Feb. 5, 2010
AUBURN - The Auburn men's and women's track and field teams had a light opening night of competition Friday at the Sykes-Sabock Challenge Cup hosted by Penn State, but the Tigers still had a successful night.
Despite having competitors in a limited number of events on Friday, Auburn still managed to dominate two events in particular, taking the top three spots in both the men's 60-meter dash and the women's 60-meter hurdles, with five NCAA provisional qualifiers among the group.
"We didn't have a lot of people competing but it was a really big night," said head coach Ralph Spry. "We put up some very fast times. I was impressed with what happened tonight, and we expect a lot of the same thing tomorrow."
Three Tiger women had career-best times and NCAA qualifying marks in the 60-meter hurdles. Junior Krystal Bodie won the event with a time of 8.30 seconds that ranks third in school history at that distance and tied for 11th in the NCAA this year. Senior Danielle Gilchrist was just .01 seconds behind, finishing in 8.31 seconds and improving her career best by .01 seconds.
While Bodie and Gilchrist improved on times that had already qualified them for the NCAA indoor meet, senior Amelia Anderson qualified for the first time this year, finishing third in a personal-best 8.34 seconds. Also for Auburn, junior Latoya Parkinson finished fifth in 8.64 seconds.
In the men's 60 meters, Auburn also took the top three spots, with the top two runners posting regional qualifying marks. Sophomore Marcus Rowland won the event with a time of 6.64 seconds, just shy of his nation-leading mark of 6.61, while sophomore Harry Adams improved his season-best mark and national standing by placing second in 6.67 seconds. Junior Michael DeHaven placed third with a season-best time of 6.78
"The ladies in the hurdles stepped up big time and put up some solid national qualifying marks," said Spry. "Marcus ran a great race and had his second-best time ever, and Harry was really impressive - he just gets faster each weekend."
Meanwhile in the women's 60 meters, senior Shaquela Williams and sophomore Nivea Smith tied for fourth place with identical times of 7.58 seconds
Also for Auburn on Friday, junior Gerard Brown finished fifth in the long jump with a mark of 6.84 meters (22-5.25).
Auburn will have a busier schedule on Saturday, when competition at the Sykes-Sabock Challenge Cup concludes.