Feb. 5, 2006
GAINESVILLE, Fla. - The Auburn men's and women's track and field teams won five events at the Pepsi Invitational hosted Sunday by the University of Florida, but the highlight of the day came from an athlete that placed second, as senior Markita James broke a 10-year-old school indoor record in the 400m by more than half a second.
James finished second in the 400m but first among collegians with an NCAA provisional mark of 52.77, shattering the previous school record of 53.29 set in 1996 by Eusheka Bartley and bettering her previous best of 54.87 by more than two seconds. James' time trailed only Tiandra Ponteen, the world's 20th-ranked 400m runner, who finished in 52.35. James finished ahead of Novalene Williams, ranked No. 25 in the world, and nearly two-and-a-half seconds ahead of the next-fastest collegiate time of 55.24 by Miami's Krista Simkins. Entering this weekend, only four American women (Sanya Richards, Monica Hargrove, Shana Cox and Monique Henderson) had run faster times than James' mark.
"We're right were we need to be at this time of the season," said head coach Ralph Spry. "We had quite a few qualifiers today. Markita had a really big breakthrough today. The women's team especially is really picking up momentum, and I'm excited about the way things are going right now.
Junior Kerron Stewart won one event and finished second in another. Stewart won the 55m dash, clocking a 6.85 which ranks her sixth in Auburn indoor history. Stewart also had the fastest time in the prelims with an identical 6.85. In the 200m, Stewart finished second but had the fastest time among collegians, running a 23.58, which ranks third in Auburn indoor history and just missed the NCAA automatic qualifying time of 23.50. Only 14 women in the world had run faster times entering this weekend. Ponteen won that event as well in 23.48 seconds. Senior Tarama Thomas was third in the 200 in 24.21, while senior Josanne Lucas placed fourth in 24.45.
Lucas also won the women's 55m hurdles, posting a mark of 7.73 seconds, which ranks fourth-best in Auburn history. Sophomore Jasmine Johnson was 13th in the finals with a time of 8.42 after posting an 8.28 in the prelims.
Freshman Michelle Vaughn won the triple jump with a leap of 13.18m (43-3), which was a provisional mark but fell just short of her season best. Senior Jovanee Jarrett finished fourth in that event with a mark of 12.65m (41-6), which was also a provisional qualifying mark, while freshman Amelia Anderson was ninth with a distance of 11.95m (39-2.5).
Junior Cory Martin won the men's weight throw with a pair of throws that measured 20.61m (67-7.5), although it fell short of his previous season best of 21.59m. Martin also placed fourth in the shot put with a personal best and provisional qualifying mark of 18.02m (59-1.5). Junior Jacob Dunkleberger was fifth in the weight throw with a mark of 19.02m (62-5), and placed ninth in the shot put with a toss of 16.40m (53-9.75).
Senior Clay Askew and freshman Josh Pawlik finished 1-2 in the men's mile. Askew posted a winning time of 4:19.70, while Pawlik finished in 4:22.94.
In the men's 55m hurdles, sophomore Ty Akins finished third with a time of 7.42 seconds, ranking him 10th in Auburn history. Freshman Tavaris Washington was close behind, finishing fifth with a time of 7.53 after recording a time of 7.47 in the prelims.
Auburn had three of the top 10 performers in the women's shot put, including freshman Katalin Mate, who was fourth with a mark of 14.39m (47-2.5) which ranks her fourth on Auburn's all-time indoor list, senior Ronda Gullatte, who was sixth with a throw of 13.89m (45-7), and freshman Valentina Srsa, who finished 10th with a mark of 12.56m (41-2.5).
Other top ten performers for the men included junior Gregory Rogers, who was eighth in the 400m dash (49.86), sophomore Patrick Lee, who finished eighth in the long jump (7.05m, 23-1.25), and junior Drew Lovette, who tied for 10th in the pole vault with a mark of 4.60m (15-1).
For the women, junior Michelle Williamson placed fourth in the women's high jump, clearing 1.75m (5-8.75), senior Ronda Gullatte was seventh in the weight throw with a mark of 18.87m (61-11), freshman Amelia Anderson finished seventh in the long-jump with a leap of 5.81m (19-0.75) and sophomore Jessica Smith was 10th in the 800m (2:18.55).
The Tigers will participate in two events next Friday and Saturday (Feb. 10-11), competing in both the Tyson Invitational in Fayetteville, Ark., and the Iowa State Classic in Ames, Iowa.