Jan. 29, 2011
AUBURN - The Auburn men's and women's track and field teams won five more event titles Saturday at the JRF Combined Events Invitational hosted by Clemson, bringing the Tigers' two-day win total to 10.
The Tigers won three individual events and two relays on Saturday, and also had three second-place finishes.
"We looked a lot sharper and competed really well this weekend," said head coach Ralph Spry. "We were stronger and had some really good marks. Our relays ran very well and we got a lot of work done."
Junior Ben Cheruiyot won the men's mile in his first race of the season, speeding to a time of 4:14.30 to edge Clemson's Jasen Turnbull by a little under a second. In the women's mile, senior Holly Knight placed second in a much tighter finish, posting a time of 4:54.28, which was just .03 seconds behind the Samford's Lauren D'Alessio.
Sophomore Maya Pressley had a big improvement from her season-opening performance, winning the high jump with a leap of 1.81 meters (5-11.25). The marked matched her indoor personal best and was an improvement of more than four inches from the opening competition. Junior Monica Carney tied for third with a height of 1.65 meters (5-5).
Freshman Clay Porter won the men's 200 meters, clocking a time of 22.31 seconds. In the women's 200 meters, senior Cache Armbrister finished second overall and first among collegians with a time of 24.99 seconds.
The Auburn women won both relays as well on Saturday. The distance medley relay squad won easily, as the team of Knight, sophomore Kai Selvon, senior Allison Smith and senior Stephanie Barnes raced to a time of 12:04.50, winning by more than 45 seconds. The 4x400-meter relay team had a closer race, but the group of senior Joanna Atkins, senior Sheniqua Ferguson, junior Nivea Smith and junior CeCe Williams won in 3:46.30.
The men's 4x400-meter relay team of junior Neil Danville, junior Nick Green, freshman Kelley Cutrell and freshman Matt Cooper finished second with a time of 3:22.77.
Senior Joby Peake had Auburn's other top-five finish on Saturday, placing fifth in the 3,000 meters with a time of 8:45.13.
"I feel good about heading into our next competition," said Spry. "It's going to be a short week with only three days to prepare, but the next few meets the competition and facilities will be there for us to really step up our game. We should be right on track."
Auburn will return to action next Friday and Saturday at the GaReat Invitational in Geneva, Ohio.