The Auburn men's track and field team punched two tickets to the national championships as Nils Fischer and Cade Antonucci both qualified in the men's javelin throw during Day 1 of the NCAA East Preliminaries Wednesday at Hodges Stadium on the University of North Florida campus.
Fischer, who won the NCAA Division II Outdoor Championships in the javelin in 2017 and '18, was fifth on Friday with a best mark of 73.59m/241-5. Antonucci finished seventh with a toss of 71.78m/235-6 and earn his third trip to the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Antonucci is the first Auburn javelin thrower ever to advance to three outdoor championships and the first Tiger thrower since Stephen Saenz in the shot put to qualify for nationals in an event three years.
Fischer and Antonucci become Auburn's third and fourth qualifiers for NCAAs, joining Alex Spyridonidis and Natosha Jordan, who qualified in the men's decathlon and women's heptathlon based off season scores.
Auburn also had three individuals advance to Friday's quarterfinal round as senior Eric Brown in the 800m, senior Malik Metivier in the 400m Hurdles and senior Brandon Smiley all earned automatic qualifying times. Brown won his heat in 1:49.41, as did Metivier in 50.67. Smiley was third in his heat to receive an automatic qualifier for Friday as he crossed the line in 21.05.
Redshirt freshman Kyle Brown came up one foot short of qualifying as he finished 13th in the men's hammer throw with a best of 64.67m/212-2. Sprinter Christopher Grant came five one-hundredths short of advancing to the quarterfinal round in the men's 100m as he crossed in a personal-best time of 10.32.
Thursday the women will take to the oval as nine Tigers will be competing, including seven in the field events. The women's javelin and hammer throw will begin at 12:30 p.m. CT, with Auburn's first running event occurring at 5:30 p.m. with Presley Weems in the first round of the 1500m.
The top 48 individual and top 24 relay declarations in the East and West Regions earned the opportunity to compete in their respective preliminary meet. The top 12 of the 48 in each event from both the East and West Preliminary rounds will advance to the NCAA Outdoor Championships, June 9-12, in Eugene, Ore.
2022 NCAA EAST PRELIMINARIES
HODGES STADIUM
JACKSONVILLE, FLA
MAY 25-29, 2021
RESULTS
Men's Hammer Throw
13. Kyle Brown, 64.67m/212-2
21. Erik Ebel, 62.83m/206-1
26. Kyle Moison, 61.46m/235-6
Men's Javelin
5. Nils Fischer, 73.59m/241-5 (Q)
7. Cade Antonucci, 71.78m/235-6 (Q)
Men's Pole Vault
-- James Courson, NH
Men's Shot Put
16. Adam Strouf, 18.46m/60-6.75
Men's 100m Dash
28. Christopher Grant, 10.32
Men's 800m
14. Eric Brown, 1:49.41 (auto qualifier)
Men's 200m
30. Brandon Smiley, 21.05 (auto qualifier)
Men's 400m Hurdles
4. Malik Metivier, 50.67 (auto qualifier)
THURSDAY, MAY 27 SCHEDULE (all times ET)
1:30 p.m. — W Hammer (Madi Malone)
1:30 p.m. — W Javelin (Kylee Carter, Ashley Carter, Keira McCarrell, Shaniya Holley)
6:00 p.m. — W Shot Put (Tori McKinley, Maura Huwalt)
6:30 p.m. — W 1500m First Round (Presley Weems)
8:20 p.m. — W 400m Hurdles First Round (Tylar Colbert)