May 24, 2018
Tampa, Fla. - The Auburn women had a strong Day 1 at the NCAA East Preliminaries as junior Kylee Carter (javelin), senior Dominique Bullock (long jump), freshman Tori McKinley (shot put), junior Peyton Montgomery (javelin) each qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Championships, June 6-9, with strong performances Thursday. All four will be making their first trip to the NCAA Championships.
The school record holder in the javelin, Carter had a big second throw of 53.68/176-1 to finish third overall as her mark was the second-best in school history. Montgomery had a personal-best throw of 50.23m/164-9 on her third and final throw to finish seventh.
Bullock finished third overall with a leap of 6.38m/20-11.25 which was a season's best. The Miami, Fla., native led all 48 competitors until the final flight of competition when Georgia's Keturah Orji, the nation's leader in the event, and teammate Tara Davis overtook Bullock. The Miami, Fla., native was ranked 43rd in the East Region and 87th nationally entering the meet and became the first Auburn long jumper to qualify for NCAAs since Jovanee Jarrett in 2006.
McKinley, seeded 27th in the East Region entering the meet, exceeded expectations by finishing 11th with a throw of 16.19m/53-1.5 on her third and final try to advance. Competing in the second of four flights, the Hermitage, Pa., native had the best throw thru two flights.
It was a solid day overall for the Tigers as four men and two women's sprinters also advanced to quarterfinal action Friday and Saturday.
Sophomores Nathon Allen and Akeem Bloomfield ran controlled races in the men's 400m to win their respective heats and advance to Saturday's quarterfinal. Allen won his heat in 45.20 to post the second fastest first round time, while Bloomfield coasted to a win in the second heat in 45.41, the No. 5 time of the day in the event. Senior Randall Ceneus, hampered by injury all outdoor season ran a 48.71 in his first competition since April 7.
Sophomore Natalliah Whyte won her heat and senior Jonielle Smith finished second in hers to advance to Friday's quarterfinal action. Whyte crossed in 11.12, while Smith ran a season-best 11.14.
In the men's 100m, sophomore Raheem Chambers cruised to a 10.25 to win heat two and advance to Friday's quarterfinal. Chambers time was 11th overall. The top 12 of the 24 competitors in the quarterfinal will advance to Eugene.
Senior Wesley Curles ran a 3:53.95 in the men's 1500m, coming up seven tenths of a second shy of advancing to Saturday's quarterfinal. In a tightly contested race, Curles' heat saw five runners separated by less than a second for the final advancing spot from the heat.
Skyler Daniel cleared 1.70m/5-7 to finish tied for 28th in the women's high jump. The junior cleared 1.70m on her second attempt before coming up short on all three attempts at 1.74m.
Junior Mark Rubalcaba finished 34th in the men's long jump with a leap of 7.27m/23-10.25 achieved on his second attempt. Freshman Noah Igbinoghene, competing in just his second collegiate long jump event, fouled on all three attempts.
Senior Kendra Mitchell and freshman Ashley Carter also competing in the women's javelin throw, finished 26th and 36th, respectively with throws of 45.35m/148-9 and 43.59m/142-4.
Auburn will have 10 athletes competing Thursday beginning at 10:30 a.m. CT with Xavier Coakley in the 110m hurdles on the track and 7:45 a.m. CT with Evan Blaire in the shot put in field events.
Live results can be found at https://auburntige.rs/NCAAEastPrelims.