May 25, 2018
Tampa, Fla. - Five Auburn sprinters, Nathon Allen, Akeem Bloomfield and Raheem Chambers from the men's team and Jonielle Smith and Natalliah Whyte from the women's side, all qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Championships during Day 2 of the NCAA East Prelims on the USF Campus Friday.
It was another strong performance by the Jamaican duo of Allen and Bloomfield as they cruised to a 1-2 finish in the second of three 400m heats. Allen, the SEC Champion at 400m, and Bloomfield, the NCAA Indoor runner up in the event, had strong back halves of the race and cruised through the finish line to post times of 44.76 and 44.90, respectively.
Coming off a 10.10 performance on Thursday, Chambers ran a 10.15 to advance to his second NCAA Outdoor Championships. The Kingston, Jamaican's time was the seventh fastest of the 12 advancing to national's and second in his heat by two one-thousandths of a second.
In the women's 100m dash, Whyte automatically qualified after running a wind-aided 11.05 to finish third in her heat, while Smith punched her NCAA ticket with an 11.17 and the eighth fastest overall time and fourth in her heat. Whyte will be making her first NCAA outdoor appearance, while Smith will make her third visit in four years.
Auburn now has nine individuals qualified for NCAA Outdoors, June 6-9, in Eugene, Ore. The Tigers will have seven individuals and three relays competing during Saturday's final day of competition looking to punch tickets to nationals.
Qualifying on Day one included junior Kylee Carter (javelin), senior Dominique Bullock (long jump), freshman Tori McKinley (shot put), junior Peyton Montgomery (javelin). All four will be making their first trip to the NCAA Championships.
Hurdler Xavier Coakley advanced to Saturday's quarterfinal of the men's 110m hurdles. The junior from finished fourth in the sixth and final heat in 13.95 to receive one of the six non-automatic qualifying spots. Saturday's quarterfinal will be contested at 12:35 p.m. CT.
Jenae Ambrose posted a season-best in the women's 200m dash, running a 23.27 to finish 31st. Competing in his first NCAA postseason action, sophomore Silas Kipngetich ran a 9:03.26 in the men's 3000m steeplechase to finish 25th.
Junior Ivana Muzaric finished 31st in the women's discus with a throw of 47.78m/156-9, while freshman Evan Blaire was 34th in the men's discus after posting a best mark of 49.02m/160-10.
Saturday's action for Auburn begins at 7:45 a.m. CT with Erin Perkins in the women's hammer throw. Track action starts for the Tigers at 11:30 a.m. CT with the men's 4x100m relay.
Live results can be found at https://auburntige.rs/NCAAEastPrelims.