AUBURN, Ala.—The Auburn track and field team will return to action for the first time in 330 days when it opens the 2021 indoor season at the Carolina Challenge in Columbia, S.C. on Saturday. Competition at the South Carolina Indoor Track & Field Complex will start at 11 a.m. ET with the men's weight throw, while action on the track will begin at 11:05 a.m. ET with the women's 60m hurdles.
"We're just excited to be in action," Auburn head coach Ralph Spry said. "It's been almost a year since we've traveled and competed. We're fortunate to be able to start the indoor season and have a chance to compete."
Auburn's last competed on February 23, 2020, at the Southeastern Conference Indoor Championships, prior to having the NCAA Indoor Championships and outdoor season canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Six SEC scorers from a year ago will be in action Saturday for the Tigers including Jocelynn Budwig, Natosha Jordan, and Madi Malone on the women's side and Kyle Brown, Erik Ebel and Dontavious Hill on the men's side.
"Things will be a little different because of COVID, but for us, it's about trying to get back to some normalcy," Spry said. "This being our first meet is a step in getting back to some normalcy. There's going to be a lot of great competition, we're going to go out and compete hard. We want to focus on competing to the best of our ability and see where we are at and make things happen from there."
Ten teams are tentatively scheduled to compete, including Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi State and South Carolina from the SEC.
Live results from the meet can be found at: https://results.adkinstrak.com/meets/6842.