runs batted in. She is currently hitting .384 on the season with 10 home runs and 31 runs scored.

The Lady Miners, 18-11 overall and 9-1 in the GLVC, will host conference leader Lewis Saturday at noon at the S&T Softball Field.

Lady Miners to host Pizza Day at Saturday's home twinbill

The Missouri S&T softball team will host Pizza Day Saturday afternoon when it plays host to Lewis University in a key Great Lakes Valley Conference doubleheader at the S&T Softball Field.

Free pizza -- while supplies last -- will be available to fans attending the noon doubleheader with the Flyers that begins at noon at the S&T Softball Field. The pizza will provided by Papa John's, a member of the Miners Corporate Club, and will be served between games of the twinbill.

The Lady Miners and Lewis will enter Saturday's doubleheader as the top two teams in the GLVC, as Lewis is in first place with a 6-0 record followed by the Lady Miners at 9-1. Admission to the games is free.

March 30, 2008

Lady Miners wrap up road trip with sweep at NKU

HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. -- The Missouri S&T softball team wrapped up a successful road trip with another doubleheader sweep Sunday, as it won a pair from Northern Kentucky by scores of 12-4 and 4-1.

The wins extended the 18-11 Lady Miners' winning streak to five games and moved them to 9-1 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference heading into Saturday's showdown with league leader Lewis at the S&T Softball Field.

S&T jumped on top in the opening inning of game one when Emily Tucker belted a three-run homer, then added a run in the second when an error following a hit by Rachel Wilkinson allowed Becky Davis to score.

After NKU cut the lead in half with a pair of runs off Jen O'Hara in the second, S&T put four on the board in the fourth. Kandi Wieberg started the rally with a solo homer with one out in the inning, then a hit by Wilkinson was followed by a run scoring double by Kelsey Musselman. Kristen Drage and Coley Naughton added RBIs before the inning ended.

The Norse scored twice in the bottom half of the fourth, but the Lady Miners scored four more runs in the fifth to help bring about a close to the game due to the eight-run rule. Wieberg's RBI single started the scoring, then after she stole second, Wilkinson drove her home with a hit. Drage's two-run double later in the inning closed out the scoring.

S&T had 15 hits in game one to back O'Hara, with Wieberg, Wilkinson and Tucker all getting three apiece. Tucker drove in three runs as did Drage, who had two hits along with Davis in the opener.

The Lady Miners took the lead in game two on Katie Smith's RBI single in the second, but the Norse tied the game on a squeeze bunt in the fourth. S&T answered the Norse run with three in the fifth to take the lead for good.

With two outs, Musselman and Tucker reached base with hits, then Drage ripped a three-run homer off April Ehlers to give S&T a 4-1 lead. Ashley Wallingford took care of matters from there as she pitched around a hit in the fifth and then got Stephanie West to hit into a double play to end the game in the seventh.

Drage had two of S&T's 10 hits and finished the day by driving in six runs. Wieberg and Musselman also had two hits apiece for the Lady Miners. In the circle, Wallingford recorded a season-high nine strikeouts and allowed just six hits to pick up her third straight win.

Miners' Groom makes provisional mark in javelin throw

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Heath Groom, who did not compete for the Missouri S&T track and field team last season while recovering from an injury, showed everyone that he is back in a big way.

Groom finished second in the javelin throw Saturday at the Alabama Relays with a throw of 204-9, which easily cleared the NCAA Division II provisional qualifying mark and came close to the automatic mark in the event. The automatic mark is 209-11.

He is the second Miner to reach an NCAA provisional mark, joining pole vaulter Jared Anders who made his qualifying mark last week at Washington University.

After Groom's performance, the highest individual finish in the first two days came from Joffroi Holcombe in the 10,000-meters where he posted a time of 32:35.02 to place third on Friday night. Jordan Henry finished fourth in the invitational pole vault event with a mark of 15-3 and Ian Packard had a fifth place effort in the 400-meters in 48.56 seconds, narrowly missing the provisional mark in that event.

Peter Hollenbeck took sixth in the pole vault at 15-3 as was Kal-El Waters-Jones in the triple jump where he had a mark of 45-9. Grant Brown was seventh in the 10,000-meters in 34:37.56, the same place where Allen Ernst finished in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a mark of 10:02.82 and Jeremiah Johnson in the shot put with a mark of 45-9 3/4. Johnson also had an eighth place finish in the discus throw of 127-4.

Jeff Pike had a 10th place finish in the triple jump at 42-11 3/4 as was Lucas Jaster in the shot put with a throw of 42-9 3/4.

In the relays, the Miners' top finish came from its 4x1500-meter relay team of Brendan Smith, Thomas Green, Ernst and Brandon Etzold, which placed second in the event behind Indiana with a time of 16:38.36.

Ben Hicks recorded a time of 16:38.56 in the 5,000-meters while Kurt Schauwecker finished with a time of 16:47.17.

Packard had a strong showing in the 200-meters with a time of 21.97 seconds to take second in his flight, while Mike Wilson had a time of 22.58 in his heat. Wilson also had a time of 11.05 seconds and Brett Vessell a mark of 11.20 seconds in the 100-meter dash.

Etzold posted a time of 1:56.18 in the 800-meters and Smith had a mark of 1:56.85 in the event, while Green had a time of 4:02.05 in the 1,500-meters. Wes Everhart had a mark of 155-11 in the javelin throw to finish 14th.

The Miners' 4x400-meter relay team finished seventh in a time of 3:19.96 and had a fourth place showing in the sprint medley relay with a time of 3:34.28.

Saturday's results from Alabama

McCaskill ties high jump record to make NCAA provisional mark

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- The Lady Miner track and field team got a second NCAA Division II provisional qualifier Saturday as Tamara McCaskill made the mark in the high jump at the Alabama Relays.

McCaskill cleared 1.70 meters, or 5-7, in the event to surpass the provisional mark, of 1.68 meters to take second place in the event to South Alabama's Nicole Knox who won it with a mark of 5-8 3/4.

McCaskill tied the school record in the event with her 5-7 performance and joins Taylor Hahn as the Lady Miners' provisional qualifers in the early stages of the 2008 outdoor season.

The Lady Miners also got a fifth place finish from Jamie Statler in the pole vault with a mark of 10-11 3/4, while Leah Morehead and Sarah Zaremba were ninth and tenth, respectively, with clearances of 10-feet.

On Saturday, Rebecca McNally finished 15th in the 5,000-meters with a time of 20:41.68 and Dana Narconis was three spots behind her in 20:52.54.

Aubrey Moore, who ran a 59.65 in the 400-meters Sunday, had a time of 12.88 seconds and Kendra Lewis a time of 12.98 seconds in the 100-meter dash; Moore also had a 26.29 and Lewis a 26.31 in the 200-meters. Hillary Griffith also had a sub-27 second time in the event at 26.76 seconds as did Katie Bruce at 26.98 seconds.

