Missouri S&T freshman Colleen Conrad finished fourth Saturday morning to highlight the Lady Miner performance at the 30th annual Miner Invitational held at the Missouri S&T Golf Course.

Conrad covered the five-kilometer course in 20:24 to head the Lady Miner contingent in the meet as the team finished in fifth place in the team standings. Conrad's time was well ahead of that posted by fifth place finisher Annabelle Delarue of Lindenwood.

Teresa Conley finished 20th overall in 21:51, while Kassie Osborne was 26th in 22:22. Rebecca McNally came in 34th place in 22:57 and Katie Bruce finished 37th in 23:22 to round out the Lady Miners' top five.

Truman State repeated as the team champion with a total of 27 points, finishing 41 points ahead of Lindenwood. The Bulldogs' Danna Kelly also earned a repeat as the individual champion of the meet as she posted a time of 19:26 to edge teammate Michelle Gronemeyer.

The Lady Miners will be idle from competition next week and will return to the course Sept. 20 at the Southern Stampede in Joplin, Mo.

Complete women's results

Grant Brown paced the Miners in the six-kilometer race by finishing in 16th place in a time of 19:48. Freshman Jason Barry came in 20th place overall in 19:52, while Daniel Forbes finished 27th in 20:10.

Allen Ernst and Kurt Schauwecker rounded out the top five for the Miners, with Ernst running a time of 20:22 to finish 32nd and Schauwecker a time of 20:30 as he came in 34th.

S&T’s women were led by freshman Colleen Conrad, who came in 28th place with a time of 15:46 over four kilometers. Teresa Conley was second among the Lady Miners in 45th place in 16:55, one spot ahead of Cassie Osborne who crossed the finish line a second behind her.

Paige Kruse was 57th in the race in 17:33 and Rebecca McNally completed S&T’s top five with a mark of 17:34.

Marquette won both team titles in Saturday’s event.

The Miners and Lady Miners return to action next Saturday when they host the 30th annual Miner Invitational at the Missouri S&T Golf Course.

Complete men's results
Complete women's results

The Miners and Lady Miner harriers open their season this weekend by taking part in the Big River Classic at Washington University in St. Louis, then host the first of two home meets a week later with the 30th annual Miner Invitational.

It’s the second home meet of the year – the Great Lakes Valley Conference Championships – that the teams have their eyes on as they will have a chance to compete for a conference title on their home turf.

“We’re really excited about the opportunity to host the conference meet this season,” said head coach Sterling Martin. “We’re in a league with a lot of quality programs, but we hope that over the course of the year we can put ourselves in a position to compete for the championship.”

The Miners’ top returning runner is senior Chris Murray (Wilmington, Mass.), who placed 12th at the GLVC Championships last season. Kurt Schauwecker (Columbia, Mo./Hickman) finished 17th at the conference meet and also figures to be a key contributor in the season to come and Brendan Smith (Chelsea, Mich.) was 21st in his freshman season with the Miners.

The Miners, who were ranked sixth in the region in the inaugural rankings of the season, also have a number of other veteran runners in seniors Thomas Green (Camdenton, Mo.) and Chris Thielker (Florissant, Mo./Hazelwood West), as well as sophomores Grant Brown (Lee’s Summit, Mo./Lone Jack), Brandon Etzold (Jackson, Mo./Saxony Lutheran) and Daniel Forbes (Potosi, Mo.).

Etzold is coming off an impressive freshman year in track for the Miners, where he was the outdoor 800-meter champion and named as the GLVC’s “Freshman of the Year.”

Among the freshmen, the Miners have several impressive newcomers who could work their way into the mix, including Jason Barry (Osage Beach, Mo.) and Eric Fairbairn (Edmond, Okla./Deer Creek), who had second place finishes in their respective state meet last fall; Joe Skelton (Potosi, Mo.), who placed third at the Missouri Class 3 state meet a year ago; George Thomas (Marshfield, Mo.), the Missouri Class 3 ninth place finisher.

