May 29, 2009
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Three members of the Auburn track and field team, freshman Ryan Fleck and juniors Jean-Pierre Weerts and Eric Werskey, earned automatic bids to the NCAA Outdoor Championships, and nine others plus a relay advanced to Saturday's finals during the opening day of the NCAA Mideast Regional Championships Friday. The top five finishers in each individual event and the top three relays earn automatic spots in the NCAA Championships June 10-13 in Fayetteville, Ark.
Fleck became the first Tiger at the Mideast Regional to earn a spot at the NCAA Championships when he placed third in the high jump with a mark of 2.19 meters (7-2.25). His mark, which was a new collegiate best for Fleck, moves him up to a tie for fourth in Auburn history in that event.
"Today I felt really good," said Fleck. "My coach has been preparing me for these big meets for a long time, and I peaked when I needed to. I'm really happy about my jumping."
Fleck was perfect on the first three heights but faced elimination at 2.16 meters, with two misses already under his belt and six other jumpers already over the bar. But he cleared that height on his final attempt, then cleared 2.19 meters on his first try to earn the third-place finish.
"It was a change in momentum because I was in the driver's seat going into that height (2.16 meters)," said Fleck. "All of a sudden there was bar clearance after bar clearance and I was almost dead in the water, and I had to make it. It was do or die for nationals, and I put everything I had into it and it paid off."
Weerts closed the day for Auburn by also earning a third-place finish, clocking a time of 14:09.02 in the men's 5000 meters. Weerts, who entered the meet ranked 10th in the region and was 14th at last year's Mideast Regional, will be making his first trip to the NCAA Championships.
"It's just awesome," said Weerts. "I just sat in the back for the first seven or eight laps, then I moved slowly to the front. With two laps to go I was trying to hang on as long as I could. I died a little on the last lap, but not enough for the guys behind me to catch me."
Werskey also earned a trip to Fayetteville, finishing fifth in the shot put with a throw of 18.20 meters (59-8.5). He was in seventh place entering the fifth round of throws, but improved to the fifth and final automatic qualifying spot on that attempt. Werskey, who was an indoor All-American this year after finishing eighth in the shot put at the NCAA Indoor Championships, will have a chance to earn another All-American honor.
Outside of the 5000 meters, all the events on the track were preliminary heats, as runners attempted to qualify for Saturday's finals.
Freshman Marcus Rowland advanced to finals in two individual events and a relay race. He clocked the fastest time in the prelims of the 100 meters with a time of 10.16 seconds that was just off his personal best of 10.13 that ranks tied for fourth in the nation this year.
He then won his heat of the 200 meters and tied for the third best overall time with a time of 20.78 seconds. He tied with sophomore teammate Michael DeHaven, who also qualified for the finals by winning his heat in 20.78 seconds. It was the fastest wind-legal time of the season for DeHaven and moved him up to eighth in Auburn history in that event.
Auburn also had two women reach the finals of the 200 meters. Sophomore Cache Armbrister had the fastest time in the field in the prelims with a time of 23.57, while freshman CeCe Williams was second in her heat and sixth overall with a personal-best time of 23.77.
Sophomore Joanna Atkins, the top seed in the women's 400 meters, won her heat and had the second-fastest time overall in the prelims, cruising to a time of 53.09 seconds.
The men's 4x100-meter relay team advanced to Saturday's final by winning their heat with a time of 39.78 seconds that ranked third fastest overall. The team of Stephen Fly, Jerod Wims, DeHaven and Rowland entered the meet ranked third in the region.
Junior Felix Kiboiywo qualified for the finals of the men's 1500 meters, posting the fourth fastest time in the prelims with a mark of 3:46.05. Freshman Julian Matthews missed the finals by three spots, placing 15th in 3:49.11.
Junior Danielle Gilchrist won her heat of the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 59.03 seconds which ranked fifth-best in the field. Gilchrist also ran in the 100-meter hurdles, but hit the first hurdle and never fully recovered, finishing 16th with a time of 13.84 seconds.
Junior Shaquela Williams, who entered the meet ranked 12th in the women's 100 meters field, had the fifth-best time in the prelims, qualifying for Saturday's final with a season-best time of 11.57.
The Tigers did have some misfortune as well. The women's 4x100-meter relay team, which entered the meet ranked No. 4 in the nation, was disqualified after a botched second exchange and will not be eligible for the NCAA Championships.
"Unfortunately our first event was the women's 4x100 relay and we just didn't get the baton around, but after that we really cleaned up," said head coach Ralph Spry. "Everybody that we were expecting to get through got the job done. We're doing what we came here to do. That's the most important thing is to get to the finals to give yourself a chance to finish in the top five. We came here to get a lot of people qualified for the national championships and right now we're on pace to do that."
Others competing for Auburn included sophomore Stephen Fly, who was 11th in the men's 100 meters with a time of 10.55 seconds, and senior Jhak Keegan, who placed 12th in the men's 400-meter hurdles with a time of 52.64 seconds.
Also for the Tiger women, junior Laurel Pritchard was 16th in the women's 5000 meters with a time of 17:23.14. Sophomore Amber Riley finished 16th in the women's 1500 meters (4:42.26), junior Valentina Srsa was 21st in the women's hammer throw (52.47 meters, 172-2) and sophomore Latoya Parkinson finished 21st in the women's 400-meter hurdles (1:02.02).
Competition resumes on Saturday with field events beginning at 11 a.m. ET, and running event starting at 4 p.m. ET.