June 6, 2007
SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Five of Auburn's six athletes that competed during the opening day of the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships advanced to finals during a successful opening day for the Tigers.
Cory Martin and Jacob Dunkleberger advanced to the finals of the men's hammer throw, Donald Thomas qualified for the men's high jump final, Ty Akins reached the final of the men's 110m hurdles and Tracy Ann Rowe advanced to the final of the women's 100m dash.
"This meet is not about how fast you run, it's about qualifying and getting through to the next round," said head coach Ralph Spry. "We had a really good first day, with just one exception. Ty and Tracy Ann ran well, Cory and Jake threw well, Donald jumped well, and they all did what they needed to do to get to the next round."
Martin, the NCAA leader in the hammer throw, had a short day of work, needing just one attempt in that event to hit the automatic mark and advance to Friday's final. Martin's mark of 69.62 (228-5) was surpassed in the second round as he ended up with the second-best mark in the prelims, but his light day of work should prove beneficial as he competes in two throwing events this week.
Dunkleberger will join Martin in the finals, as he finished with the third-best mark in the prelims, launching a throw of 66.85 (219-4) on his second of three attempts. Dunkleberger entered the competition with the fourth-best mark in the NCAA this year.
"Hopefully I have four days of competition, so the least amount of throws I can take in qualifying the better off and the better rested I'll be," said Martin. "That was the plan coming in. I wanted to hit the first throw and not go too hard and make sure it stayed in, and if I needed to get any more than I could. I missed the finish on that throw and it still went 69 meters, so if I put it all together I think it's going to go pretty far."
Much like Martin, Thomas only needed one jump to reach the finals of the men's high jump. Thomas, also the NCAA leader in his event, passed at the opening height of 2.05m (6-8.75), then cleared 2.10m (6-10.75) on his first try, and that proved to be high enough to move him into Friday's final.
Akins reached the finals of the 110m hurdles for the first time in his career. He breezed through the opening round, winning the heat with a wind-aided time of 13.52 seconds, which tied for the second-best mark in the first round. In the semifinals, he was slightly slower at 13.57, tying for the third-best mark in the field.
"The prelims were good, but my semifinal race was really sloppy," said Akins. "But the good thing is I still made it into the finals, and I'm going to put it all on the line Friday to try to win it."
Rowe reached the finals of the women's 100m by running two heats with identical times of 11.25. In the opening round, she tied for the fifth-fastest time in the field, placing second in her heat with a wind-aided time. Her mark in the finals, which again placed her second in her heat but fourth overall, was wind legal, giving her the fifth-best time in school history.
Sophomore Raevan Harris was the only Auburn athlete to not advance at least one during the opening day, falling out of the women's high jump at the second height of the qualifying round. After clearing 1.70m (5-7) on her second attempt, she missed on all three attempts at 1.74 (5-8.5) to bow out of her first NCAA Championship meet.
""Right now I'm real excited," said Spry. "We're doing what we need to do, and if we can keep doing that, our men can finish in the top five and the women could get in the top ten, so I'm feeling good about where we are."
Competition will resume for Auburn on Thursday with Martin competing in the shot put, Kerron Stewart running in the opening rounds of the women's 200m and Reuben McCoy and Danielle Gilchrist running in the 400m hurdles.