“I’m pleased with where we are right now,” Martin said. “We were very lucky to get this freshman class to add to the group we brought in last season. The future really looks bright for us, but our focus is on this year. We need to learn how to win and have to start that process now.”

On the women’s side, the Lady Miners will field a seven-member squad this fall that will include four sophomores and three freshmen.

Three of the sophomores return from last season, with the top returning finisher from the conference meet being Rebecca McNally (Jefferson City, Mo./Blair Oaks). Samantha Schussele (Overland Park, Kan./Shawnee Mission North) and Teresa Conley (Hazelwood, Mo./Hazelwood West) are also back in the fold, while Katie Bruce (Overland Park, Kan./Blue Valley West), one of the top sprinters for the track and field team over the last two seasons, will compete this fall in cross country.

This year’s freshman class includes Colleen Conrad (Akron, Ohio/St. Vincent-St. Mary), who was ninth in the Ohio Division II state meet last year; Paige Kruse (Cuba, Mo.), who helped lead her team to a district title in 2007; and Kassie Osborne (Evansville, Ind./Central) who was a top runner in her region last season.

“I really like this team,” Martin said. “They’re really young, but have a great attitude and work really hard and well together. We compete in one of the strongest conferences in the nation, but I feel we’re going to be a lot more competitive with this group.”

The three individuals selected were Taylor Hahn, a junior pole vaulter from Salem, Ill.; Jamie Statler, a junior pole vaulter from St. Charles, Mo.; and Tamara McCaskill, a sophomore high jumper from Edwardsville, Ill. They were among 222 women named to the team from the NCAA Division II level this year.

To make the team, a student-athlete must have at least at 3.25 grade point average and have met an NCAA provisional or automatic qualifying standard during the course of the season either in the indoor or outdoor season.

All three of the Lady Miner competitors made a provisional qualifying mark during the year, with Hahn doing so in both the indoor and outdoor season; she was the Great Lakes Valley Conference champion in the indoor pole vault. Statler reached her provisional mark indoors and McCaskill do so during the outdoor season and eventually landed a berth to the NCAA Division II Championships.

Hahn is majoring in chemistry and biological sciences at Missouri S&T, while Statler is also majoring in biological sciences and McCaskill in chemical engineering. All three were named to the GLVC's all-academic team, with Hahn and Statler also earning academic all-district status during the 2008 campaign.

Juniors Taylor Hahn and Jamie Statler, both of whom compete in the pole vault and other sprint and jumping events, were selected to the second team for District VII.

Hahn, a chemistry major at Missouri S&T, repeated as the Great Lakes Valley Conference champion in the pole vault during the indoor season, then finished second at the conference's outdoor meet in May. During the course of the 2008 season, Hahn established new school records in the pole vault with marks of 11-8 indoors and 11-9 3/4 outdoors, which also made the provisional qualifying standard for the national meet.

The junior from Salem, Ill., who earned three GLVC "Athlete of the Week" awards during the year, is also a member of the Alpha Phi Omega and Psi Chi honor societies at S&T.

Statler, who hails from St. Charles., Mo., finished third in the pole vault during both the indoor and outdoor conference meets in 2008. She also earned GLVC "Athlete of the Week" honors during the season after her clearance of 11-5 3/4 made the NCAA Division II provisional qualifying standard. Statler also cleared 11-6 1/4 during the outdoor season.

A biological sciences major at S&T, Statler is a member of the Alpha Chi Sigma and Phi Eta Sigma honor societies.

McCaskill cleared 5-5 to end up tied for the 11th spot with a quartet of competitiors. She made her first two jumps of the night at 5-3 and 5-5, but was unable to clear the bar at 5-7.

She finished tied with UC San DIego's Linda Rainwater, Grand Valley State's Maegen Doyen, Ashland's Abby Kacsandi and Abilene Christian's Jessica Withrow.