Kierra Handley posted a time of 2:22.68 in the 800-meters, while Samantha Schussele came in at 2:29.51 and Teresa Conley in 2:29.94 in the event. Hannah Terwelp posted a mark of 108-1 in the hammer throw.

Saturday's results from Alabama

March 29, 2008

Wallingford's no-hitter wraps up S&T sweep at Bellarmine

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Ashley Wallingford

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- The Missouri S&T softball team got two strong pitching performances -- including the team's first no-hitter in three seasons -- to win a pair of Great Lakes Valley Conference games Saturday at Bellarmine.

Jen O'Hara threw a three-hit shutout to give the Lady Miners a 1-0 win in eight innings in the opener, then Ashley Wallingford followed by throwing a no-hitter in the nightcap to complete the sweep as S&T blasted the Knights 13-0 in game two.

O'Hara was locked in a pitcher's dual with Bellarmine's Casey Willard in the opener, as the teams traded zeroes for the first seven innings. The Lady Miners missed a good scoring chance in the fourth with two on and nobody out, but couldn't advance the runners beyond first and second.

Meanwhile, the Knights had just five baserunners in the first seven innings, but only one of those runners made it as far as second.

In the eighth, Wallingford came up as a pinch-hitter and reached on an error. Another error on a ball hit by Kandi Wieberg put runners on first and third, then an infield single by Rachel Wilkinson loaded the bases. Kelsey Musselman followed by breaking up the scoreless game with a hit to left to bring in Wallingford.

O'Hara hit a batter with one out in the eighth, but got two ground balls to finish off the three-hit shutout.

Wilkinson and Musselman had three hits apiece and Becca Kueny added two for S&T in game one.

The Lady Miners wasted no time in getting the lead in game two against Willard, as Wieberg led off the game with a home run to put S&T ahead. Later in the inning, Emily Tucker delivered an RBI single to put the Lady Miners up by two.

S&T added three more runs in the third on run scoring hits by Kassi Deibert and Kueny and a sacrifice fly off the bat of Coley Naughton, then the Lady Miners busted the game wide open with eight runs in the fifth.

Wieberg hit her second home run of the game to start the scoring, then Musselman belted her league-leading 11th homer two batters later. Krista Porterfield and Wilkinson also delivered hits that scored two runs apiece during a frame in which the Lady Miners sent 13 batters to the plate.

In the meantime, Wallingford was mowing down the Knights as just one runner reached base in five innings; that hitter reached on a two-out error in the third.

Wallingford's no-hitter was the first by a Lady Miner pitcher since Renee Roberts threw one against Northern State on March 11, 2005. The Lady Miners' doubleheader sweep by shutout was the first of its kind since March 16, 2006 against Minnesota-Crookston.

S&T (16-11, 7-1 GLVC) will play at Northern Kentucky Sunday.

Twice as nice: S&T throws pair of shutouts at Hawks

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Matt Campbell

The Miners got more solid pitching Saturday and got better end results for it than on Friday, as they swept a doubleheader from Rockhurst at the Missouri S&T Baseball Field by scores of 1-0 and 4-0.

S&T, which had dropped a 2-1 decision to the Hawks Friday, posted a doubleheader sweep where both wins were shutouts for the just the third time in school history. The Miners had pulled the feat off in 1969 and most recently in 1980 against Maryville University; they had never done it in a conference twinbill until Saturday.

Brian Rickert threw a complete game five-hitter in the opener, then Matt Campbell matched that performance in the second game to improve the Miners' mark to 11-13 overall and 5-6 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference.

Rickert got the only run he would need in the opening inning when Yaimel Javier-Cury hit a sacrifice fly to score Andrew Vance with what turned out to be the only run of the contest. The senior hurler then worked his way out of a bases loaded, none out situation in the second.

Rickert got a ground ball that led to a force out at the plate for the first out, then fanned Nick Troilo and got Zack Troilo to ground out to third to escape the jam. Rockhurst also had two runners in scoring position in the fourth, but Rickert got a strikeout to get out of that inning.

The Miners had three hits in the first game.

In the second game, the Miners broke on top in the opening inning again. Vance drew a leadoff walk, went to third on a hit by Zac Carter and scored on a sacrifice fly by Thomas McCormick.

S&T added to its lead with runs in the fourth on an RBI double by Louie Joseph to score Brandon Cogan, the sixth when Robby Martin scored on a wild pitch after getting a leadoff double and in the eighth when Martin doubled again and came in to score on two balks by Hawk reliever Michael Bell.

Campbell, meanwhile, kept Rockhurst in check all afternoon as it had only one inning in which more than one runner reached base. In that instance, the Hawks tried a double steal that the Miners' snuffed out when Cory Coquillard was thrown out at the plate.

Campbell struck out five and also got errorless defense behind him, with the Miners making two double plays to escape trouble.

S&T had 10 hits in game two, with Carter, Javier-Cury and Martin getting two apiece.

The Miners and Hawks will wrap up their four-game weekend series with a single game Sunday starting at noon.

March 28, 2008

Hawks get better of Miners in low scoring affair

The Miners got a good pitching effort from starter Andrew Page Friday, but couldn't generate enough offense to support his efforts as Rockhurst came away with a 2-1 win in the opening game of the four-game weekend series at the Missouri S&T Baseball Field.

Rockhurst got single runs in the third and seventh innings, which turned out to be all it would need. The Miners closed the gap to one in the ninth on an RBI hit by Yaimel Javier-Cury, but Hawk closer Frank Allen retired the next two hitters to secure the win.

The Hawks scored in the third on a double play with the bases loaded that brought in Nick Troilo, then Rick Pisani delivered a two-out to score Tyler Knust in the seventh.

Page left the game after the seventh after giving up nine hits but striking out eight. Kyle Griffin got the Miners out of a bases loaded, one out jam in the eighth and then stranded two more runners in the ninth as the Hawks left 15 runners on base in the game.

Thomas McCormick led off the ninth with a triple into the right field corner, then scored on a one-out hit by Javier-Cury. However, Allen got a pair of pop-ups to end the rally and send the Miners to 9-13 overall and 3-6 in GLVC play.

Javier-Cury and Drew Davenport had two hits apiece for the Miners, who had seven in the contest.

S&T and Rockhurst (10-15, 4-5 GLVC) will play a doubleheader Saturday at noon, then conclude the series with a single game Sunday.

March 27, 2008

Wallingford's shutout gives S&T split in Tennessee

HARROGATE, Tenn. -- After dropping the first game of Thursday's doubleheader at Lincoln Memorial in extra innings, the Lady Miners got a gem from sophomore Ashley Wallingford in the nightcap to get a 5-0 to gain a split of the twinbill.

Lincoln Memorial scored a run in the bottom of the eighth to take game one 5-4.

