April 26, 2008
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - With much of Auburn's track and field team fighting chilly and blustery conditions in Philadelphia at the Penn Relays, it was Cory Martin, one of just two Tigers competing Saturday at the Drake Relays in Des Moines, who provided the day's biggest highlight. Martin tied the Drake Relays record in the hammer throw while winning the competition, leading Auburn in a 1-2 sweep.
Martin posted a winning throw of 72.78m (238-9), trying the Drake Relays record set in 2002 by Libor Charfreitag of Southern Methodist. His throw was just one foot shy of his school-record mark of 73.07m (239-9) set just two weeks ago - a mark that leads the NCAA this year. Teammate Jacob Dunkleberger was not far behind, finishing second with a mark of 70.20m (230-4).
Meanwhile at Penn, the Tigers had three finishes in the top seven of Championship finals in front of a crowd of 49,831.
"This is a big stage," said head coach Ralph Spry of the Penn Relays. "The best of the best run here and it's a test to get you prepped for the meat and potatoes part of the season. Today the weather wasn't ideal, but it was just about competing, and our kids preformed really well. Today was a gut check and I think we did well. We did what we came here to do."
Ty Akins, currently ranked No. 2 in the NCAA, finished second in the men's 110m hurdles final, clocking a time of 13.81 into a headwind, finishing just behind national leader Jason Richardson of South Carolina. Akins said he did not have the start he had hoped for, perhaps because of a controversial false start that disqualified him from last year's Penn Relays final.
"I made too many mistakes and I'm not too happy with how I did," said Akins. "I think last year's false start cost me a little bit, because I didn't come out as well as I usually do. I had that on my mind and I was a little bit nervous about it."
In the women's 100m hurdles final, Danielle Gilchrist finished sixth with a time of 13.51, also into a headwind, improving on her performance at last year's Penn Relays when she finished eighth with a time of 13.77.
The men's 4x400m relay team finished seventh in the Championship of America final, as the team of Michael DeHaven, Jerod Wims, Bernard Spivey and Reuben McCoy posted a time of 3:11.09.
The women's 4x400m relay team ran in the college division final, with the team of Danielle Gilchrist, Amelia Anderson, Joanna Atkins and Cache Armbrister coming in second with a time of 3:40.90.
Jean-Pierre Weerts participated in the Olympic Developmental mile on Saturday, placing ninth with a time of 4:09.90. Gerard Brown was Auburn's final participant of the day at Penn, finishing 14th in the men's triple jump with a leap of 14.23m (46-8.25).
Another group of throwers was competing later in the day on Saturday at the Triton Invitational hosted by UC San Diego. Two of Auburn's discus throwers improved their regional qualifying marks during the meet, as Edis Elkasevic finished 12th with a mark of 56.72m (186-1) and Zach Clayton was 19th with a throw of 55.98m (183-8). Eric Werskey also finished seventh in the shot put (18.60m, 61-0.25) and 23rd in the discus (53.77m, 176-5) for Auburn.
The Tigers also sent a small group to compete at the Coach O Invitational hosted by Troy University. Catherine Frappier had the best finish for Auburn, placing second in the women's pole vault with a personal-best leap of 3.55m (11-7.75). Stephen Fly was third in the men's 100m (10.86) and Simon Nyang was fourth in the men's 1500m (4:01.27).
"It's been a demanding outdoor season with a lot of tough meets and a lot of travel," said Spry. "Now we have a chance to get real sharp for the SEC Championships in two-and-a-half weeks. We don't have any competitions until then and I'm really excited about it. Everybody is healthy which is a big plus, and now we have to get mentally focused. We'll be at our home track and won't have to travel, so I'm really excited about us lining up with a good team that will be ready to compete and do well."
This weekend was the last full weekend of competition for Auburn prior to the SEC Championships, which the Tigers will host May 15-18 at Hutsell-Rosen Track.