Lincoln's Notoya Thompson took the national title in the event with a clearance of 5-9 1/4. She was one of three competitors to make the winning height, but had fewer misses in the event than the other two.

The men's team signed two individuals -- Eric Fairbairn from Deer Creek High School in Edmond, Okla., and Elijah Thomas from Webster Groves High School -- while the women's team also added a trio of newcomers in Paige Kruse from Cuba High School, Colleen Conrad from St. Vincent-St. Mary High School in Akron, Ohio and Sadye Wichmunn from Kirksville High School.

Fairbairn, from Deer Creek High School in Edmond, Okla., competes in cross country and in the middle distance events, where he ran a time of 1:58.25 at this year's Oklahoma Class 5 State Championships in the 800-meters to take second place. During the cross country season, Fairbairn finished seventh at the Class 4 state meet, running a time of 16:59 in the state meet to help lead his team to the championship.

Thomas, from Webster Groves High School in Webster Groves, Mo., is a sprinter and jumper for the Statesmen, has posted a mark of 22-2 in the long jump this season after going 22-6 as a junior. As a junior, he placed seventh in the long jump at the Missouri Class 4 state meet. He also competed in the high jump and cleared six feet in the event during the 2007 season.

Conrad, from St. Vincent-St. Mary High School in Akron, Ohio, has been a three-year state qualifier in Ohio, where she finished ninth in the state's Division II cross country meet as a senior with a time of 18:44 over five kilometers. She also holds her school's record in both the 1,600- and 3,200-meter runs and has earned Academic All-Ohio honors in the 2007 season.

Kruse, from Cuba High School in Cuba, Mo., is an all-state performer in the high jump and 800-meters, with recent finishes of sixth in both events at the Missouri Class 2 state meet held over the past weekend in Jefferson City. Kruse had a time of 2:23.76 in the 800 and a clearance of 4-10 in the high jump at the state meet. She also competed in cross country and helped lead her team to a district championship in the 2007 season; she would later finish 30th at the state cross country meet.

Wichmann qualified for the Missouri Class 3 state meet in two events after placing second in the triple jump and fourth in the long jump at the sectional meet. She recorded a mark of 35-9 in the triple jump and 16-9 3/4 in the long jump to earn her spot in the state meet. Wichmunn also took third in the district meet in the triple jump and fourth in the long jump. She has been an all-district and all-conference performer in both events throughout her high school career.

The Miners signed three student-athletes earlier this year in Jason Barry from Osage Beach, Joe Skelton from Potosi and George Thomas from Marshfield to national letters of intent, while the Lady Miners had previously signed Kassie Osborne from Evansville, Ind., Central High School.

Two pole vaulters, Jordan Henry and Peter Hollenbeck, along with women's high jumper Tamara McCaskill landed the berths to the meet that will take place at Mount San Antonio College.

Henry, the national runner-up in the pole vault during the indoor season, earned an automatic berth during the outdoor season with his best mark of 17 feet that he posted over the weekend at Emporia State. Henry's mark is the fifth-best in the nation heading into the meet; the top mark is 17-1 1/2 held by Abilene Christian's Landon Ehlers.

Hollenbeck comes in with a clearance of 16-3 1/2 that is tied for the 16th-best in Division II. He posted the mark during the course of his second place finish at the Great Lakes Valley Conference Championships on May 3.

The pole vault competition will take place on Saturday, May 24 at 6:55 p.m. Central time. It will be Henry's fourth appearance at the national meet and Hollenbeck's second; he made last year's field during the outdoor championships.

McCaskill's best performance of the year also came at Alabama when she cleared 5-7 in the high jump. Her marks rank in a tie for 15th heading into the meet and she will compete at 7:45 p.m. Central on May 24. This will be McCaskill's first appearance at the national meet.

