2017 SEC Outdoor Track and Field Championships
AUBURN, Ala. - Natalliah Whyte broke the Auburn freshman record in the 200 meters on Thursday at the Southeastern Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships on the campus of South Carolina. On the night, the Tigers posted three personal bests and two top-ten finishes.
"I am very proud of how we competed overall today," Auburn head coach Ralph Spry said. "We had a couple of really strong performances on the women's side to score some points early. We are going to try and build on our early momentum tomorrow."
Whyte ran a 22.77 in the first heat of the 200 meter prelims to break the record previously set by Cache Armbrister in 2008. Whyte tied for the fourth best time in prelims and will be the only freshman in Saturday's final.
Senior Brianna Heilsnis got the scoring started on the women's side with a career best fifth place finish in the women's hammer. Heilsnis improved on her personal best with a throw of 199-8/60.87m.
Veronica Eder kept the momentum going in the finals of the women's 10,000 meters with a seventh place finish. The senior ran 35:04.48 and matched her finish in the SEC Championships from last season.
In the women's 400 meter hurdles, senior Sashel Brown clocked a 56.45 for the fastest time in prelims. The Jamaica native will look to better her personal best time of 56.20 in the finals on Saturday.
Christopher Stone finished the first day of SEC Outdoors with 3,698 points through the first five events of the men's decathlon and currently stands eighth overall. The freshman recorded a personal best 11.13 in the 100 meters in the first event of the day to score 832. Stone finished third in the decathlon high jump with a height of 6-5/1.96m.
The women currently stand in seventh place with six points after day one of competition.
The Tigers will return to action tomorrow as action kicks off at 10:00 a.m. CT with the decathlon 110 meter hurdles. The live stream of the SEC Championships will begin tomorrow at 5:25 p.m. on SEC Network +. The broadcast talent includes Dwight Stones, Larry Rawson, Jill Montgomery and John Anderson.
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