Rolla, Mo.- With the start of outdoor season, the Missouri Baptist Men's Track & Field team competed in the Missouri S&T Miner Invite this weekend (Mar. 24-25). Overall, the team placed 16^th out of 22 teams.

Grant Shankle was the Spartan to place the highest on the weekend. The Fredericktown, Mo. native took on the javelin throw and came away with third place. The junior threw a distance of 55.62 meters to earn bronze.

Jordan Walker-Wright was the only other MBU field athlete to earn a place in the top ten. While the sophomore competed in multiple throwing events, Walker-Wright stood out in the discus where he earned seventh with a distance of 43.04 meters, a new personal record. Walker-Wright also earned a new PR in the hammer throw with a distance of 38.92 meters.  

Keon Graham was the standout track athlete for the Spartans. The junior competed in the 110-meter hurdles as well as the 400-meter hurdles. In the 110, Graham took eighth place with a time of 16.36 while in the 400 he took tenth clocking in at 57.87.

The men's 4x100 took eighth. Keon Graham, Dorian Gray, Davion Bennett, Brayden Bauman mad up the relay team a had a combined time of 45.37.

There were numerous Spartans just shy of making it into the top ten. Josiah Heras placed 11^th in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:02.65. Elias Neely who took part in the 400-meter dash placed 11^th, clocking in at 52.21. David Fletcher who took on the 1500-meter run placed 14^th, timed at 4:08.4.

A couple of Spartans were able to overcome their limits and set new personal bests. Collin Hutson was able to set new personal records in the discus (32.53 meters) and hammer throw (31.21 meters). Ethan Bliss had a new PR in the 1500-meter run where he was timed at 4:20.30.

Next week (Mar. 31), the Spartans will be taking on multiple track meets. The team will be splitting up among the SLU Billiken Invitational, WashU Distance Carnival, and the CMU Invite and Multi.