With the NCAA on the eve of the announcement of the field for next week's Division II Championships, Missouri S&T dropped to No. 22 this week in the latest rankings by the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.
The Miners, who finished as the runner-up at the Great Lakes Valley Conference Indoor Championships over the weekend, are still ranked fourth in the Midwest region behind Grand Valley State (No. 13 nationally), Ashland (No. 3) and Tiffin (No. 11). S&T remains as the highest-ranked team from the GLVC in the Midwest region with Indianapolis at No. 8 and Lewis at No. 10.
Missouri S&T is assured of having three individuals -- pole vaulters Dan Hellwig and Jared Anders as well as Terry Robinson -- in the field for the NCAA Division II Championships when it is announced Wednesday as all three have made automatic qualifying marks. S&T has four other men and one member of the women's team who have provisional marks and are waiting word on whether any of them will join the aforementioned trio in Albuquerque, N.M.
Tamara McCaskill is the Lady Miners' lone provisional qualifier in the high jump, where her mark of 5-7 1/4 is the eighth-best at the moment in Division II.
The men's provisional qualifiers are Bryan Kluge and Brendan Smith in the 800-meters, Joe Vehige in the high jump and Peter Hollenbeck in the pole vault. None of them are currently among the top 10 nationally in their events, but Hellwig is third in the pole vault at 16-7 1/2, Anders fifth in the pole vault at 16-6 3/4 and Robinson has his automatic mark in the 400-meters and a provisional mark in the 60-meter hurdles.
