Feb. 27, 2015
 | ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Senior DJ Smith captured the SEC title in the men's high jump to highlight Auburn's first day at the SEC Indoor Track and Field Championships.
The Atlanta, Ga., native cleared 7-3.25/2.22m to become the first Tiger to win the event since Donald Thomas accomplished the feat in 2007.
"When I cleared 7-3, I felt as if I had more to do, but it was a successful feeling" Smith said. "It was great to know that I could be consistent, but the feeling makes you want more. I had some goals for my success today and one was to make sure I won and the next was to jump higher, but I am just so happy I was able to win."
The men's team is in third place with 20 points and the women's team sits in fourth with 16 points.
"Early in the day we got off to a great start," head coach Ralph Spry said. "DJ and Shawn (Johnson) in the high jump, Dominique (Bullock) in the long jump and Jessie (Johnson) in the pole vault really gave us a lot of energy. I think that helped us throughout the day. We missed out on a couple of opportunities, but we got our hurdlers, men and women, into the finals. We got Keenan into the finals in the 60m, and Rachel (Givens) and Ty (McCormack) were able to get us some important points in the 3000m.
"We had to have a good today, and I think we did that today. We put people in the finals to give us a chance to score some points tomorrow. We have to come back tomorrow and be strong. We have to capitalize on the opportunities we have."
Junior Jessie Johnson tied her school-record clearance of 14-0.5/4.28m in the pole vault, tying for second to earn seven points. Freshman Dominique Bullock set a new personal record in the long jump with a distance of 20-4.5/6.18m to finish seventh.
In their first meet of the year, senior Valentina Muzaric (53-3.5/16.24m) and junior Rachel Dincoff (51-9.25/15.78m) scored five points in the shot put, finishing sixth and seventh respectively. Sophomore Rachel Givens earned two points in the 3000m, placing seventh at 9:40.14.
In the women's 60m hurdles, senior Samantha Scarlett tied the school's third-fastest time at 8.20 and sophomore Ebony Morrison clocked an 8.25 to qualify for Saturday's final.
Junior Shawn Johnson earned five points for the Tigers, finishing fourth in the high jump at 7-0.5/2.15m. Senior Ty McCormack placed fourth in the 3000m with a time of 8:05.76 to score five points.
Senior Torrey Campbell ran a 7.86 to qualify for the men's 60mH final, and senior Keenan Brock qualified for the 60m final with a time of 6.71.
In the heptathlon, junior Parker Shearer set three personal bests and is in seventh with 3020 points. Shearer jumped 22-9.75/6.95 in the long jump and threw 43-9.75/13.35m in the shot put before clearing 6-7/2.01m in the high jump.
The SEC Championships will resume Saturday at 9 a.m. CT with the heptathlon, while field events are slated to begin at 10:30 a.m. CT. Running events are scheduled to begin with the women's 60m hurdles at 1 p.m. CT.
Coverage of the SEC Championships can be seen on SEC Network + on Saturday from 12:50-5:30 p.m. CT.
Live results for the meet can be found online here.
For the latest on Auburn track and field, follow @Auburn_Track on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.