AUBURN, Ala.—The Auburn track and field program will have five athletes, including four men and one woman, competing in the 2023 NCAA Division I Indoor Championships, March 10-11, at the Albuquerque Convention Center in Albuquerque, NM. The top 16 declared athletes in each event and relay receive bids to the championships.
A four-time All-American, Malone will be making her fifth consecutive appearance at the championships. At last weekend's Indoor SEC Championships, Malone secured the bronze medal in the women's weight throw with a season-best mark of 22.71m/74-6.25. Malone finished eighth at this meet with her throw of 22.63m/74-3 just a year ago.
On the men's side, sophomore sprinter Favour Ashe has qualified in the 60m dash, with fellow field event athletes in senior Kyle Brown (weight throw), Dontavious Hill (high jump), and Alex Spyridonidis (heptathlon).
A sophomore transfer, Ashe won the SEC Indoor title at 60m last week recording the second fastest time in school history and becoming the eight fastest man ever at Auburn to win the event at the conference meet. Ashe's time was also the fastest ran at the meet world champion Christian Coleman of Tennessee who recorded the same time in 2017. He enters this meet ranked third in the country after being placing third in the event just a year ago.
Brown enters his first Indoor NCAA Championship after claiming the bronze medal in the men's weight throw last week at the Indoor SEC Championships in Fayetteville, Ark. On his third of six attempts, Brown threw a career-best toss of 22.24m/72-11.75 becoming the first Auburn man to post back-to-back podium efforts in the event since Jacob Dunkleberger in 2007 and 2008. Recently, Brown qualified for the 2022 Outdoor NCAA Championships where he finished 19th in the men's hammer with a throw of 66.59m/218-5.
Spyridonidis was the NCAA Division II runner up in the indoor heptathlon at Angelo State in 2019 and the 2022 SEC Silver medalist. At this meet last year, Spyridonidis scored 5,881 points for a new personal-best to finish sixth. Syridonidis is currently ranked No. 13 in the country in the event.
Making his third Indoor NCAA Championship appearance, Hill enters the competition with a personal-best mark of 2.21m/7-3 set at the Vanderbilt Invite. Hill won the silver medal at last year's indoor SEC Championships and went on to finish third at the 2022 Indoor NCAA Championships. His mark of 2.20m/7-2.50 at last year's championship was the highest finish by an Auburn jumper since Donald Thomas in 2007.
Individuals and relays that finish in the top at the NCAA Indoors will score points towards the team standings and earn first team All-America honors.
Live championship coverage will be streamed on ESPN+ starting at 10:30 a.m. CT Friday March 10 and starting at 12:30 p.m. CT Saturday March 11. Two re-airs of the championship will take place at 5 p.m. CT on Sunday, March 12 on ESPN and starting at 6 p.m. CT on Monday March 13 on ESPNU.
MEN'S NCAA QUALIFIERS
Favour Ashe, 60m Dash
Kyle Brown, Weight Throw
Dontavious Hill, High Jump
Alex Spyridonidis, Heptathlon
WOMEN'S NCAA QUALIFIERS
Madi Malone, Weight Throw
