April 15, 2007
TEMPE, Ariz. - Shamar Sands tied his own school record while winning the 110m hurdles and Raevan Harris posted the second-best mark in school history in the high jump to highlight the action for the Auburn men's and women's track and field teams Saturday at the 28th Sun Angel Classic hosted by Arizona State.
Sands posted a time of 13.64 for the second Saturday in a row, matching his time from last week that gave him the fastest mark in the NCAA this season. However, his time was even more impressive this weekend as he ran into a slight headwind after posting the mark last week with a good tailwind.
Harris won the high jump with a regional qualifying mark of 1.85m (6-0.75), easily surpassing her previous outdoor best of 1.75m (5-8.75). Her mark ranks her second in Auburn history and is just three-quarters of an inch off the school record. Only three women in the NCAA had jumped that high this season entering the weekend.
"I'm really pleased with how we lined up tonight," said head coach Ralph Spry. "We had a number of regional qualifying marks and a few big performances tonight. We're getting to the meat and potatoes of the season now and we left the meet healthy so that's a big part of it. We really represented ourselves well."
Reuben McCoy had a solid showing in the men's 400m hurdles, finishing a close second with a time of 49.79, just .03 seconds behind the winner. His time ranks him third best in the SEC this season. Jhak Keegan was sixth in 53.26 seconds.
Danielle Gilchrist competed in the women's 400m hurdles for the first time, and finished third with a regional qualifying time of 59.29 seconds. Gilchrist, who has already regionally qualified in the 100m hurdles, clocked a time that ranks her fifth in Auburn history after just her first attempt. Amelia Anderson finished fourth with a time of 1:01.17.
Felix Kiboiywo fell just shy of his bid to become the first Auburn runner to break four minutes in the mile outdoors, but he did finish third with a regional qualifying time of 4:02.44. Joey Giattino was seventh in 4:10.12.
The men's 4x100m relay team regionally qualified for the first time this season, finishing sixth in a strong field. The group of Sands, McCoy, Hailey Foster and Ty Akins recorded a time of 40.36 seconds, improving on their previous season best of 41.18.
Laurel Pritchard finished fourth in the women's 3,000m with a time of 10:06.61, and Gregory Rogers was eighth in the men's 100m (10.79).
Also, Auburn had just one athlete compete on Friday. Tiffany Spry reached the finals of the women's hammer throw, placing 10th with a mark of 44.46m (145-10).
Auburn will host its third and final home meet of the season when the Tigers hold the Auburn Invitational next Friday and Saturday, April 20-21 at Hutsell-Rosen Track.