Championship Central
INDIANAPOLIS – Missouri S&T captured its fifth title at the 2021 Great Lakes Valley Conference Men’s Outdoor Track and Field Championships on Saturday at Allgood-Bailey Stadium on the campus of Missouri S&T in Rolla, Missouri.
The host Miners totaled 175 points in the event to beat defending champion University of Indianapolis (115) by 60 points. This was the fourth time a team has won the event when serving as the host with the last time coming from former league member SIU Edwardsville in 2008.
Lewis University (96.5) finished third, while Southwest Baptist University (44) and Lindenwood University (69) placed fourth and fifth, respectively, in their first-ever GLVC Outdoor meet. Sixth place went to McKendree University (58), and the respective seventh- and eighth-place teams were University of Southern Indiana (52.5) and University of Illinois Springfield (43). Maryville University (35) and Quincy University (35) tied for ninth to round out the top-10 finishers. Truman State University (34) was just one point shy of a three-way tie for ninth, finishing 10th, with Drury University (12) and William Jewell College (2) concluding the team scorers.
Among the individual highlights in field events on Saturday, S&T freshman Mitchell Fairless placed first with his GLVC-record-tying 2.11-meter jump, breaking a 22-year-old record and earning a Division II automatic qualifying score. In the triple jump, Southwest Baptist senior Asa Carter scored first place with a 15.27-meter mark for a D-II provisional standard.
In the discus throw, GLVC Men’s Field Athlete of the Year Nathan Swadley of S&T flung a provisional 52.75 meters to win the event, while Lindenwood junior Jacob Opdahl threw the javelin 62.67 meters to set a new Conference record from 2010 in his first outdoor league event, which was also a national provisional mark.
The 4x100-meter relay opened the events on the track, as Lewis took that win with a 41.75 time. The 1,500-meter run followed with a NCAA provisional time for GLVC Track Athlete of the Year Blake Jones of UIS, who also picked up a new GLVC record in a time of 3:48.83. He also won gold in the 5,000-meter run in a time of 14:45.15.
UIndy senior Seth Reynolds went 14.34 to pick up a provisional time in the 110-meter hurdles, while Lindenwood sophomore Damaine Dixon earned the win in the men’s 400-meter hurdles, just sneaking in for the provisional mark of 53.32.
Lewis senior transfer Demontez McCray won the 100-meter dash for the fourth-straight year in a time of 10.47, claiming a provisional mark, while his first three wins in the event were earned during his time at McKendree.
The 200-meter and 400-meter dash gold medalist was GLVC Freshman of the Year, Armani Modeste of Lindenwood, who met D-II provisional marks with respective times of 21.26 and 46.95.
UIndy sophomore Ben Nagel finished with a time of 1:53.80 in the 800 meters for the win.
In the nightcap, Lewis nosed out Quincy for the 4x400-meter relay first-team honor in a time of 3:15.41 compared to 3:16.29.
At the conclusion of the Championship, in addition to major awards for Jones, Swadley, and Modeste, the league coaches also recognized Shaun Meinecke as GLVC Coach of the Year.
Additionally, UIndy was honored as the GLVC James R. Spalding Sportsmanship Award winner, while 14 student-athletes who have distinguished themselves through sportsmanship and ethical behavior were also named as their sport’s honoree for the award. These individuals must also be in good academic standing and have demonstrated good citizenship outside of the sports-competition setting. The honorees are now eligible to become one of their school’s two Spalding Sportsmanship Award winners, which will be announced later this month.
Men’s Track Athlete of the Year: Blake Jones, Illinois Springfield
Men’s Field Athlete of the Year: Nathan Swadley, Missouri S&T
Men’s Freshman of the Year: Armani Modeste, Lindenwood
Men’s Coach of the Year: Shaun Meinecke, Missouri S&T
Men’s James R. Spalding Sportsmanship Team Award
Indianapolis
Men’s James R. Spalding Sportsmanship Award Honorees:
Brendan Bena, Drury
Thomas Wuchte, Illinois Springfield
Brian Sales, UIndy
Kyle Brown, Lewis
Chaz Casey, Lindenwood
Ryan Davis, Maryville
Jaimie Omalla, McKendree
Nathan Gillespie, Missouri S&T
Benjamin VandenBrink, Missouri-St. Louis
Carlo Heath, Quincy
Jake Brantley, Southern Indiana
Asa Carter, Southwest Baptist
Carson Lackey, Truman State
Chance Lister, William Jewell