Missouri S&T got its 2008-09 indoor track season started Friday with several high finishes at the Saluki Fast Start meet at Southern Illinois University.

Jordan Henry, last year’s national runner-up in the pole vault during the indoor season, opened the new season by placing third in the event with a mark of 15-1. Peter Hollenbeck was sixth and Dan Hellwig seventh at the same height — the places were determined by the number of misses in the competition.

Dan Forbes had the top finish in the running events with a second place showing in the 3,000-meters in 9:19.82, while Brandon Etzold claimed third in the mile with a time of 4:30.93, just ahead of teammate Eric Fairbairn’s time of 4:31.20.  Later in the meet, Etzold finished ninth in the 800-meters in 2:01.   40.

Jarryd Dean posted a fifth place finish in the high jump Friday with a mark of 6-4 1/4 and also took fifth in the triple jump with a leap of 44-9 1/2.  S&T had two others in the top eight of the triple jump as Jeff Pike was seventh at 43-8 1/2 and Kyle Williams took eighth at 42-9 1/2.

Lucas Jaster finished seventh in the shot put with a mark of 44-3 1/2 and later placed 11th in the weight throw with a mark of 44-7 1/2.  Jeremiah Johnson was eighth in the shot at 44-1 1/2.

The Miners also got 10th place showings from Paul Roland in the 600-meter run in 1:24.65 and Elijah Thomas in the long jump at 22-4 1/2, as well as a 12th from Dean in the long jump at 21-9 and Alex Chambers in the 800-meters in 2:02.90.  Derick Winkle, competing in his first collegiate competition, had a time of 9.12 seconds in the 60-meter hurdles to finish 13th.

S&T had four other finishers immediately behind Chambers in the 800-meters in Chris Teel, Fairbairn, Jordan Kellerman and Robert Erhardt.

The Lady Miner performances Friday were highlighted by three finishers among the top five in the pole vault, with Taylor Hahn finishing second in the event with a clearance of 10-11 3/4 and Jamie Statler and Sarah Zaremba tying for fourth at 10-6.

S&T also got finishes of ninth from Katie Bruce in the 800-meters in 2:32.26, 10th from Aubrey Moore in the 400-meters in 1:00.50 and 12th place showings from Hannah Terwelp finished 12th in the shot put with a throw of 40-7 1/2 and Sadye Wichman in the triple jump with a mark of 34-11 3/4. Hillary Griffith ended up 15th in the 400-meters in 26.47 seconds.

The next action for the Missouri S&T track teams is not scheduled to take place until Jan. 23 at the University of Central Missouri.