ROLLA, Mo. – Lewis University and Missouri S&T will head into the final day of the 2023 Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) Outdoor Track and Field Championships as the leader in the respective women’s and men’s competitions, which are being held at Allgood-Bailey Stadium on the campus of Missouri S&T in Rolla, Missouri.
The Flyers, who have won the last six consecutive GLVC Championships, hold just a single-point lead over second-place University of Indianapolis, while the Miners, who are winners of two-straight league titles, currently hold a 21-point advantage over second-place Indianapolis entering Saturday’s final day of the meet.
On the women’s side, Lewis owns 81 points, followed by UIndy (80 points), host Missouri S&T (30), William Jewell College (23), and Southwest Baptist University (15) in the top five. Truman State University (14), Maryville University (13), and Drury University (5) were sixth through eighth, while Quincy University (3) and University of Illinois Springfield (2) round out the 10 teams that have scored so far in ninth and 10th.
In the men’s race, S&T boasts 86 points and owns a 21-point advantage over UIndy (65), while Lewis (44), Truman State (21), and Illinois Springfield (16) round out the top five. Maryville (15) is sixth and Southwest Baptist (14) sits seventh. William Jewell (5) and University of Missouri-St. Louis (5) are tied for eighth, and McKendree rounds out the 10 scoring teams with two points.
In Friday’s events, UIndy senior Brittany Clark won her third-straight women’s pole vault gold medal, clearing 3.90 meters (12-0.95), while Greyhounds counterpart junior Treyton Arnold placed first in the men’s pole vault with a 5.01m (16-05.25) performance. Both picked up NCAA provisional qualifying marks with their winning clearances in the pole vault.
For the first time since 2011, a non-Lewis long jumper took first in the event, as UIndy sophomore Ellie Lengerich jumped 5.82 meters (19-01.25, +3.8 wind). There was a Flyer champion in the men’s long jump, however, as Zach Olenek leapt 7.17 meters (23-06.25, +4.0 wind) to claim first.
In shot put, Jewell sophomore Cydney Banks snagged gold with her throw of 13.93 meters (45-08.50), and S&T senior Nathan Swadley won for the second time in three seasons, tossing an 18.04m (59-02.25) provisional heave for first place.
In the heptathlon, SBU sophomore Lily Simmons won with 4,505 points for the Bearcats first win in the event, while S&T sophomore Otto Knittel got the decathlon win with an provisional score of 6,515 points.
In the 3,000-meter steeplechase, UIndy senior Melissa Spencer (11:22.95) and S&T sophomore Hayes Pateidl (9:11.34) closed out the night with wins. This was Pateidl’s third-straight title in the event and an NCAA provo.
Preliminaries were also contested in several events, including the 100, 200, 400, and 800 meters, as well as the 100-, 110-, and 400-meter hurdles.
The top-three finishers in all finals events were named All-Conference honorees.
In Saturday’s field events, which begin at 9 AM Central Time, the men and women will both compete in the finals of the javelin, high jump, triple jump, and discus.
Running events commence at 12 PM CT with the 4x100-meter relay. The 1,500 and 5,000 meters will also be contested, along with the finals of the aforementioned running events. The GLVC Championships conclude with the 4x400-meter relay, with the men’s race beginning at approximately 3:25 PM.
Saturday’s action will once again be available for free on GLVCSN.com, the GLVCSN iOS and Android mobile apps, and GLVCSN OTT apps on Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, and Android TV.
In addition to GLVCSN’s coverage, live scoring and results of the Conference meet are available on at the link above (
GLVCcsports.com/2023outdoor), while fans can also find updates included on the GLVC's official Twitter accounts (@GLVCsports and @GLVCSN) with the hashtags #GLVCtrack and #GLVCchamps being used throughout the coverage.
For spectators planning to attend in person, a single-day admission on Saturday will be $12 for adults and $5 for students (with ID) and youth (6-17). Children 5 and under are admitted free all three days. Tickets must be pre-purchased online at
GLVCsports.com/tickets, and no cash will be accepted on site.