May 23, 2018
Tampa, Fla. - The Auburn track and field team will have 31 entries which include 28 individuals and three relays competing at the 2018 NCAA East Preliminaries, May 24-26, at the USF Track and Field Stadium in Tampa, Fla. Each will be vying for an opportunity to compete at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, June 6-9, in Eugene, Ore.
The Auburn men will have sophomore All-Americans Nathon Allen and Akeem Bloomfield in the 400m dash, while fellow All-American, Raheem Chambers, will run in the 100m dash. Allen enters the weekend with the nation's top time in the 400, clocking a school-record time 44.28 at the SEC Outdoor Championships two weeks ago. Auburn will also have Xavier Coakely in the 110m hurdles, senior Wesley Curles in the 1500m, Silas Kipngetich in the 3000m steeplechase and the 4x100m and 4x400m relays in action.
Seven men will compete in field events including Cade Antonucci, Justin Carter and John Putnam in the javelin throw and Evan Blaire in the discus throw. Sophomore Jaron Brooks (high jump), junior Mark Rubalcaba (long jump) and freshman Noah Igbinoghene (long jump) competing in the jumps events.
On the women's side the Tigers will have three sprinters, the 4x100m relay, four jumpers and seven throwers. All-American Natalliah Whyte and Jonielle Smith will run in the 100m dash, while Jenae Ambrose will compete in the 200.
Competing in the jumps events include: Skyler Daniel (high jump), Dominique Bullock (long jump), Jakayla Hand (triple jump) and Deja Hillman (triple jump).
Auburn's seven throwers tops all schools competing in regional action, including four in the javelin throw. School-record holder Kylee Carter will lead the Auburn women in the javelin and will be joined by Ashley Carter, Kendra Mitchell and Peyton Montgomery. Other throwers competing include Tori McKinley (shot put), Ivana Muzaric (discus) and Erin Perkins (hammer).
Tampa is one of two host sites for the NCAA East and West Preliminaries (Sacramento, Calif.) that will be contested this weekend. For each individual event contested at each of the preliminary sites, the top 48 declared student-athletes were accepted into the competition. For each relay event, the top 24 declared relay teams were accepted into the competition. Combined events (Heptathlon and Decathlon), are not contested at the preliminary sites, but will be contested at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Twelve performers from each preliminary site advance to the NCAA Championships in Eugene.
Thursday's action will begin at 8:45 a.m. ET with field events and 12:30 p.m. ET with running events.
Live results can be found at https://auburntige.rs/NCAAEastPrelims.