MIssouri S&T got on the board in the second game in the fourth inning when Becca Kueny singled; an error by the centerfielder allowed Katie Smith to come in to score.

Staked to the lead, Wallingford induced a double play ball to overcome a leadoff hit in the bottom of the fourth, then got two strikeouts in the sixth after the first two runners reached base to help her escape that jam and keep the 1-0 lead.

She got some breathing room in the seventh when Katie Smith hit a grand slam to push the lead out to the eventual 5-0 margin.

Wallingford allowed just four hits and struck out four to even her record at 6-6. Kandi Wieberg had three hits for S&T and Smith had two that included the grand slam.

In the first game, the Lady Miners rallied twice from two-run deficits to draw even, only to see LMU win the game in the bottom of the eighth.

The Railsplitters scored single runs off Jen O'Hara in the first and third innings, but S&T drew even in the fifth. Rachel Wilkinson and Kelsey Musselman opened the inning with back-to-back doubles to cut the lead in half, then a one-out single by Smith brought Musselman in with the tying run.

LMU moved back in front in the bottom half of the inning on Sara Henn's two-run homer, but the Lady Miners answered by tying it back up in the sixth when Wilkinson doubled in two. However, S&T couldn't get the lead despite having the bases loaded with one out as a strikeout and a fielder's choice ended the inning.

With the international tie-breaker rule in effect in the eighth, the Lady Miners were unable to push a run across. Lincoln Memorial then won it when Amanda Wampler led off with a hit down the line in right to score the winning run.

Wilkinson had three hits for the Lady Miners while Smith and Becca Kueny had two hits apiece. S&T had 11 hits in game one.

The Lady Miners (14-11) will be idle Friday before resuming Great Lakes Valley Conference play Saturday against Bellarmine in Louisville, Ky.

Booster Club to hold trivia night and auction April 26

The Missouri S&T Athletic Booster Club will hold a trivia night and silent auction on Saturday, April 26 at the Lion's Club Den in Rolla.

The event will begin at 6:30 p.m. with the start of the silent auction bidding and the trivia portion of the contest will begin at 7 p.m.

Teams of eight can take part in the event and the cost to participate is $100 per table. A cash bar will be provided at the event, but participants will need to bring their own snacks.

The net proceeds from the event is designed to provide essential support for the men’s and women’s athletic teams at Missouri S&T.

For more information on the event, contact Booster Club president Robin Witzke at 573-308-7199 or Frank Bridges at 573-308-7272. For information on auction items, contact Nancy Lentz at 573-364-2478.

March 26, 2008

Lady Miners open trip with doubleheader split

WILLIAMSBURG, Ky. -- The Missouri S&T softball team opened its reconstructed spring break trip with a doubleheader split Wednesday, as they took the first of two games with West Alabama by the score of 7-3. The Tigers game two 4-1.

The doubleheader with West Alabama, as well as Thursday's at Lincoln Memorial, were brought about after the original games at Grand Valley State, Wayne State (Mich.) and Ashland were cancelled due to field conditions. S&T picked up the two mid-week doubleheaders to replace them prior to resuming conference play Saturday at Bellarmine.

S&T never trailed in the first game, scoring runs in each of the first three innings and tacking on single runs in the sixth and seventh. The Lady Miners put two runs across in the opening inning when Kandi Wieberg was able to score on a sacrifice fly on a ball caught by the second baseman, then Emily Tucker followed with an RBI single to bring in Rachel Wilkinson.

West Alabama scored in the bottom half of the inning, but Becca Kueny belted a leadoff homer in the second to put S&T up 3-1. The Lady Miners got two more runs in the third on RBI hits by Becky Davis and Melissa Ruth.

After the Tigers closed the margin to three after five innings, the Lady Miners got an unearned run in the sixth after a two-out error extended the inning for Tucker to drive in Wilkinson. Kueny then belted her second home run of the game in the seventh for the final margin.

Jen O'Hara got the win for the Lady Miners to improve to 6-0 on the season. Wilkinson had three of S&T's 12 hits, while Tucker and Kueny had two each.

In the nightcap, S&T was held scoreless until the sixth inning when Coley Naughton singled in Kristen Drage. West Alabama scored a run in the fourth, two in the fifth and one in the seventh off starter Ashley Wallingford.

Wieberg and Musselman had two hits apiece for S&T, which finished the day with a record of 13-10.

March 25, 2008

Miners bounce back to gain split with Hornets

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Zac Carter

After a ragged performance in the first game of a doubleheader that ended in a 4-1 loss to Harris-Stowe, the Missouri S&T baseball team used a big second inning and solid relief pitching to take a 7-5 victory in the nightcap to gain a split of the doubleheader.

The Miners scored six runs in the second inning to take a 6-1 lead in game two, then after the Hornets closed the gap to one in the third, S&T relievers David Birkby and Brian Rickert closed out the win by allowing just one hit and striking out six over the final four innings. Birkby was credited with the win and Rickert earned his second save of the season.

S&T's six-run rally started with two hit batters and a bloop single to load the bases with nobody out. Colt Johnson then hit a double off the fence in left center to bring home two runs to put S&T up 2-1. An groundout by Louie Joseph scored the third run of the inning, then Johnson was waved home on a balk by Hornet pitcher Jake Motta.

Later in the inning, after Andrew Vance walked and worked his way to third with a stolen base and a wild pitch, Zac Carter singled into center to score him. Carter would come around to score on a sacrifice fly by Yaimel Javier-Cury to close the scoring in the second.

Harris-Stowe scored four times off starter Kyle Griffin in the third, but the Miners were able to hold the lead and tacked on an additional run in the fifth on another RBI hit by Carter.

Carter and Johnson had two hits and two runs batted in apiece in the second game as the Miners finished with nine hits.

In game one, the Miners jumped on top in the third when Thomas McCormick reached on a fielder's choice that scored Joseph. S&T had a chance for more in the inning as it had the bases loaded with one out, but a double play brought about by an interference call halted that chance.

Jordan Buck shut out the Hornets over the first four innings, but Harris-Stowe touched Matt Campbell for a run in the fifth on a two-out infield single, then took advantage of a throwing error that brought in the go-ahead runs in the sixth.

S&T had just four hits in the opener with Joseph getting two of the singles.

The Miners (9-12) will return to action Friday when they host Rockhurst in the opening game of a four-game weekend series at the S&T Baseball Field. Game time will be at 2 p.m.; the teams will also play a doubleheader Saturday and a single contest Sunday.

Anders, Hahn land GLVC Athlete of the Week awards

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Jared Anders
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Taylor Hahn

Missouri S&T had two of its pole vaulters reach the NCAA Division II provisional qualifying standard in its first outdoor meet of the season Friday and those performances have landed each of them the Great Lakes Valley Conference "Athlete of the Week" award.

Jared Anders, who cleared 16-2 3/4 to win the pole vault competition at Washington University and Taylor Hahn, who set the women's school record at 11-9 3/4 in the same meet, were honored by the GLVC Tuesday for their efforts.

