March 28, 2009
AUBURN - The Auburn men's and women's track and field teams were scheduled to compete Saturday at the Yellow Jacket Invitational hosted by Georgia Tech, but the meet was canceled due to severe storms in Atlanta. The Tigers did, however, send a group of five distance runners to compete at Stanford, where freshman Girma Mecheso set a new school record in the 10,000 meters late Friday night.
In fact, two Tigers smashed the old school record in the 10,000 meters. Mecheso finished fifth overall and third among collegiate runners with a time of 28:26.09, while junior Elkanah Kibet was one spot behind with a time of 28:26.96 in a race in which the top six finishers were separated by less than three seconds. They wiped out the old record of 28:55.48 set by Andrew Heath in 2006 by nearly half a minute, and also both automatically qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Championships with their times.
Mecheso and Kibet were not the only two to excel Friday night, as junior Felix Kiboiywo qualified for the NCAA Mideast Regional by placing 14th in the 5,000 meters with a personal-best time of 13:50.87. His mark bettered his previous best of 13:53.54 from last year, and moved him up to fourth in Auburn history in the 5,000 meters. Junior Jean-Pierre Weerts also ran in the 5,000 and finished with a time of 14:26.82.
Also competing for Auburn was junior Laurel Pritchard, who ran in the women's 10,000 meters. Pritchard placed eighth in her section with a time of 35:33.51.
The Tiger track and field teams will return to action next weekend, when Auburn hosts the Tiger Track Classic Friday and Saturday at Hutsell-Rosen Track. The meet is open to the public. The hammer throw is the only event contested Friday, at 4:30 p.m., while Saturday's competition includes field events starting at 11 a.m. and running events beginning at 1 p.m.