The five individuals who won conference championships at the GLVC meet were first team selections, with the men's team being represented by league champions Kal-El Waters-Jones, Joffroi Holcombe, Jordan Henry and Brandon Etzold and the women's team by Leah Morehead. In addition, Peter Hollenbeck was a first-team selection on the men's side after finishing second in the pole vault with a mark that exceeded the NCAA provisonal qualifying standard.

Waters-Jones won the triple jump, Holcombe won the 10,000-meters, Henry took the title in the pole vault and Brandon Etzold claimed the title in the 800-meters. Morehead led a sweep of the top three spots in the women's pole vault by taking the title in that event and was one of the recipients of the league's "Freshman of the Year" award; Etzold shared the men's top freshman honor.

Henry and Hollenbeck will represent the Miners at the NCAA Division II Championships next week in Walnut, Calif., while Tamara McCaskill, one of five Lady Miners named to the second team, will be the Lady Miners' lone competitor in California at the national meet in the high jump.

McCaskill was joined on the second team by pole vaulters Taylor Hahn and Jamie Statler, middle distance runner Kierra Handley and sprinter Katie Bruce.

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. -- Missouri S&T got a sweep of the top three spots in the pole vault to highlight its showing at the Great Lakes Valley Conference Championships over the weekend at Southern Illinois Edwardsville.

Leah Morehead, who was the co-recipient of the GLVC's "Freshman of the Year" award, won the event with a mark of 11-8 that broke the conference record. The previous holder of the mark, Taylor Hahn, took second with a clearance of 11-2 1/4 and Jamie Statler was third at 10-8 1/4.

S&T got a third place showing from Tamara McCaskill in the high jump as she cleared 5-3 1/4 and fourths from Katie Bruce in the 400-meters with a time of 59.48 seconds in Saturday's finals and Kierra Handley in the 800-meters in a season-best 2:19.44.

Sarah Zaremba also scored points for the Lady Miners in the pole vault with a clearance of 10-2 1/2, while Hannah Terwelp was seventh in the shot put with a mark of 38-2 1/4 as was Hillary Griffith in the 100-meters in 12.49 seconds. Griffith was also eighth in the 200-meters in 26.35 seconds along with Maggie Mawhiney in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1:11.52

Both of S&T's relay teams had fourth place finishes, with the 4x100-meter team posting a time of 48.81 seconds and the 4x400 quartet posting a mark of 4:02.40. S&T had the lead in the latter relay at the midway point thanks to a strong second leg by freshman Aubrey Moore.

S&T finished sixth in the final team standings with 58 points; SIUE won the meet with a total of 323 points in its final meet before it reclassifies to NCAA Division I.

Complete results

Henry, a junior who finished as the national runner-up during the indoor season in the event, cleared 16-8 at the Bill Williams/Bob Laptad Open to go beyond the automatic qualifying standard and earn a spot in the national meet next month in Pomona, Calif. His mark, wihch also set the Missouri S&T school record, has been topped by only two individuals in DIvision II this season heading into the weekend.

Henry was one of three Miners to finish among the top 10 in the pole vault Friday. Peter Hollenbeck was fifth with a clearance of 15-11 and Jared Anders, who has already provisionally qualified, was 10th with a mark of 15-5 3/4.

The Miners got third place finishes from Thomas Green in the 1,500-meters in 4:07.71 and Brandon Etzold in the 800-meters with a mark of 1:55.54, the same event where Paul Roland took eighth in 2:00.48.

Ian Packard was fourth in the 400-meters with a time of 50.22 seconds, while Brian Kluge had a time of 52.82 in that event.

The women's team had five competitors in Joplin Friday, with three of them placing in the pole vault. Taylor Hahn and Jamie Statler both cleared the 11-6 1/4 mark to finish sixth and seventh, respectively, while Leah Moreland was eighth with a mark of 11-0 1/4. Kierra Handley finished sixth in the 800-meters with a time of 2:20.63.