Anders, a junior from Quincy, Ill., cleared the same height at Washington University as he did a week earlier in the process of finishing seventh at the NCAA Divison II Indoor Championships. His mark of 16-2 3/4 was good enough to make the provisional mark and win the competition in the meet.

Hahn also reached the provisional standard in a winning performance as she broke her own school record by two inches. A junior from Salem, Ill., Hahn was competing for the first time since winning the GLVC indoor title in the pole vault.

The Miners and Lady Miners will compete this weekend in the Alabama Relays in Tuscaloosa, Ala.

March 22, 2008

Lady Miners split doubleheader with defending national champs

The Lady Miner softball team had limited offensive production Saturday against the defending national champions, but did make the most of one hit to get a split of the doubleheader with Southern Illinois Edwardsville at the S&T Softball Field.

Kelsey Musselman's three-run homer in the bottom of the sixth broke a scoreless tie in the opener and helped Missouri S&T take a 3-1 decision in the first game, while 13th-ranked SIUE took the nightcap 4-0.

The Lady Miners and Cougars were locked in a scoreless game with just five hits between them through the first five innings of game one. SIUE got runners to second and third with two outs in the sixth, but S&T pitcher Jen O'Hara induced a ground out off the bat of Lindsay Longfellow to keep the game even.

With one out in the bottom of the inning, Kassi Deibert singled past third baseman Lauren Zembruski for S&T's first hit since the first inning. Kandi Wieberg followed by drawing a walk, then the runners moved up on a ground out by Rachel Wilkinson.

The Cougars elected to pitch to Musselman with first base open and the senior third baseman belted a pitch from SIUE All-America pitcher Kaitlin Colosimo over the gate in left center to put the Lady Miners in front 3-0.

The Lady Miners had to get through a jam in the top of the seventh to lock up the win. After Mallory Ruggles hit a leadoff homer to get the Cougars on the board, Christina Signore reached with an infield hit. O'Hara got the next two hitters, then walked Zembruski on a 3-2 pitch to put the tying run on base.

However, Ashley Price was called out on strikes to end the game and give S&T its fifth win in GLVC play.

The second game took a similar pattern to the first game for the first four innings, then the Cougars broke the ice in the fifth when Zembruski blooped a two-out single to center to score Longfellow, who had doubled to open the frame.

SIUE broke the game open in the sixth by scoring three times, a rally aided by an error, to hand starter Erika Taylor a four-run lead.

Taylor held the Lady Miners hitless until two were out in the sixth, when Musselman singled through the hole between third and short. Emily Tucker followed with a hit, but Taylor got one of her 13 strikeouts to escape S&T's best scoring chance.

The Lady Miners (12-9, 5-1 GLVC) are scheduled to make a road trip to Michigan, Ohio and Kentucky during the spring break, starting with a doubleheader Tuesday at Grand Valley State.

Baseball team drops pair to NKU

The Missouri S&T baseball team struggled for offense in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader with Northern Kentucky, then couldn't recover from an early deficit in the second game as the Norse took both Great Lakes Valley Conference games by scores of 5-0 and 12-5 at the S&T Baseball Field.

After the teams played scoreless ball over the first four innings of the opener, the Norse broke through in the fifth against Miner starter David Birkby when Aaron Mentz hit a leadoff homer. NKU then knocked out the Miner starter an inning later after Kevin Dusold delivered a two-run double to make it 3-0.

The Norse would add another run in the inning and one in the seventh to back the four-hit pitching of Ryan Schmidt. Thomas McCormick had two of the Miners' four hits in game one.

In game two, the Norse scored in the first only to see the Miners answer in the bottom half of the frame on Yaimel Javier-Cury's sacrifice fly that scored Gerad Fox.

However, the Norse got a leadoff homer from Jon Back off S&T starter Matt Campbell in the third, then Jack Ambrose belted a three-run homer later in what turned out to be a five-run inning for the Norse to give them a 6-1 lead.

S&T cut into the lead with single runs in the third on a run-scoring triple by McCormick and in the fourth on an RBI double by Andrew Vance. But the Norse put the game away by putting four more runs on the board in the fifth, stringing together six hits in the frame to extend the lead to 10-3.

The Miners did get a leadoff homer from Zac Carter in the fifth and an RBI single from Vance in the eighth for their other two runs.

S&T had 13 hits in game two, with Vance and Louie Joseph getting three apiece and McCormick and Carter two each.

The Miners (8-11, 3-5 GLVC) will host Harris-Stowe in a non-conference doubleheader Tuesday at the S&T Baseball Field before opening a four-game weekend series with Rockhurst Friday in Rolla.

March 21, 2008

Miners' Anders hit provisional mark in pole vault in outdoor opener

ST. LOUIS, Mo. -- Jared Anders, who earned All-America honors in the pole vault just a week ago, cleared the NCAA Division II provisional qualifying mark for the outdoor season in the Miners' first such meet of the season Friday at Washington University.

Anders won the event with a clearance of 16-2 3/4, the same height he cleared a week ago when he finished seventh at the NCAA Division II Indoor Championships in Mankato, Minn.

Other wins for Missouri S&T came from Josh Hesse in the hammer throw with a mark of 132-10, Thomas Green in the 1,500-meters with a time of 4:05.67 and Brett Vessell in the 100-meters in 11.01 seconds as the Miners won the team competition with a total of 201 points.

Peter Hollenbeck was second in the pole vault with a clearance of 15-5, as was Kal-El Waters-Jones in the long jump at 21-2, Jeremiah Johnson in the discus throw at 126-11, Heath Groom in the javelin throw at 178 feet, Lucas Jaster and Hesse in the shot put where they tied at 44-11 and Nick Windhorst was second in the high jump with a clearance of 5-7.

In the running events, Brendan Smith came in second place in the 3,000-meter run with a time of 9:04.02 and Brandon Etzold did so in the 800-meters in 1:57.29.

Third place finishes were posted by Jeff Pole in the triple jump at 45-0 1/4, Wes Everhart in the javelin throw at 150-1, Etzold in the 1,500-meters at 4:09.90, Allen Ernst in the 3,000-meters in 9:11.32, Ian Packard in the 400-meters in 49.96 seconds and Paul Roland in the 800-meters in 1:58.07.

Waters-Jones was fourth in the triple jump with a mark of 42-11, as was Jaster in the discus throw at 123 feet and hammer throw at 109-4 and Charles Melton in the 200-meters in 22.36 seconds, while Grant Brown had a fifth place showing in the 3,000-meters with a time of 9:14.81 as did Mike Wilson in the 100-meters in 11.14 seconds.

Andrew Moore was sixth in the long jump at 19-4 3/4 as was Johnson in the shot put at 43-5.

