ROMEOVILLE, Ill. – Lewis University will serve as host for the Great Lakes Valley Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships beginning at Thursday at Lewis Stadium. The Flyers look to wrest the team title away from McKendree, who won the men's championship a year ago, while the Lewis women look to win the championship for the third consecutive year and ninth overall.

The meet will begin with the multi-event competition at 2 p.m. on Thursday and 9 a.m. on Friday. The open events start Thursday at 7:30 p.m. with the women's 10,000 meter run followed by the men's 10,000 meter run at 8:15 p.m. The field events begin on Friday at 11 a.m. with the men's hammer throw and the women's shot put.

This year's conference meet will feature a number of defending conference champions and top competitors on the national level.

The top men's competitors in the field include:

Lewis' Bryce Holesinger (Fulton, Ill./Fulton) who has the top mark in the 2018 season in both the 400-meter hurdles and the decathlon. Holesinger holds NCAA Division II provisional qualifying marks in the 400-meter hurdles at 52.69 and in the decathlon with 7,049 points.

Lewis' Michael Leet (Arlington Heights, Ill./Prospect) who has top mark in the 3,000 meter steeplechase, including a provisional qualifying mark of 8:54.13 which he achieved at the Mt. SAC Relays.

Lewis' Dan Laskero (Orland Park, Ill./Sandburg) is seeded first in the conference in the 10,000 achieving a time of 30:54.33 at the Washington University (St. Louis) Invite on March 31.

McKendree's DeMontez McCray holds the top spot in the 100 and 200 meter dash holding provisional qualifying marks in both events. He ran a 10.35 in the 100 at the Tiger Track Classic on April 13 and a 21.23 in the 200 at the McKendree Bearcat Classic on March 31.
Southern Indiana's Bastian Grau has the top mark in both the 1,500 meter and 5,000 meter runs. Grau also holds provisional qualifying marks in both events with a time of 3:48.28 in the 1,500 at the Bryan Clay Invitational and a time of 14:09.97 in the 5,000 at the Raleigh Relays.

Indianapolis's Treyvon Matthews holds the top spot and a provisional qualifying mark in the 110-meter high hurdles with a time of 14.29 seconds which he achieved last weekend at the RedHawk Invitational.

Indianapolis's Austin Hogan has achieved an automatic qualifying mark in discus and holds a provisional in the shot put. He holds the top mark in the conference in the discus with a throw of 183'3". He threw the shot 56'9.25" at the Ball State Challenge.

Missouri S&T's Ezekiel Buck and Lucas Rosenbaum currently sit one and two in the pole vault with each achieving provisional qualifying marks. Buck cleared a height of 16'3.5" at the Dewey Allgood Invitational while Rosenbaum cleared a height of 16'2" at the Bill Williams/Bob Laptad Invitational.

Missouri S&T's Jarrett Johnson holds a provisional qualifying mark in the javelin with a throw of 193'2" which he achieved at the Arkansas Spring Invitational.

On the women's side, the field includes:

Lewis' Allison Heinzer (Sugar Grove, Ill./Kaneland HS) who holds the top spot in the 100, 200 and meter runs. She has achieved provisional qualifying marks in all three events. She ran the 100 in 11.90 seconds this past weekend at the Hillsdale GINA Relays, she ran the 200 in 24.05 seconds at the Beach Invitational and the 400 where she ran 54.48 seconds at the Mt. SAC Relays.

Lewis' Cierra Pulliam (Plainfield, Ill./Romeoville) enters the meet with top marks in both the long and triple jumps. She holds provisional qualifying marks in both events. Her best jump in the long jump came at the Mt. SAC Relays jumping a distance of 19'7.5" while her best triple jump came at the Bellarmine Invitational where she jumped 40'10.25".

Lewis' Ashleigh Macleod (Mishawaka, IN/Penn) holds the top spot and a provisional qualifying mark in the 800 meter run with a time of 2:10.45 at the GINA Relays last weekend.

Indianapolis's Katie Monk holds the top mark and provisional qualifying marks in the shot put (48'10"), the discus (157'1") and the hammer throw (178'8").

Bellarmine's Erin Crone enters the meet with top marks in the both the 1,500 and 5,000 meters runs, including a provisional qualifying mark in the 5,000 with a time of 16:46.93.

Bellarmine's Karly Gawarecki has the top mark in the 10,000 meter run with a time of 35:42.66 which she achieved at the Mt. SAC Relays.

Bellarmine's Amanda Schnabel enters the meet with the top time in the 100 and 400 meter hurdles with a time of 14.02 seconds in the 100 hurdles and holds a provisional qualifying mark in that event. She also holds a provisional qualifying mark in the 400 hurdles with a time of 1:00.31.

Missouri S&T's Skyler Ruszkowski holds the top spot and a provisional qualifying mark in the high jump clearing a height of 5'7.25".