JACKSONVILLE, Fla.—Auburn's throwers Madi Malone and Maura Huwalt punched their tickets to the NCAA Outdoor Championships on Thursday at the NCAA East Preliminaries meet at the Hodges Stadium on the University of North Florida campus.
Malone became the first woman in program history to qualify for four outdoor national championships in the hammer throw after finishing second on Thursday with a mark of 67.00m/219-10 on her final attempt. After fouling her first two attempts, the Wichita, Kansas native remained poised entering the ring for her final throw.
In the javelin throw, senior Huwalt qualified for her second consecutive trip to the outdoor championships with a tenth-place finish with a mark of 48.27m/160-6. Teammate Shaniya Holley was just shy of punching her ticket throwing 47.37m/155-5 for a 15th place finish.
Thursday also saw three women advance to Saturday's semifinal round. Transfer Chante Clinkscale ran 11.23 in the 100m dash to finish 14th in first round action and will need to eclipse two spots on Saturday to earn a nation's spot. Freshman Abasiono Akpan advanced in the 400m hurdles with a qualifying time of 58.49 to move on to Saturday's quarterfinal.
Auburn now has six individuals qualified for the outdoor championships in Austin, Texas, June 7-10. On Day One of the East Prelims, hammer throwers Erik Ebel, Kyle Brown, and Kyle Moison qualified for nationals, joining decathlete John Murrary who qualified earlier this season.
The Auburn men will return to action on Friday starting with All-American Dontavious Hill, and TJ Funches in the high jump at 2:30 p.m. ET, with Ryan Kinnane in the 5,000m run signaling the conclusion of the day for the Tigers.
A live stream of the NCAA East Preliminaries can be found here. Live stats can be found at flashresults.com.
NCAA EAST PRELIMINARIES
THURSDAY, MAY 25
Women's Hammer
2. Madi Malone 67.00m/219-10
Women's Javelin
10. Maura Huwalt 48.27m/160-6
15. Shaniya Holley 47.37m/155-5
Women's Shot Put
16. Maura Huwalt 16.50m/54-1.75
Women's Pole Vault
29. Alyssa Quinones-Mixon 3.97m/13-0.75
Women's 100m
14. Chante Clinkscale 11.23* Q
Women's 400m
26. Ashantae Harvey 53.65
29. Amirah Sharpe 53.84
38. Arianna Sharpe 54.60
Women's 400m Hurdles
22. Abasiono Akpan 58.49 Q
37. Lalah Hasbrouck 1:00.14
Women's 200m
27. Niya Benton-Andrews 23.29
FRIDAY, MAY 26 SCHEDULE (ET)
2:30 P.M. M High Jump – Dontavious Hill, TJ Funches
6:35 P.M. M 100m – Favour Ashe, Azeem Fahmi
7:25 P.M. M 400m Hurdles – Moitalel Mpoke
8:10 P.M. M 5,000m – Ryan Kinnane
* - personal best