The Miners' 4x400-meter relay team placed second in that race with a time of 3:23.39 and the 4x100-meter relay team finished with a time of 43.46 seconds.

The Miners will compete next weekend at the Alabama Relays in Tuscaloosa, Ala.

Hahn reaches provisional pole vault mark at Wash U.

ST. LOUIS, Mo. -- Missouri S&T's Taylor Hahn reached the NCAA Division II provisional qualifying mark in the pole vault for the outdoor season Friday during the team's inaugural outdoor meet of the season at Washington University.

Hahn, a junior, broke the outdoor school record in the event with a mark of 11-9 3/4 in the pole vault, which matches the NCAA Division II provisional mark. Hahn reached the provisional mark during the recently completed indoor season as well.

The Lady Miners had three of the top five finishers in the pole vault Friday, as Jamie Statler was second at a career-best 11-5 3/4 and Leah Moreland came in fifth at 10-6.

Kendra Lewis recorded a second place effort in the 100-meter dash with a time of 12.53 seconds and Hillary Griffith was third in the event in 12.60 seconds. Kierra Handley also had a second place finish Friday in the 800-meters with a time of 2:21.56

Hannah Terwelp took third in the hammer throw with a mark of 119-1; she was also sixth in the shot put later in the day with a mark of 35-6 1/2. Sarah Stach took fourth in the long jump with a mark of 14-11 1/4 as did Teresa Conley in the 1,500-meters in 5:28.51

Fifth place finishes came from Samantha Schussele in the 800-meters in 2:35.63, Aubrey Moore in the 200-meters in 26.04 seconds and Maggie Mawhiney in the 100-meter hurdles in 17.76 seconds.

The Lady Miners' 4x100-meter relay team posted a time of 49.54 seconds and the 4x400-meter relay team had a time of 4:14.15.

The Lady Miners, who finished third as a team at the meet, will compete in the Alabama Relays next weekend in Tuscaloosa, Ala.

Late heroics give Lady Miners sweep of home opener

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Kelsey Musselman

The Lady Miners staged a late inning rally Friday afternoon to complete a sweep of their Great Lakes Valley Conference doubleheader over Quincy University at the S&T Softball Field, taking the games by scores of 3-2 in eight innings and 8-4.

S&T was held to three hits in the first game by Quincy's Torie Bunzell, but all three hits drove in runs and the last was a walk-off home run by Kelsey Musselman in the eighth. Musselman hit her ninth home run of the season on a 1-0 pitch as she lofted a fly ball to left that Hawk leftfielder Emly Clark went over the fence and got a glove on it, but couldn't keep it in the park as she crashed into the barrier.

The Lady Miners took the lead initially in the first inning when Emily Tucker doubled off the fence to bring home Kandi Wieberg, then after the Hawks tied it in the third, regained the lead in the bottom half when Musselman singled off Bunzell's leg to score Becky Davis.

Quincy tied the game in the sixth when Clark hit a squibber to second and beat the throw to allow Megan Corey to score with two outs. Lady Miner starter Jen O'Hara got the Lady Miners out of the inning by fanning Mary Wiedman.

In her complete game effort, O'Hara scattered 11 hits and struck out three.

Quincy took the early lead in the second game on an RBI single by Jasmyn Wentland in the first, then the Lady Miners tied the score in the bottom half of the inning when Rachel Wilkinson belted a home run to left. However, Korby Paul delivered a two-run single in the third and Missy Weaver homered with two outs in the fifth to put the Hawks up 4-1.

S&T finally solved Bunzell, who got the start in game two as well, in the bottom half of the fifth to get the game knotted up. Wieberg bunted her way on with one out and Wilkinson walked, then Musselman singled into left center to bring in Wieberg. With the runners on second and third after advancing on the throw, Tucker hit a sinking liner that fell by a diving Clark to allow both runners to score and tie the contest at four.

The Lady Miners then won the game in the sixth, which started with a leadoff walk to Melissa Ruth. Paul replaced Bunzell in the circle, but struggled with her control as after a sacrifice bunt by Davis was successful, a pair of wild pitches allowed Ruth to score.

S&T wasn't done after getting the lead, as Wieberg walked, advanced on a wild pitch and scored on a hit by Wilkinson to give it a 6-4 lead. After Musselman was hit by a pitch, Tucker doubled into the gap to bring in the third run of the inning and another wild pitch moments later scored Musselman.

O'Hara got the win in relief as she threw 2 1/3 hitless innings with a strikeout. Tucker had three hits -- all doubles -- and three runs batted in to pace the offensive attack.

The Lady Miners improved to 11-8 overall and 4-0 in the GLVC with defending NCAA Division II champion Southern Illinois Edwardsville paying a visit to the S&T Softball Field Saturday afternoon. The twinbill between the Lady Miners and Cougars (18-6, 0-2 GLVC) will get underway at noon.

Miners rebound to earn twinbill split with NKU

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Thomas McCormick

After suffering a one-sided defeat in the opening game of its weekend series with Northern Kentucky, the Missouri S&T baseball team rebounded in a big way to start game two and gain a split of Friday's doubleheader at the S&T Baseball Field.

The Miners took the nightcap 7-4, thanks to four runs batted in from Thomas McCormick and a solid relief outing from Brian Rickert, after NKU routed the Miners 15-3 in game one.

S&T spotted the Norse a run in the first inning of the second game, but got to Norse starter Dave Middendorf right off the bat by scoring five times in the first.

Gerad Fox and Zac Carter opened the game with back-to-back doubles to tie the game, then Yaimel Javier-Cury drove in a run with one out to put S&T in front. After Cody Bass was hit by a pitch, Brandon Cogan delivered an RBI double to make it 3-1.

McCormick followed with the first of his two run-scoring hits in the nightcap as he brought home Bass and Cogan with a hit to stake starter Caleb Smith with a 5-1 lead.

Smith, however, got into trouble in the second as he allowed a leadoff double and a pair of walks to load the bases. Rickert entered the game and after allowing an RBI single to Brett Hofmann, got out of the inning without allowing another run.

From that point, Rickert didn't allow another hit until the fifth, by which time the Miners had extended their lead to 7-2.

S&T got those runs in the third when McCormick singled home a pair of runs after the Norse had made two errors ahead of it to put the runners in scoring position.

NKU got one run back in the sixth and scored another with two outs in the seventh, but Kyle Griffin got the final out to preserve the win.

The Miners had nine hits in the second game with Fox, Javier-Cury and McCormick having two apiece. Rickert gave up just four hits and struck out three in his five innings of relief work to get the victory.

In the opener, the Norse jumped on S&T starter Andrew Page for two runs in the first and added four unearned tallies in the third, then scored five times in the fifth and four in the sixth.

The Miners got their first run in the fourth when McCormick doubled in Javier-Cury, then McCormick blasted a two-run homer in the sixth for the other two runs.

McCormick finished the day with seven runs batted in and went four-of-seven at the plate.

