April 4, 2009
Complete Results | Photo Gallery 
AUBURN - The Auburn men's and women's track and field teams wrapped up their first home outdoor meet of the season Saturday, winning two events and setting ten regional qualifying marks at Hutsell-Rosen Track.
The Tigers won both of the 100-meter races, with freshman Marcus Rowland winning the men's race and sophomore Joanna Atkins taking the women's crown.
Rowland raced to a time of 10.27 seconds that bettered the regional qualifying mark of 10.55, while Stephen Fly was eighth in 10.68.
Atkins had a personal-best time of 11.37 seconds which easily met the regional qualifying mark of 11.75 seconds and ranks tied for eighth in school history. Shaquela Williams placed third and also regionally qualified with a time of 11.63. CeCe Williams was seventh but missed the regional qualifying time by .01 seconds, and Nivea Smith was one spot behind in 11.78.
Atkins also anchored the women's 4x100-meter relay team that finished first among collegiate teams and second overall behind an Auburn elite squad with a time of 44.10 seconds. She was joined by CeCe Williams, Smith and Cache Armbrister as the group posted a mark that ranks seventh best in Auburn outdoor history and met the regional qualifying time of 45.70.
Armbrister also placed fourth overall and second among collegiate runners in the women's 400 meters with a regional qualifying time of 54.53 seconds.
The men's 4x100-meter relay team of Milton Fox, Fly, Michael DeHaven and Rowland was second overall and first among collegiate squads with a regional qualifying mark of 40.36.
Rowland and DeHaven also teamed with Nick Green and Bernard Spivey on the 4x400-meter relay team that placed third overall and second among collegiate teams with a regional qualifying time of 3:09.05.
Raevan Harris was second overall and first among collegians in the women's high jump, clearing 1.81 meters (5-11.25), qualifying her for regionals. Ryan Fleck finished fourth in the men's high jump with a leap of 2.16 meters (7-1). His mark qualified him for the NCAA Mideast Regional as well and ranks tied for sixth in Auburn outdoor history.
Eric Werskey placed fourth in the men's shot put - third among collegians - with a mark of 17.38 meters (57-0.25), giving him a spot in the regional meet.
"I'm really pleased with how we performed, especially considering this was our opener since last week's meet was canceled," said head coach Ralph Spry. "Our mission was to try to get our top kids two or three races each and try to get some regional qualifying marks out of the way. The weather was perfect and we had good competition, and we ended up with over 10 regional qualifying marks which is a super meet for us. We accomplished what we should have, and if we keep building from this momentum we'll be in good shape."
Also for Auburn, the women's 4x400-meter relay team of CeCe Williams, Smith, Latoya Parkinson and Armbirster finished second in 3:42.04, missing the regional qualifying time by .04 seconds.
Shaquela Williams placed eighth overall but second among collegians in the women's 200 meters with a time of 24.28 seconds. Amber Riley was third in the women's 1500 meters with a time of 4:29.09 that ranks 10th in Auburn outdoor history.
Sabrina Fischer took fourth in the women's 800 with a time of 2:11.20, just missing her personal best of 2:11.06. Julian Matthews placed sixth overall and fifth among collegians in the men's 800 meters with a time of 1:52.82.
Isaac Kipruto was fourth in the men's 3000 meter steeplechase in 9:37.94, and Milton Fox tied for sixth in the 200 meters with a time of 21.58. DeHaven placed seventh overall and fourth among collegiate runners in the men's 400 in 47.85 seconds.
Auburn will return to action next weekend when the Tigers travel to Phoenix to compete in the Sun Angel Classic hosted by Arizona State.