May 15, 2009
GAINESVILLE, Fla. - The Auburn men's track and field team stands in second place after the second day of competition at the SEC Outdoor Track and Field Championships, although just three men's and three women's finals have been contested so far. The Tiger men have 18 points, trailing only Georgia with 28 points. The Auburn women are in eighth place with five points entering Saturday's competition.
"I was pleased with how we did today," said head coach Ralph Spry. "We had a couple of people step up and a mishap or two. We did what we had to do and just about everyone that we wanted to get through to the finals got through. We had three other athletes that just missed the finals, but sometimes you get those and sometimes you don't. We're still in pretty good shape, but tomorrow will be a key day for us."
Thirteen of Auburn's 18 points came in the men's 10,000 meters, as freshman Girma Mecheso finished second with a time of 30:13.53, and junior Jean-Pierre Weerts was fourth in 30:18.76. The pace was much slower than typical for Auburn's duo, as earlier this season, Mecheso set the school record with a time of 28:26.09.
"I was hoping to go for the title," said Mecheso. "I wanted to get points for the team. The time wasn't great and I was hoping to be number one, but number two is not bad."
In the men's decathlon, which was interrupted by rain for the second day in a row, junior Jager Livingston had a strong finishing day to place fourth, after starting the day in 10th. Livingston had a personal-best time of 4:28.49 in the final event - the 1500 meters - to conclude the day. He scored a personal-best 6,628 points, and his fourth-place finish was nine spots better than his 13th-place finish at the 2008 SEC outdoor meet.
"The competition was hectic with a three-hour rain delay yesterday and 45 minutes today," said Livingston. "Cooling down and warming up is what kills you in the decathlon. It doesn't have anything to do with competition - it's the warm-up periods. Having to do that a couple of extra times on top of your 10 events is what beats you down. So to press through and get through it under the circumstances, and to PR on top of that, is exciting."
"Jager took advantage of a great opportunity," said Spry. "That was a big five points for us. He's a great kid and works hard and really put one together at the right time. That was really a big boost for us."
Junior Valentina Srsa finished fifth in the women's hammer throw, posting a season-best mark of 54.35 meters (178-4). Srsa entered the meet with a season best of 171-7, but topped that mark five times Friday, including three throws over 54 meters.
In the final event of the night, junior Laurel Pritchard placed eighth in the women's 10,000 meters, clocking a time of 36:12.77.
There was good news and bad news for the Tigers in the men's 200-meter prelims. The good news was freshman Marcus Rowland posting the fastest time in the field, cruising to a mark of 20.69 to reach the finals. The bad news was that sophomore Michael DeHaven, who entered the meet ranked second in the field, did not reach the finals, placing 12th with a time of 21.08 seconds.
Auburn had two women advance to the finals of the 200 meters, with sophomore Joanna Atkins winning her heat and posting the second-best time in the field of 23.30 seconds, and sophomore Cache Armbrister ranking fifth in 23.72 seconds.
The Tigers also had two women reach the finals of the women's 400-meter hurdles. Junior Danielle Gilchrist had the second-best mark in the prelims with a season-best time of 59.23 seconds, while Parkinson ranked fifth with a time of 1:00.19.
In the men's 800 meters, freshman Julian Matthews just missed qualifying for the finals, finishing 10th, but his time of 1:50.22 was a season best and was good enough to qualify him for the NCAA Mideast Regional.
Likewise, senior Jhak Keegan finished 10th in the prelims of the men's 400-meter hurdles, missing a place in the finals by one spot. But as with Matthews, Keegan's time was a personal best and a regional qualifier.
Junior Sabrina Fischer finished 14th in the prelims of the women's 800 meters with a time of 2:11.65. Freshman Chelsey Thomas finished 10th in the women's heptathlon with 4,578 points, surpassing her previous best of 4,516 points.
Competition at the SEC Outdoor Championships continues through Sunday. Saturday's action will include finals in nine events and prelims in eight more.