AUBURN, Ala. – The Auburn track and field team will have 22 entries, including seven men and 15 women at the NCAA East Preliminaries at Hodges Stadium on the University of North Florida campus in Jacksonville, Fla., May 23-25.
Jacksonville is one of two preliminary site, along with Sacramento, Calif., which is hosting the West Preliminaries. The top 48 declared student-athletes in both regions in each event 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. The top 12 finishers in each event at both preliminary sites will advance to the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, to be held June 5-8 in Austin, Texas.
Competition will begin on Thursday and will be televised on FloTrack at www.flotrack.org. Live results will be available at https://auburntige.rs/19T-FEastPrelims.
NOTING THE TIGERS
›› Auburn has 7 men's entries and 15 women to this year's NCAA East Preliminaries, including 11 throws athletes (2 M, 7 W), eight sprinters (2 M, 0 W), seven jumpers (2 M, 3 W), two distance runners (1 M, 2 W) and one relays (1 M, 0 W).
›› Three men and eight women will be returning to the NCAA East Preliminaries, while four men and four women will be making their NCAA outdoor postseason debut.
›› Three school outdoor record holders will be competing for the Tigers: Jr. Kylee Carter (javelin, 189-4), Fr. Madi Malone (hammer, 214-4) and So. Joyce Kimeli (3000m Steeple, 10:00.94).
›› Cade Antonucci (men's javelin), Kylee Carter (women's javelin), Tori McKinley (women's shot put) and Peyton Montgomery (women's javelin) have all previously competed at NCAA Outdoor Championships.
›› Carter won the SEC Outdoor Championship in the women's javelin throw two weeks ago, becoming the first Auburn female to win the event at SEC Outdoors.
›› Five Tigers competing received their degrees from Auburn in May 2019: Kylee Carter, Skyler Daniel, Brenda Kigen, Ivana Muzaric, and Erin Perkins.
QUOTING HEAD COACH RALPH SPRY
"Our goal is to peak this time of year. When you're trying to peak, you're just backing off, letting the body recover a little bit more so that when that time comes as you get to the preliminaries the window for success widens up. You're a little fresher, a little bit sharper and you're peaking. That's what we try to do. A lot of workouts we do earlier in the year, strength workouts, to get you to this part of the year, we back off those at this time of the year."
"It's a venue we've been at before. We know the lay of the land and how things flow. It's a good venue. I think we'll have a good showing. We have 22 entries qualified which is a pretty good group. A lot of them have a good chance of being in that top 12 to advance."
"It's down to the nitty gritty. The thing I like about it right now is it's really head-to-head. A lot of kids in that list that are ranked high, but have not been consistent or whatever it is. If you're good that day, just like any other time it's head-to-head so you've got a chance to advance. I feel good about that."
Thursday, May 23 (all Times ET)
12 p.m. , Women's Javelin Throw (Ashlee Carter, Kylee Carter, Peyton Montgomery)
3:30 p.m., Women's High Jump (Skyler Daniel, Natosha Jordan, Caroline Lawrence)
3:30 p.m., Men's Long Jump (Noah Igbinoghene)
4 p.m. , Women's Hammer (Madi Malone, Erin Perkins)
6:55 p.m., Men's 100m Prelims (Anthony Schwartz)
9 p.m., Women's 10,000m (Brenda Kigen)
Friday, May 24
12 p.m., Women's Discus (Tori McKinley, Ivana Muzaric)
12 p.m. , Men's Javelin (Cade Antonucci, John Putnam)
6:15 p.m., Men's 100m Finals (Anthony Schwartz)
7:55 p.m., Men's 200m (Shaun Shivers)
8:20 p.m., W omen's 3000m Steeplechase (Joyce Kimeli)
9 p.m., Men's 3000m Steeplechase (Silas Kipngetich)
Saturday, May 25
4 p.m., Men's High Jump (Dontavious Hill)
5:15 p.m., Women's Shot Put (Tori McKinley)
6:15 p.m., Men's 4x100m Relay (Auburn)
7:50 p.m., Men's 200m Finals (Shaun Shivers)
8:05 p.m., Women's 5000m (Brenda Kigen, Joyce Kimeli)