Missouri S&T will have two individuals -- Joffroi Holcombe and Brendan Smith -- taking part in the Hillsdale Invitational Saturday in Michigan, then the teams will gear up for the GLVC Outdoor Championships that begins Friday at Southern Illinois Edwardsville.

Complete results from Missouri Southern

The Missouri S&T women's track and field team recorded a number of high finishes, including four first place efforts, at the fourth annual Dewey Allgood Invitational held Saturday at S&T's Allgood-Bailey Stadium.

The first place finishes came from Hillary Griffith in the 100-meter dash with a time of 12.77 seconds, Kierra Handley in the 800-meters in a seasonal-best time of 2:19.66, Tamara McCaskill in the high jump at 5-5 1/4 and Jamie Statler in the pole vault, where she won with a mark of 11-4 1/4 with fewer misses than the other three that cleared that height.

S&T also had four second place efforts, which were recorded by Kendra Lewis in 100-meters in 12.95 seconds, Aubrey Moore in the 200-meters in 26.14 seconds, Leah Morehead in the pole vault at 11-4 1/4, Sarah Stach in the long jump with a mark of 15-11 1/2 which was her personal best in the event.

Third place finishes were posted by Moore in the 100-meters in 13.13 seconds and 400-meters in a season-best 59.29, Griffith in the 200-meters in 26.28, Rebecca McNally in the 3,000-meters in a personal-best 11:45.97, Maggie Mawhiney in the 100-hurdles in 17.95 seconds and Hannah Terwelp in the shot put with a season-best mark of 40-4 3/4.

Lewis had a time of 26.71 in the 200-meters to come in fourth, as did Katie Bruce in the 800-meters in 2:27.14, Taylor Hahn in the pole vault at 11-4 1/4, McCaskill in the long jump at 15-7 1/2 and Terwelp in the hammer throw at 127-8, while fifths were posted by Sarah Stach in the 200-meters in 28.85 seconds, Samantha Schussele in the 800 in 2:30.38, Mawhiney in the 400-meter hurdles in 1:17.26 and Sarah Zaremba in the pole vault at 10-4 1/4.

The Lady Miners' 4x100-meter relay team took second in a seasonal-best time of 48.81 seconds, while the 4x400-meter relay team posted a time of 4:10.73.

Complete results

The Miners and Lady Miners will compete with Truman State, Lincoln, Lindenwood, Evangel and Hendrix Saturday, with a handful of unattached competitors also expected to be in the field.

Missouri S&T currently has four provisional qualifiers for the NCAA Division II Championships, with Jared Anders having made the mark in the pole vault and Heath Groom in the javelin throw on the men's side and Taylor Hahn reaching the standard in the pole vault and Tamara McCaskill in the high jump for the women.

The meet will start at 11 a.m. with five field events, including the aforementioned men's javelin and women's pole vault. The men's pole vault competition that will include Anders and Jordan Henry, the national runner-up in the indoor pole vault at the 2008 NCAA Championships, will start at 1 p.m.. The women's high jump that McCaskill will compete in starts at 2:30 p.m.

The track events start at 1 p.m. with the preliminary rounds of the men's 100-meter dash, followed by the men's steeplechase and 400-meter relays for the men and women. All of the events will take place at Allgood-Bailey Stadium except for the hammer and discus throws, which will be contested at the Missouri S&T intramural fields by Fraternity Row.