The Miners (8-9) will host NKU (6-10) in another doubleheader Saturday starting at noon.

March 17, 2008

Lady Miners denied spot in Elite Eight by Northern Kentucky

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Tamara McCaskill

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Northern Kentucky’s Cassie Brannen all but single-handedly kept the Lady Miners from earning a spot in the Elite Eight Monday night.

The junior forward scored a game-high 25 points -- missing just one shot the entire night -- and sparked a decisive 15-3 run that led the Norse to a 60-52 victory over Missouri S&T in the championship game of the NCAA Division II Great Lakes Regional at Drury University.

NKU will move on to play Wingate in the national quarterfinals, while the Lady Miners’ season ended at 24-7.

The Lady Miners took an early 17-13 lead in the contest, then went into a six-minute scoring drought during which time NKU took its first lead of the game. Danyelle Echoles’ layup at the 8:36 mark put the Norse up 18-17.

S&T regrouped before the end of the half, however, getting a layin from Tamara McCaskill with 26 seconds left to tie it at 25.

After Jaime Forsberg’s three-pointer just over a minute into the second half gave S&T the lead, the teams swapped the lead for the next few minutes. Cassie Brannen’s layin at the 15:26 mark tied the score at 34, then the Lady Miners scored the next five points to take the lead.

Katie McElrath’s layin made it 39-34, but the Norse answered with six straight to go back in front. Katie Bunge got the lead back for the Lady Miners with a three-point play with 8:54 to go, but the Norse scored the next nine points, capped by a Jessie Slack three-pointer with 6:30 left to take a 49-42 advantage.

The Norse led by nine when Forsberg knocked down a three with 1:12 to play, making it 58-52 and S&T had a chance to get even closer with under a minute to go after rebounding an NKU miss, but turned the ball over on the outlet pass and Echoles sunk two at the line to all but ice the win for the Norse.

Bunge had a double-double in her final game as a Lady Miner with 15 points and 11 rebounds, while Forsberg also finished in double figures with 11. The Lady Miners shot just 34.5 percent from the field in the contest while NKU finished at 44.2 percent.

Bunge and McElrath were named to the all-tournament team along with Slack, Brannen -- who was selected as the most outstanding player -- and Quincy's Jessica Keller.

March 16, 2008

Miners split second doubleheader with Greyhounds

The Missouri S&T baseball team split another doubleheader Sunday with the University of Indianapolis at the S&T Baseball Field, holding off a pair of UIndy rally efforts in game one for a 7-5 win in the opener before the Greyhounds' Brandon Braboy blanked S&T on seven hits in a 3-0 win in game two.

The Miners broke on top in the first game with a pair of runs in the third, the first scoring on a wild pitch that allowed Gerad Fox to cross the plate. Later in the inning, Robby Martin delivered an RBI single to bring home Eaf Redden.

S&T extended its lead in the fourth when the Greyhounds committed two errors, the second of which allowed Cody Bass to come home. Indianapolis, however, cut into the lead in the bottom half of the inning when Ben Sondgeroth delivered a two-run single to make it 3-2.

The Miners answered that rally with a two-run fifth as Zac Carter and Bass each singled with two outs and came into score on a double by Drew Davenport.

Indianapolis came back with a pair of runs in the sixth when Seth Paul doubled home a run and later scored on a two-out single by Erik Rieker. Miner reliever Brian Rickert, who entered the game after the Paul double, struck out Dalan Dugger to get out of the inning and keep the Miners in the lead.

S&T tacked on two insurance runs in the seventh when Davenport singled home a run and Thomas McCormick brought in another with a fielder's choice.

David Birkby got the win for the Miners as he allowed just four hits in 5 1/3 innings of work. Rickert got the last five outs -- three on strikeouts -- for the save as he stranded the tying runs on base in the seventh.

In the nightcap, the Greyhounds scored two in the second off Miner starter Matt Campbell and added another run in the seventh, while Braboy kept S&T in check by pitching around three walks and seven hits to record the shutout.

The Miners lost a runner at the plate in the first, had a runner picked off in the second and hit into a double play in the fifth.

Campbell allowed seven hits and struck out four in 6 2/3 innings to take the loss.

The series, which was originally scheduled to be played in Indianapolis, was moved to Rolla due to field conditions in Indiana. Indianapolis served as the home team for all four games of the series.

S&T (7-8) will host Lincoln in a single game Wednesday at the S&T Baseball Field beginning at 2 p.m.

S&T's Grooms named as CSCAA national coach of year

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Doug Grooms (right) with S&T director
of athletics Mark Mullin

Missouri S&T swimming coach Doug Grooms, who guided the Miners to a second place finish at the NCAA Division II Swimming and Diving Championships over the weekend, was named as the College Swimming Coaches Association of America's national "Coach of the Year" for the 2007-08 season.

Grooms led the Miners to the highest team finish for any athletic team in the history of the program, as they finished behind only Drury at the national meet in Columbia, Mo. During the course of the meet, 12 of the 13 S&T swimmers at the meet earned All-America honors.

"Any time you win an award like that, it is an incredible feeling," Grooms said. "To be able to win such an award is due to the fact that the swimmers competed exceptionally well. The success they had put me in a position to win this honor and they deserve the credit."

The 12 swimmers earned a total of 33 All-America awards, seven honorable mention citatons and set nine school records during the course of the weekend.

In 10 years as the Miners' head coach, Grooms has led the Miners to a top 10 finish at the NCAA Division II Championships nine times; Missouri S&T finished fourth last season prior to this year's second place finish. He was an assistant coach in the program for six seasons prior to taking over as head coach and during that time, the Miners had finishes of eighth and third in the nation, the latter coming in 1998 which stood as the best team performance for S&T until this season.

March 15, 2008

#2 IN THE NATION! Miners ascend to second at NCAA Swimming Championships

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The Miners receive their second place
trophy at the NCAA Championships

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- During each day of the NCAA Division II Championships, the Missouri S&T swimming team kept moving up in the team standings, from sixth to fifth and then fourth heading into the final day.

On Saturday, the Miners jumped two more spots in the team standings to land the highest finish ever for a Miner athletic team at a national competition, as Missouri S&T took second place at the meet that concluded Saturday night.

S&T finished with 336 points in the meet, beating out third place West Chester by nearly 20 points to finish one spot higher than the previous best which came in 1998. Drury won the team competition with 523.5 points.

"We knew going in that our best days were going to be in the back half of the meet," said Miner head coach Doug Grooms. "We just had to stay patient. We were swimming extremely well and just had to stay with it.

"Our team went from sixth to fifth to fourth and we knew our last day was our strongest," Grooms added. "After we started out with two of the nine fastest swims in the 50-freestyle, the kids just fed off each other and followed suit."

The Miners' performance at the national meet helped earn Grooms the national coach of the year award from the College Swimming Coaches Association of America.

