AUBURN, Ala. – The bulk of the Auburn track and field team will continue the regular season this weekend in Gainesville, Florida for the Tom Jones Memorial Invitational, April 14-15, while a handful of multi event athletes will make the trip to Azusa, California for the Bryan Clay Invitational, April 13-15.
"The meet in Gainesville is going to be a really high caliber meet," said Tigers head coach Leroy Burrell. "We are at the point in the season where our combined event athletes need a competition, so the two biggest heptathlon and decathlon meets are out on the west coast and we chose the Bryan Clay Invitational."
The Tigers come off a solid weekend at the Cameron Burrell Alumni Invitational in Houston, Texas notching 13 event wins and 16 personal-bests.
Returning to action this weekend will be All-American Favour Ashe and freshman phenom Jeremy Zammit. Ashe will make his much-anticipated season debut in the men's 100m dash. Zammit will hit the runway for the first time outdoors in the men's long jump coming off of an impressive indoor season breaking the freshman record in his first collegiate competition leaping out 7.84m/25-8.75.
Freshman Keyshawn Strachan will look to continue his dominance in the men's javelin throw. At the 2023 Texas Relays, Strachan threw 84.27m/276-5 to break not only the Auburn freshman and school record, but also break his own Bahamas National Record and set the NCAA and world leading mark.
Throws duo in seniors Madi Malone and Maura Huwalt will step back in the ring Friday and Saturday in Gainsville. School record holder Malone is currently ranked third in the country in the women's hammer throw with her season opener throw of 68.79m/225-8 at the Florida State Relays. Huwalt will compete in the women's shot put and discus events where she ranks inside the top-20 in both.
On the track, Auburn will be led by sprinters Chante Clinkscale and Arianna Sharpe. Clinkscale has proven herself in the short sprints well as joining forces on the 4x100m relay. Clinkscale raced to a new season-best 11.33 in the women's 100m dash in Tallahassee. Sharpe clocked 53.28 at the FSU Relays and will be back in the blocks for the second time this season in the 400m dash.
Last time out, junior Ryan Kinnane stormed to a huge personal best in the men's 5,000m run at the Texas Relays crossing the line in 14:05.99. Kinnane will make his season debut in the men's 1500m alongside teammates Dustyn Lewis and Hayden Judge.
Intermediate hurdlers Mo Mpoke and Abasiono Akpan will be ones to watch this weekend. A transfer from Texas A&M, Mpoke holds the Aggie school record in the 400m hurdles at 48.70. On the women's side, Akpan comes off a collegiate-best 58.85 at the Texas Relays.
In California, Tigers multi event athletes Alex Spyridonidis, John Murray, Micheal May, and Paula Grauvogel are set to compete at the Bryan Clay Invitational.
All four athletes will make their decathlon and heptathlon season debuts. Spyridonidis concluded his indoor campaign qualifying for the 2023 Indoor NCAA Championships in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Last time out in Tallahassee, both Spyridonidis and Murray notched personal bests. Spyridnoidis jumped a new personal-best 2.02m/6-7.5 in the men's high jump and Murray threw for 46.07m/151-2 in the men's discus throw.
May capped off his first collegiate indoor season finishing fifth at the 2023 Indoor SEC Championships in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The Texas native notched a new personal-best in each of the seven events to for a new total best score of 5672 in the heptathlon.
Competition at will begin Thursday with the first event of the women's heptathlon, the 100m hurdles at 10:00 a.m. CT.
Competition at Percy Beard Track will commence Friday with the men's discus and women's long jump at 1 p.m. CT.
Live results for the Tom Jones Memorial Invitational the meet can be found at halfmiletiming.com and live stream can be found at ESPN.com.
Live results for the Bryan Clay Invitational found at finishedresults.com and live stream of the events can be found at Flotrack.com.