EVENT SCHEDULE

Field Events
11:00a.m. Men’s Hammer Throw
Men’s Long Jump (Women to Follow)
Men’s Javelin (Women to Follow)
Women’s Shot Put (Women Hammer to Follow)
Women’s Pole Vault
1:00p.m. Men’s Pole Vault
Men’s Shot Put
2:30p.m. Men’s Triple Jump (Women to Follow)
Women’s High Jump (Men to Follow)
Women’s Discus (Men to follow)

Track Events
1:00 p.m. Men’s 100 Meter Prelims
1:15 p.m. Men’s 3000 Steeple
1:40 p.m. Women’s 4 x 100 Meter Relays
Men’s 4 x 100 Meter Relays
1:55 p.m. Women’s 1500 Meter Run
Men’s 1500 Meter Run
2:25 p.m. Women’s 100 Meter Hurdles Finals
Men’s 110 Meter Hurdles Finals
2:35 p.m. Women’s 3000 Meter Run
2:50 p.m. Women’s 400 Meter Dash
Men’s 400 Meter Dash
3:15 p.m. Women’s 100 Meter Dash Finals
Men’s 100 Meter Dash Finals
3:25 p.m. Women’s 800 Meter Run
Men’s 800 Meter Run
3:50 p.m. Women’s 400 Hurdles
Men’s 400 Hurdles
4:15 p.m. Women’s 200 Meter Dash
Men’s 200 Meter Dash
4:30 p.m. Men’s 5000 Meter Run
5:00 p.m. Women’s 4 x 400 Relay
Men’s 4 x 400 Relay

Tamara McCaskill had the highest finish among the Lady Miner competitors in the meet with a second place finish in the high jump, clearing 5-5 but falling short in the jumpoff for the title with Central Missouri's Samantha Frisbie.

Kierra Handley posted a third place finish in the 800-meters with a time of 2:21.74, while Jamie Statler had a third in the pole vault with a mark of 10-11 3/4, the same height cleared by Leah Moreland in her fourth place effort in the event (Statler had fewer misses to finish third).

The Lady Miners also got a fifth place finish from Katie Bruce in the 400-meters with a time of 1:00.38, while Aubrey Moore was seventh in the event in 1:01.11. Later in the day, Moore finished eighth in the 200-meters in 26.03 seconds.

Kendra Lewis finished eighth in the 100-meters with a time of 12.64 in the finals after going 12.60 in the preliminary round, while Maggie Mahwhiney was eighth in the 400-meter hurdles in 1:12.58

Hannah Terwelp placed eighth in the hammer throw with a mark of 121-3 and also placed ninth in the shot put with a mark of 37-1 1/4.

Sarah Zaremba cleared 10-feet in the pole vault to finish tenth. S&T's 4x100-meter relay team came in third place with a time of 49.48 seconds and its 4x400-meter relay team was sixth in 4:09.18.

The next competition for the Lady Miners comes up on Saturday when they host the Dewey Allgood Invitational at Allgood-Bailey Stadium. The meet will get underway at 11 a.m.

Results from Emporia State

The Missouri S&T victories came from Hannah Terwelp, who captured first in the hammer throw with a school record mark of 129-7 and Jamie Statler, who posted a personal-best 11-5 3/4 in the pole vault to win that event over three teammates.

Statler beat out Leah Moreland, who also cleared that height, on the basis of fewer misses. The third place finisher was Taylor Hahn with a clearance of 10-6, while Sarah Zaremba took fourth at 10-feet.

Tamara McCaskill, who made an NCAA provisional qualifying mark in the high jump a week ago, cleared 5-5 3/4 Saturday to finish fifth behind four Division I competitors. McCaskill also took fifth in the long jump with a mark of 15-10 1/4.

Maggie Mahwiney finished sixth in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 17.29 seconds and in the 400-meter hurdles as well in 1:10.52, while Sarah Stach was seventh in the long jump with a mark of 15-3 1/2.

Kendra Lewis ran a 12.76 in the 100-meters and Aubrey Moore posted a mark of 12.94 in that event; Moore also ran a 26.07 in the 200-meters.

Missouri S&T got second place finishes from both of its relay teams Saturday, with the 4x100-meter relay team taking second in the competition with a time of 49.40 seconds and the 4x400 group finishing in 4:07.69.

The Lady Miners will send competitors to the Papa John's Division II Challenge next Saturday at Emporia State.

Complete results from Missouri State