The Miners got a second place finish from freshman Zlatan Hamzic in the 200-yard breaststroke with a school record time of 1:58.55, as he finished second to Seattle's Jakub Jiracek who won his NCAA Division II record 11th national championship.

S&T also got fifth place finishes Saturday from Matt Hug in the 1,650-yard freestyle in 15:38.92 and David Sanchez-Turner in the 100-yard freestyle in 44.90 seconds, while getting a sixth from Jeff Enge in the 200-yard backstroke.

Enge, Kyle Kammer and Aaron Schmidt, who set the school record in the 200-backstroke at 1:49.54 in the preliminaries, all finished among the top eight in the event with time under 1:50; no Miner had cleared that mark prior to Saturday.

Kammer was seventh in the finals in 1:49.72 and Schmidt eighth in 1:49.93.

Andrew Trowbridge also landed All-America honors in the 1,650-freestyle with his mark of 15:45.39, while David Calcara also had a seventh place finish in the 200-breaststroke with a time of 2:04.31 and Kyle Gordon also scored in the consolation finals of the 100-freestyle.

The Miners' 400-yard freestyle relay team of Gordon, Mark Chamberlain, Hug and Sanchez-Turner took eighth place with a time of 3:03.90 after it went 3:02.30.

In all, the MIners set nine school records during the course of the national meet held at the Mizzou Aquatics Center and earned 40 All-America awards, including 33 finishes among the top eight.

SWEET 16! Lady Miners rally again to move into NCAA regional finals

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Tamara McCaskill

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- The Lady Miners fell behind early in the game Saturday for the second day in a row in the NCAA Division II Great Lakes Regional.

But as was the case on Friday, Missouri S&T stormed back to win and now finds itself one game away from a trip to the Elite Eight.

The Lady Miners beat Quincy 79-73 Saturday at Drury's Weiser Gym to advance to the regional championship game Monday against Northern Kentucky, who routed the host school 84-65 in the late game Saturday.

This marks the first time the Lady Miners, now 24-6 on the season, have made it to the Sweet Sixteen of the Division II tournament.

Missouri S&T only shot 28 percent from the field in the first half and fell behind by as many as 11 points. Quincy, which came out of the gate hot, settled for a 38-30 lead at intermission.

The Lady Miners leading scorer, Tamara McCaskill, spent most of the first half on the bench with two early fouls and only had two points at the break.

"We told her at half time, Tamara, you've got to go out there and light things up," said Missouri S&T coach Alan Eads.

And she did.

McCaskill scored the Lady Miners' first six points of the second half and Missouri S&T slowly cut into the Lady Hawks' lead. The Lady Miners went ahead for the first time on a McCaskill jumper with 15 minutes to play.

Later in the half, two free throws by the S&T junior gave Missouri S&T its biggest lead of the game of eight with two minutes to play, then her steal led to a layup by Jaime Forsberg to put S&T up by 10 with 1:20 to go.

Quincy did trim the margin down to five in the final minute, but free throws by Forsberg and Chism McEntire kept the Hawks at bay and ended their season at 20-10.

McCaskill and McEntire, who made five 3-pointers in the contest, each had 17 points to lead S&T while Katie McElrath recorded a double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds. Forsberg had a team-high four assists which allowed her to break the school's all-time assist record that was held by Christie Williams.

For the game, Missouri S&T shot 43.3 percent -- 66.7 percent after the break -- and held Quincy to 37.9 percent. Jessica Keller, a native of nearby Belle, Mo., led the Lady Hawks with 24 points.

(Story by Lance Feyh, Missouri S&T Public Relations, with assistance from S&T sports information director John Kean; photo by John Anderson)

Henry ties for second, Anders takes seventh in NCAA pole vault

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Jordan Henry
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Jared Anders

MANKATO, Minn. -- The two Missouri S&T pole vaulters who competed at the NCAA Division II Indoor Track and Field Championships Saturday are coming home with All-America honors.

Jordan Henry, a junior from St. Charles, Mo., finished in a tie for second place in the event and broke the school record in the process with a clearance of 16-10 3/4. The other Miner in the meet, Jared Anders, finished seventh with a personal-best effort of 16-2 3/4.

Henry had just one miss in his first five attempts of the day and cleared the record height on his first attempt. He bowed out of the competition at 17-2 3/4, which turned out to be the winning height that was posted by Grand Valley State's Bryant Wilson.

Henry, who was seventh at last season's NCAA indoor meet, finished in a tie for second with Missouri Southern's Jacob Williams as each vaulter had an equal number of misses. It tied the highest finish ever by a Miner at the indoor championhips, matching the finishes of Tyrone Smith in the long jump last season and J.R. Skola in the pole vault in 2003.

Anders, a junior from Quincy, Ill., cleared the first two heights on his opening attempt, then stayed alive by going over the bar at 16-2 3/4 on his final chance. Anders then fell out of the competition at 16-6 3/4.

It is the first All-America award for Anders.

The efforts of Henry and Anders put the Miners in a tie for 21st place in the team standings in a meet won by St. Augustine's.

March 14, 2008

Lady Miners land first NCAA win, berth in semifinals

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Lauren Dubbert

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- The Missouri S&T women's basketball team scored the final nine points of the game Friday to knock off Michigan Tech 75-66 for the program's first-ever victory in the NCAA Division II Tournament and earn a spot in Saturday's semifinals.

The Lady Miners, the third seed in the regional, improved to 23-6 on the year with the win and will face Great Lakes Valley Conference member Quincy, an 82-73 winner over Hillsdale, Saturday at 6 p.m. in Drury's Weiser Gym.

S&T led for most of the second half and held a six-point lead at 66-60 with 3:48 to play. However, back-to-back three-pointers by Katie ZImmerman allowed the Huskies to draw even by the 2:03 mark.

But on the Lady Miners' next trip down the floor, Chism McEntire drilled a three of her own to put the Lady Miners up for good at 69-66, then S&T forced a turnover on MTU's next possession to turn the game into a free throw shooting contest. The Lady Miners were up to the task, sinking all six attempts in the final 50 seconds to lock up the victory.

"We won a lot of close games this year," Missouri S&T coach Alan Eads said. "We were fortunate to win today."

Missouri S&T couldn't buy a shot at the start of the game and fell behind by as much as 11 points in the first half. But the Lady Miners eventually found their groove, thanks to the shooting of Katie McElrath and Chism McEntire, and took their first lead on a three by McEntire at the 4:05 mark of the first half.

Michigan Tech took the lead back by the intermission at 33-30 and held onto the advantage until Lauren Dubbert knocked down a three with 14:29 to go to put S&T up 43-42.

Tamara McCaskill scored at the eight-minute mark to put the Lady Miners up 58-51, then with a little more than three minutes left to play, Jaime Forsberg picked the pocket of a Michigan Tech player and lead a break. Forsberg found Katie Bunge under the basket for a basket that put Missouri S&T up 66-60 lead before MTU got the threes from Zimmerman to draw even with just over two minutes to go.

