Clemson, S.C.—Freshman sprinter Anthony Schwartz, making his collegiate debut, won the men's 60m dash in 6.65 at the Bob Pollock Invitational, Friday at the Clemson Indoor Complex. The top prep sprinter in the country in 2018, was not challenged in his preliminary heat or in the finals, running identical 6.65 in both races.
"It felt good (today), especially the first race back after a few months of football," Schwartz said. "I felt like I did alright. It was kind of an easy run, but I still have a lot more work to go though."
Fellow freshman Shaun Shivers, also seeing his first action, claimed bronze in the event crossing in 6.83 seconds. Shivers advanced to the finals after posting a prelim time of 6.79.
"Anthony looked really good and Shaun ran well. Their times were very good considering they've only had two weeks of training," Auburn head coach Ralph Spry said. "They're starting off easy and building into the season. As the season progresses, the training will get better and they will continue to sharpen. Today was just the tip of the iceberg for those two."
Schwartz, Shivers and Noah Igbinoghene, all members of the Auburn football team, had solid first meets.
Igbinoghene was second in the men's long jump with a mark of 7.44m/24-5. The sophomore equaled the mark of event winner Corion Knight, however, Igbinoghene fouled on his five other attempts while two other clean jumps to earn the win.
"Noah had some really good jumps, it's just unfortunate he fouled on five of six of them," Spry said. "As I told him, there were a couple jumps that looked like they were over 25 feet, but he just didn't get the measure. The positive is he knows he can at least cover the distance, and heading into next weekend he should have a lot of confidence."
Freshman hurdler Craig Clark established a new PR in the 60m hurdles in a time of 8.21 to finish fourth in the event.
On the women's side, freshman Cameron Hinton and junior Natosha Jordan had strong outings with personal bests. Hilton knocked off three seconds off her 400m PR, crossing in 54.86 to finish second for the Tigers. Jordan finished fifth in the pentathlon with a collegiate best total of 3,538 points along with a career-best 10.59m/34-9 in the shot put.
"I'm really happy for Cameron. She just came off a tweaked ankle. She ran a really smart race, a strong race, so we're pleased with efforts moving forward," Spry said. "Natosha did a really good job today with a PR in the pentathlon, so overall it was a good day for us," Spry said.
Day two of the Bob Pollock Invite will start at 9:30 a.m. ET on Saturday. Live results can be found at: https://auburntige.rs/2Tb4u7r.
