April 12, 2009
TEMPE, Ariz. - On an atypically rainy and chilly day in Tempe, Ariz., the Auburn men's and women's track and field teams still managed to record 11 regional qualifying marks, including first-time qualifiers in seven events, Saturday against a host of nationally-ranked squads at the Sun Angel Classic hosted by Arizona State.
In a meet that featured 10 nationally-ranked men's teams and six ranked women's squads, the Tigers excelled despite conditions that made it difficult on the sprinters, in particular.
"This is our 12th year coming here, and we typically have good weather and great competition," said head coach Ralph Spry. "We still had great competition but the weather was challenging. Even so, we still had a lot of good performances. I think this meet allowed us to get tougher because the weather was not ideal. If forced us to make the best of the situation and our kids stepped up and performed well."
Freshman Marcus Rowland took second place in the 100-meter dash with a time of 10.45 seconds. He was first among collegiate runners and defeated a number of unattached professional athletes in the race.
In the women's 200 meters, sophomore Joanna Atkins finished third overall and second among collegians with a personal-best time of 22.89 seconds, which ranks third in school history. Sophomore Cache Armbrister was seventh with a regional qualifying time of 23.76, and freshman CeCe Williams was second in her heat with a time of 23.78, posting her first outdoor regional qualifying mark.
Sophomore Michael DeHaven, in his first 200 meters of the outdoor season, clocked a time of 21.01 to finish fourth overall and second among collegians. His time was an outdoor personal best and met the regional qualifying mark.
Sophomore Amber Riley qualified for the regional meet in the women's 3,000 meter steeplechase for the first time in her career, racing to a fourth-place finish in 10:39.83. Another women's distance runner, junior Laurel Pritchard, finished third in the 5,000 meters with a regional qualifying time of 16:42.22 that moved her up one spot to sixth in Auburn history.
Freshman Ryan Fleck took second in the men's high jump with a mark of 2.10 meters (6-10.75). Although it was a regional qualifying mark, it did not match his season best of 2.16 meters (7-1).
Senior Raevan Harris tied for second in the women's high jump with a leap of 1.75 meters (5-8.75). She appeared to clear the bar on her final attempt at 1.80 meters (5-10.75), but clipped the bar with her heel on her way down, eliminating her from the meet.
The women's 4x100-meter relay team of Shaquela Williams, CeCe Williams, Armbrister and Atkins finished third with a regional time of 44.43, although they did not improve on their season best.
Junior Danielle Gilchrist was another first-time regional qualifier for this year, finishing seventh in the women's 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1:00.24.
Junior Scott Novack concluded the meet for Auburn by finishing sixth in the men's 5,000 meters in 14:24.61.
Early in the meet, junior Sabrina Fischer was sixth in the women's 800 meters with a time of 2:11.62, freshman Julian Matthews was 14th in the B heat of the men's 1500 meters with a time of 3:50.88, and freshman Jeff Sanders was eighth in the C and D heats in 3:52.88.
Meanwhile on Saturday, the Tigers also had a small group of field event athletes competing at the Spec Towns Invitational in Athens, Ga.
Junior Eric Werskey placed second in the discus and fourth overall, second among collegians, in the shot put. Werskey met the regional qualifying mark for the first time this year in the discus with a throw of 55.64 meters (182-6), moving up to sixth in Auburn history in that event.
In the shot put, Werskey posted a mark of 18.10 meters (59-4.75), improving his previous regional qualifying mark of 17.38 meters (57-0.25). Wesley Wright was 10th with a throw of 15.82m (51-11).
Junior Luke Gaines was third in the men's javelin with a mark of 58.43 meters (191-8), falling just short of his season best. Freshman Michael Dekich was fifth (52.75m, 173-1).
Auburn will host its second and final home meet of the season next weekend, hosting the Tiger Track Classic Friday and Saturday at Hutsell-Rosen Track.