"We always come back and make it a game," McElrath said. "Today we got over the hump."

Missouri S&T, making just its second appearance in the NCAA Division II Tournament, shot 56.7 percent after the break and finished the game at 46.7 percent. The Lady Miners had four players in double figures, led by Katie McElrath with 21 points and Bunge with 14. S&T also got 12 points from McCaskill and 10 from McEntire.

S&T also had a 36-28 advantage on the boards and forced 16 Michigan Tech turnovers, including three after McEntire's basket gave the Lady Miners the lead.

Zimmerman led Michigan Tech (23-8) with 19 points while Katie Wysocky finished with 16.

(Information for this story also provided by Lance Feyh, Missouri S&T Public Relations)

(Photo by John Anderson)

Lady Miners open GLVC softball play with sweep at Drury

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- The Lady Miner basketball team wasn't the only Missouri S&T team to leave a playing venue in this city happy on Friday.

While the basketball squad was winning its NCAA regional game over Michigan Tech, the Lady Miner softball team opened Great Lakes Valley Conference play by sweeping a doubleheader over Drury at Meador Park.

Missouri S&T banged out 15 hits, including five extra base tallies, to win 14-9 in the opener, then rallied from a four-run deficit in the nightcap to complete the sweep with a 5-4 win.

In the first game, S&T jumped out to an 8-0 lead after an inning and half, but saw Drury draw closer with a run in the second, two in the third and five in fifth that brought the Panthers within one at 9-8. However, Jen O'Hara halted the rally and the Lady Miners put the game away with a five-run seventh inning.

Kandi Wieberg had five hits in five at-bats for S&T in the contest and scored four times, while Emily Tucker, Coley Naughton and Becca Kueny all had two hits apiece. Kelsey Musselman homered in the game as well as she connected on her eighth homer of the season; she drove in three runs as did Naughton.

Drury jumped on O'Hara in game two for four runs in the first two innings to grab a 4-0 advantage. However, the Lady Miners got two runs back in the fourth, then scored three times in the sixth to take the lead.

Musselman and Kristen Drage had two hits each in game two, while Wieberg drove in two runs.

Saturday's scheduled doubleheader at Rockhurst was postponed due to the threat of rainy weather in Kansas City on Saturday. The Lady Miners' next scheduled game is their home opener next Friday against Quincy at noon.

Miners bump up to fourth at NCAA Swim Championships

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Zlatan Hamzic

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- The MIner swimming team moved up one spot in the team standings Friday to fourth place thanks to a third place finish by freshman Zlatan Hamzic and a fourth place effort by their 800-yard freestyle relay team.

Hamzic finished within a second of the national title in the 100-yard breaststroke as he recorded a time of 55.50 seconds in the event; the winning mark was 54.74 by Wayne State's Christer Tour.

The relay team of David Sanchez-Turner, Mark Chamberlain, Kyle Gordon and Matt Hug had a time of 6:43.51 to finish fourth in the race and hold off North Dakota, whom it leads by five points in the team standings heading into the final day.

Hug also earned All-America honors with a sixth-place finish in the 500-yard freesyle as he posted a time of 4:30.60 in the finals. Earlier in the day, Hug broke the school record in the event with a mark of 4:27.87 which was the best time in the preliminary session.

Incarnate Word's Aliaksandr Yatsko won the event in 4:25.84.

The Miners got honorable mention All-America performances from Andrew Trowbridge in the 500-freestyle with a 14th place finish in 4:34.13 and from David Calcara in the 100-breaststroke as he took 12th in 57.18 seconds.

Danny Murphy swam a seasonal-best 4:37.72 in the 500-free but narrowly missed qualifying for competition Friday night.

Friday's results

Miners split twinbill with Indianapolis

The Miner baseball team spilt a doubleheader Friday with the University of Indianapolis at the S&T Baseball Field, as Andrew Page threw a complete game to lead Missouri S&T to a 5-3 victory in the opener before the Greyhounds won the nightcap 7-4.

The series, which was originally scheduled to be played in Indianapolis, was moved to Rolla due to field conditions in Indiana.

In game one, the Miners' answered Indianapolis' fourth inning run with a run of their own when Drew Davenport singled home Robby Martin with two outs. S&T took the lead in the sixth as Eaf Redden singled to score Gerad Fox, then Zac Carter added an RBI single later in the frame.

After UIndy's Chris Saroff tied the game with a two-run double in the seventh, the Miners put two runs on the board in the eighth on a two-run triple by Cody Bass to take a 5-3 lead. Page took care of things from there, retiring the final six batters in order to earn his first collegiate win.

Page scattered seven hits and struck out 10 in his complete game effort. The Miners had 13 hits in game one with Fox and Carter getting three apiece.

The Miners fell behind 4-0 after two innings in the nightcap, then cut the lead in half in the fourth when Yaimel Javier-Cury doubled home one run and Bass drove in another with a sacrifice fly.

Indianapolis regained its four-run lead by scoring twice in the fifth, then the Miners drew closer in the sixth as Carter brought in one with a sacrifice fly and Davenport delivered a run-scoring hit.

Javier-Cury had three of the Miners' eight hits in the second game. Caleb Smith took the loss for S&T.

The Miners and Greyhounds will play again Sunday at the S&T Baseball Field.

March 13, 2008

S&T now fifth at NCAA meet; oldest swimming record falls

COLUMBIA, Mo. – The Miner swimming team moved up one spot in the team standings Thursday night at the NCAA Division II Swimming and Diving Championships and also saw its longest standing swimming record fall during the course of the night.

Freshman Danny Murphy broke a record that had stood for 22 years in the S&T books in the finals of the 400-yard individual medley as he recorded a time of 4:00.68. Murphy’s performance, which broke Derek Coon’s record of 4:00.85 that had stood since 1986, was good for seventh place in the final standings.

S&T’s best finish Thursday came from its 400-yard medley relay team of Kyle Kammer, Zlatan Hamzic, Paul Reinisch and David Sanchez-Turner with a time of 3:21.41 to earn All-America status for the group.

The Miners also got an All-America showing from Matt Hug in the 200-yard freestyle Thursday as he finished eighth in a time of 1:40.77; Sanchez-Turner placed 12th in that event for honorable mention All-America as he recorded a time of 1:40.43 in the evening session after posting a personal-best mark of 1:39.93 in the preliminaries.

Jeff Enge finished a close second – by .08 seconds – in the consolation 400-IM to Minnesota State’s Marty Wahle to earn honorable mention All-America in that event. Enge finished the consolation final in 4:01.09.

The Miners opened the night with a seventh place finish in the 200-yard freestyle relay, as the team of Kyle Gordon, David Sanchez-Turner, Matt Hug and Mark Chamberlain landed All-America honors by posting a seaso