June 8, 2007
SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Juniors Ty Akins and Jacob Dunkleberger won individual national championships as the Auburn track and field teams had four top-five performances during the third day of action at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Akins took the 110m hurdles title while Dunkleberger won the crown in the hammer throw.
Auburn also had three third-place finishes from junior Cory Martin in the hammer throw, senior Donald Thomas in the high jump and junior Tracy Ann Rowe in the women's 100m as all five of the Tigers' finalists on Friday placed in the top three of their events, with three more finalists scheduled to compete tomorrow.
The men's team is in second place with 32 points entering the final day of competition, while Rowe's six points put the women's team in a tie for 26th. Nine women's finals and eight men's finals will take place Saturday, but with the Auburn men having just one competitor left in the remaining finals, the Tigers' chances of overtaking leader Florida State (34 points with three finalists Saturday) are slim.
"This week is all about high and lows and we experienced both today," said head coach Ralph Spry. "We had an explosive start in the hammer throw with Jake and Cory both throwing well, and I'm really happy for Ty Akins because he's done everything we've asked and really put it all together today. But Donald Thomas didn't have his best day and Reuben McCoy is one of the best 400 hurdlers here but didn't advance to the finals. Our men are still in the hunt for a top four finish and we still have one more big round in the chamber with Cory throwing the shot put tomorrow."
Akins pulled a mild upset in the 110m hurdles, as the third seed got off to a quick start and pulled away to win in a school-record time of 13.42 seconds, which was .15 seconds ahead of runner-up John Yarbrough of Ole Miss. Akins, who bested his previous school record of 13.51 despite running into a headwind, became the first Auburn man to win the high hurdles since Weems Baskin won the 120-yard hurdles in 1927.
"I knew everybody in the race was good and anybody could have won," said Akins. "But I knew the important thing was the start and I had to get out fast, and I got out pretty well. I crashed a couple of hurdles but I put my all into it. It feels good because all of the hard work I did in the fall and in the winter added up and paid big dividends."
It wasn't unexpected that an Auburn athlete won the men's hammer throw, but it was a bit of a surprise that the winner was Jacob Dunkleberger and not teammate and NCAA leader Cory Martin, who finished third. Dunkleberger stepped up big in the final, setting a new personal best by more than two meters to win the event with a mark of 71.87m (235-9).
Dunkleberger broke Martin's school record of 71.42m (234-4) while earning the fifth All-American honor of his career. It wasn't a huge upset, as Dunkleberger was ranked fourth in the NCAA entering the meet, but typically found himself just behind Martin. He took the lead on his second of six throws with a mark of 71.26 (233-10) before hitting his winning throw on his fifth attempt. Dunkleberger became the first Auburn athlete to win an NCAA title in the hammer throw.
"After my second throw I knew Cory and Nick (Owens of North Carolina who finished second) are two of the most clutch throwers you will see, so I was actually thinking that I was going to have to get on that horse again later in the meet," said Dunkleberger. "I just wanted to set my first one up in the final and the second one was the one I wanted to try to hit. I figured I was going to get passed at some point, but that's just the way the meet goes sometimes. Earlier in the year I was pressing a little bit, and I just lined one up on the right day."
Martin finished with a top mark of 70.48m (231-3) while earning his fifth career All-American honor. He will have another chance to earn All-American honors Saturday when he competes in the finals of the shot put.
"It's not about beating Cory, it's about showing up and doing what you can," added Dunkleberger. "Cory's a great teammate and constantly pushes me, and it could have been him today that hit one. I predict big things from him tomorrow in the shot put."
Thomas entered the meet as the NCAA leader in the high jump, but never got into a solid rhythm, finishing third with a top height of 2.29m (7-6). Thomas, who earlier this year jumped 2.34m (7-8), cleared the first two heights on his first attempt before missing once at 2.20 (7.25). He was perfect at 2.23m (7-3.75), but missed once more at 2.26m (7-5) before needing three attempts to clear 2.29m. He was one of three competitors left when the bar was raised to 2.32m (7-7.25), but missed all three attempts to finish third.
"My performance wasn't what I expected," said Thomas. "Coming into the meet I wasn't 100 percent, but there are no excuses. Those boys put on a good show and they beat me. I wasn't 100 percent but I thought I still felt good enough to come out and pull off the victory, but unfortunately I didn't."
In the women's 100m, Rowe entered the meet ranked 13th, but posted her two best times of the year (11.25) on Wednesday to reach the final, and finished third in the final with a time of 11.30, just a tenth of a second behind the winner. Rowe, a junior in her first season at Auburn, earned her first NCAA All-American honor after failing to advance to the finals of the 60m and 200m at the NCAA indoor meet.
"I'm very happy," said Rowe. "My coach has been on my back all season to get a better start, because if I did I knew I would do better because I have a good finish, so I was expecting to do well."
Michelle Vaughn was the last of Auburn's nine athletes competing at the meet to get a chance to participate, taking part in the women's triple jump qualifying round. Vaughn was not one of the top 12 heading into her last of three jumps, but soared 13.34m (43-9.25) to move all the way up into a tie for third and advance to Saturday's finals.
In the men's 400m hurdles semifinals, Reuben McCoy was expected to advance to the finals after entering the meet ranked fifth. But a big stumble over the second hurdle slowed him down and he never fully recovered, finishing sixth in his heat in 51.24 seconds and missing out on a spot in the finals.
The NCAA Outdoor Championships will conclude Saturday, with four Tigers in action. In addition to Martin in the shot put and Vaughn in the triple jump, Kerron Stewart will participate in the 200m. All finals can be seen live on CBS from 12 p.m. until 2 p.m. CT.