Men Tied For Fourth, Women Eighth At SEC Indoor Championships

Feb. 26, 2011

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FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - Auburn had four top-three finishes, advanced 10 runners to Sunday's finals and added another NCAA Championship automatic qualifier Saturday during the second of three days of competition at the Southeastern Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships.

With just five of 17 events completed, Auburn's men are tied for fourth place with 22.33 points, while the women are in eighth place with 13 points, also after five events.

"I'm fairly pleased with how we performed today," said head coach Ralph Spry. "We had a few people that stepped up and we got quite a few sprinters through to finals. We had a solid day, but we missed on a couple of really good opportunities to get two or three points here and there, which always comes back to haunt you in a meet like this."

Redshirt freshman Stephen Saenz and senior Eric Werskey entered the shot put competition ranked No. 1 and 2, respectively, in the SEC, and it looked like Werskey was in command after he matched his personal best of 19.48 meters (63-11) that ranked fifth in the NCAA this year. But Florida's Kemal Mesic topped that with a new season best of his own, posting a mark of 19.53 meters (64-1) on his fifth throw to take the lead, and Auburn's duo could not match the effort. Werskey finished second and Saenz placed third with a throw of 19.15 meters (62-10).

Junior Ben Cheruiyot placed second in the men's 3,000 meters, clocking an indoor best of 8:01.38 which ranks him sixth in Auburn indoor history. Cheruiyot was in a pack of five runners that pulled away from the field early, then one of three runners still in contention down the stretch. He briefly pulled into the lead with 100 meters left, but was passed by Florida's Dumisane Hlaselo, who won in 8:00.43.

Sophomore Maya Pressley placed third in the women's high jump, matching her indoor personal best with a leap of 1.82 meters (5-11.5). Pressley was temporarily in first place after being the only of four jumpers who cleared that mark to make it on her first attempt, but saw two other competitors clear the next bar to drop her to third place. Junior Monica Carney tied for sixth by clearing a personal best of 1.68 meters (5-6). She was one of three jumpers to clear the first two bars without a miss, giving them a tiebreaker advantage over six other jumpers that also cleared that height.

The Tigers had a pair of scorers in the women's 3,000 meters, as seniors Holly Knight and Stephanie Barnes finished fifth and eighth, respectively. Knight clocked a time of 9:28.98 that was just eight seconds off her school-record time, while Barnes finished in 9:38.79, moving her into seventh in Auburn indoor history.

Freshman Nick Farrell surprised in the men's pole vault, finishing in a tie for eighth place. Farrell entered the competition seeded 15th, but cleared a personal best of 5.02 meters (16-5.5), which moves him up one spot to eighth on Auburn's all-time indoor pole vault list.

Much of Saturday's action consisted of prelims, and the highlight was provided by senior Joanna Atkins, who became the fourth member of the Auburn teams to automatically qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships when she clocked a time of 52.52 seconds in the prelims of the 400 meters. Her time, which was under the NCAA automatic qualifying time of 52.60 seconds, was just .09 seconds off her school-record time and ranks third in the NCAA this year. It was second in the field in the prelims behind Shelise Williams of Arkansas who had a nation-leading time of 52.10.

Auburn placed three runners into the finals of the women's 200 meters and two runners into the finals of both the men's and women's 60 meters. In the men's 60 meters, sophomore Harry Adams had the top time in the prelims of 6.64 seconds, matching his personal best and edging Florida's Jeff Demps for the top spot. Freshman Keenan Brock placed second in his heat and sixth overall in the prelims with a time of 6.72 seconds, just off his season best of 6.71.

In the women's 60 meters, senior Sheniqua Ferguson had the second-best time in the prelims with a season-best effort of 7.29 seconds, which ranks tied for 10th in the NCAA this year. Atkins had the fifth-best prelim time of 7.33 seconds, also recording a season best.

Ferguson also reached the finals of the 200 meters, after recording the sixth-best time in the prelims of 23.56 seconds. Junior Nivea Smith was fourth in prelims and won her heat in a season best 23.24 seconds, and sophomore Kai Selvon clocked a season best of 23.82 seconds to earn the ninth and final spot in the finals.

Senior Michael DeHaven reached the finals of the men's 200 meters, placing seventh in the prelims with a season-best time of 21.09 seconds. Adams just missed making the top nine to reach the final, finishing 11th in 21.22 seconds.

Freshman Nicklas Buhner also reached a final, making the top 12 of the men's mile. Buhner was fourth in his heat and eighth overall in the prelims with a time of 4:09.84.

"I'm proud of how some of our freshman like Keenan Brock and Nicklas Buhner performed in getting to finals," said Spry. "We don't have a whole lot of firepower coming back tomorrow, so hopefully we can take advantage of those people that did get through to finals and score some points."

Also for Auburn, sophomore Kai Selvon was 10th in the women's 60-meter prelims in 7.49 seconds followed by junior Nivea Smith (15th, 7.60) and junior Ashley Cruder (16th, 7.64). DeHaven placed 14th in the men's prelims in 6.82 seconds.

In the women's long jump, freshman V'Alonee Robinson was Auburn's top performer, finishing 11th with a jump of 5.67 meters (18-7.25), while freshman Kelley Cutrell was the Tigers' top finisher in the prelims of the men's 800 meters with a personal best of 1:53.26.

The SEC Indoor Championships will conclude on Sunday, with finals in each of the remaining 24 events.