Joplin, Mo. -- Brennan Benkert broke a Southern school record in the 10k by nearly 30 seconds and placed fifth with a provisional time as the Lions competed in three different locations on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. 

Benkert, competing at the Mt. Sac Relays at Mt. San Antonio College, finished fifth in the the race in a time of 30:03.57. The time is a provisional qualifying mark and breaks the previous school record of 30:30.45 set by Paul Koehler at the Drake Relays in 2004. The time is tops in the MIAA this year and is fourth-best in Division II. 

In other action, the Lions sent a group of athletes to the Kansas Relays. Nick Niggemann finished second in the 10k with a time 31:43.73, while Seth Hackney and James Coleman placed 9th and 11th in the shot put. Aki Nummela placed fifth in the 1,500 meters with a provisional time of 3:52.98. 

The rest of the Lions competed at the Central Missouri Mule Relays on Friday. Jordan Patton placed second in the 200 meters and 4th in the 100 meters. Andrew Wright, Jacob Khan and Maurlon Bembry placed 7th, 8th and 19th, respectively in the 200m. 

D'Angelo Wood placed 8th in the 400 meters, while Andrew Wright was 13th and DJ Bland was 18th. Sam Pogue was second in the 3k steeplechase with a time of 9:55.19, while Corey Reynolds, Chris Brown and Patrick Hester placed 2nd, 5th and 8th in the high jump. 

Corey Shumate earned a provisional in the pole vault taking home the title with a jump of 15-11.75, while Michael Juergens was second and DJ Dunmire was fourth. 

Taylor McClelland was second in the long jump and third in the triple jump, while Hester was 7th in the triple. Kyle Hancock placed fifth in the shot put, while Hancock and Tyler Burgess placed 13th and 14th, respectively in the hammer. Andrew Gassen was fifth in the javelin. 

The Lions will be back in action next Friday as Southern plays host to the Bill Williams/Bob Laptad Invitational at Fred G. Hughes Stadium.