Feb. 25, 2012
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Ten members of the Auburn track and field team advanced to final events on Sunday, while 17 personal best marks were set on day two of the 2012 SEC Indoor Track and Field Championships at Kentucky's Nutter Fieldhouse.
"Overall, I'm pretty pleased for the most part," Auburn coach Ralph Spry said. "We missed a couple of opportunities in the high jump and the 200 meters. We got four through in the women's 60 meters, two in the women's 200 meters and two in the men's 200 meters along with two in the men's 60 meters with three milers. We had a pretty good day from that standpoint. What that really boils down to is that tomorrow we'll have an opportunity to score some points."
In total, six Auburn men and four women advanced to the finals of their respective events on Sunday.
Auburn's highly-touted sprint lineup was on display on Saturday afternoon as the Tigers put six athletes in the finals of the men's and women's 60 meters. Four Auburn sprinters won individual heats, while five athletes set new PRs.
Led by a new personal-best time of 7.25 seconds, Kai Selvon posted the top time in the women's 60 meters to lead the Tigers. Selvon's time also improves her all-time standing on the Auburn list to fifth. Senior Ashley Cruder tied her PR time of 7.37 seconds and sophomore V'Alonee Robinson (7.45, new PR) and Alycia Prior (7.46, new PR) also earned spots in Sunday's final race.
The men's side was more of the same, as junior Harry Adams and sophomore Keenan Brock recorded the second and third fastest times of the day to mark their spots in the final. Brock took home heat one in 6.65 seconds, while Adams was the top finisher in heat three in 6.64 seconds.
Junior Jeremy Hardy narrowly missed a spot in the finals with his time of 6.77 seconds, just one spot out of the championship race. Additionally, freshman Joseph Fisher had a strong showing and set a new personal best with a 6.85 second performance.
The 200 meter finals for both the women and men will also feature multiple Auburn runners after two Tigers qualified on both sides. Marcus Rowland (21.17) and Brock (21.18, new PR) will race for the men's title after they clocked the fourth and fifth best times of the day, respectively. Brock's time ties him for sixth on Auburn's all-time list, while Rowland's 21.17 is the top time for Auburn in the 200 meters this season.
Despite not qualifying for the finals both Fisher (22.21) and Hardy (21.59) set new personal bests in the 200 meters.
Selvon again showed why she is one of the fastest women in the SEC with another blistering personal best time, this time a 23.37 in the 200 meters. She will be joined in the finals by teammate Nivea Smith (23.55).
"Kai Selvon really stepped up with two PRs," Spry said. "Nivea Smith ran well. Marcus Rowland, I'm glad to see him coming back, he ran really solid. Harry Adams and Keenan Brock both ran extremely well. Kane Grimster in the mile was great. We had a couple of kids that just missed the finals like Jeremy Hardy in both in the 200 and 60. That's tough, but we have to move on from that. We've got some people in position tomorrow and hopefully they can bounce back and score us some big points."
Auburn also flexed some muscle in the men's mile run. The Tigers placed three athletes in Sunday's final with Kane Grimster (4:13.19) emerging victorious from heat two and Niklas Buhner (4:10.75) and Jeff Sanders (4:14.53, new PR) each qualifying on time.
In the men's 3000 meters, Grimster passed three spots in the final lap to jump into fourth place and become Auburn's top scorer of the day with five points. He finished in 8:14.79, while Buhner was 10th in 8:25.43. Alissa Fisher finished just outside the points in the women's 3000 meters as she crossed the finish line ninth in 9:35.98.
CeCe Williams etched her name into one lane of the 400m finals with a wire-to-wire performance in her prelim race. The senior took an early lead and held on as she coasted to a new indoor PR in the event with her time of 53.37 seconds. Williams' mark ups her rank on the Auburn all-time 400m list to fourth.
Stephen Saenz got Auburn's scoring started on Saturday morning with an eighth-place finish in the weight throw. Saenz qualified for the final heat on his first preliminary throw, then recorded his scoring throw next with a mark of 17.30m (56 feet, 10.25 inches). Teammate Marcus Popenfoose set a new career mark with his throw of 54 feet, 4.5 inches (16.57m). Another throw, Anna McCloskey, recorded a new personal best throw of 12.58m (41 feet, 3.25 inches) in the women's shot put.
In the men's high jump, DJ Smith tied for seventh place and scored one point with his clearance at six feet, 9.5 inches (2.07m). Competing in the long jump for just the second time in her collegiate career, freshman Siobhan Ford-Holland set a big personal best with a jump of 5.84m (19 feet, two inches), good enough for 12th overall.
Matt Cooper (1:55.34) and Jonathan Hardin (1:53.21) both established new personal records in the men's 800 meters.
Still to come on Sunday, in addition to multiple finals, are the shot put, DMR and 4x400 relay on the men's side that will each feature Auburn athletes. While the Auburn women will compete in the weight throw, high jump, triple jump, 5000 meters and DMR on top of their qualified finals.
The Auburn men stand in eighth place after two days of competition with seven points. The Auburn women have yet to tally a point.
"Today we didn't have many points scored other than a couple of events that were finals," Spry said. "Kane Grimster did a great job in the 3000. Those were some huge points there. Really tomorrow we hope to start putting some points together. If we can get top four or five, I think we'll be fighting for that. This is a tough meet. It's a war. You have to fight for every single point, there are no easy points here."
Action picks back up Sunday morning at 10 a.m. CT with the women's weight throw finals and continues throughout the day. For the latest on Auburn track and field, follow @AUTrack on Twitter.