Auburn, Ala.—Auburn sophomore Tori McKinley posted the nation's top mark in the women's shot put with a throw of 17.16m/56-3.75 en route to an event win at the Ole Miss Challenge Saturday in Oxford, Miss. McKinley's huge throw was the highlight to a busy week for the Auburn track and field team which had athletes competing in five different meets across three time zones across the country.
McKinley's efforts came on her first throw of the competition and the 56-3.75 was the fifth best throw in school history and the made her the No. 2 performer at Auburn behind former Tiger Valentina Muzaric.
Auburn swept the javelin throw on both the men's and women's side at the Ole Miss Challenge. On the men's side, Cade Antonucci won gold with a throw of 62.86m/206-3 with John Putnam (61.38m/201-4) and Erik Ebel (54.04m/177-3) grabbing second and third, respectively. School record holder Kylee Carter continued her winning ways capturing the women's javelin throw with a best mark of 52.72m/172-11. Peyton Montgomery was second with a toss of 48.87m/160-4, while Ashley Carter was third (42.51m/139-6).
In the women's hammer throw, the Tigers' Madi Malone took silver with a heave of 60.64m/198-11 while Erin Perkins was close third with a best of 60.62m/198-11.
Other top Tiger performances included Ebel's silver in the men's hammer (57.62m/189-0), freshman Dontavious Hill's third place in the men's high jump (2.00m/6-6.75) and Myra Mack's bronze in the women's 200m (24.15).
Auburn distance ran on the west coast over the weekend against some of the nation's elite distance runners. At the Mike Fanelli Track Classic, senior Kevin Wyss posted a personal-best time of 30:12.52 to finish third in his second while finishing 32nd overall out of 109 competitors.
Joyce Kimeli and Brenda Kigen ran the women's 5000m at the Stanford Invitational, posting solid times of 16:06.58 and 16:19.12, respectively.
At the Texas Relays in Austin, Texas, senior Chris Stone competed against some of the nation's elite in the men's decathlon. In his first decathlon since last season, Stone finished with scored of 6577 points for 15th place.
Auburn's top men's sprinters ran at the Florida Relays in Gainesville, Fla., as the 4x100m relay team of Marrel Parker, Anthony Schwartz, Jason Reese and Shaun Shivers were 18th with a season-best time of 39.93. Shivers ran a 10.59 in the 100m, while Schwartz, running competitively since suffering an injury during the indoor season posted a 10.67.
Auburn will host its first home meet of the 2019 outdoor season April 5-6 with the Tiger Track Classic at Hutsell-Rosen Track.