Auburn, Ala. - Auburn track & field travels to Fayetteville, Arkansas for the Southeastern Conference Indoor Championships Feb. 23-24 at the Randal Tyson Track Center. Action starts at 12 p.m. CT both days with the men's heptathlon 60 meters on Friday and the men's heptathlon 60-meter hurdles on Saturday.
"Year in and year out, this meet is one of the best in the country," Auburn track & field head coach Leroy Burrell said. "You have some of the most competitive athletes and coaches in the country in one room. We all have a healthy respect for how difficult it is to win at this meet."
The men will compete against seven nationally ranked SEC teams including No.3 Arkansas, No.6 Florida, No.9 Alabama, No. 11 Kentucky, No. 12 Georgia, No. 14 Texas A&M and No. 16 South Carolina, while the women will face off against No. 1 Arkansas, No. 2 Florida, No. 9 LSU, No. 11 Texas A&M, No. 12 Alabama, No. 13 Georgia, No. 14 Ole Miss, No. 15 South Carolina and No. 16 Tennessee.
Arkansas is the reigning SEC indoor champion on the men's and women's side. Both squads have won the past four years.
"Our focus is completely on getting our student athletes ready to compete," Burrell said. "We want to go up there and represent Auburn to the best of our ability."
At last year's SEC Indoor Championships, the Tigers had three podium-worthy performances, which included a first-place finish for Favor Ashe in the men's 100m, third in the men's weight throw for Kyle Brown and third from Madi Malone in the women's weight throw.
On the men's side is distance senior Ryan Kinnane leading. Kinnane enters the weekend as the school record holder in the mile (3:58.28). Kinnane helped the men's DMR break the 42-year-old school record by seven seconds with freshman Max Hardin, sophomore LeBron Bessick and junior Louis O'Loughlin with a time of 9:24.43.
"Couldn't be happier for the guys," Burrell said. "They went up there with a mission and accomplished that. They had a great performance. I am excited about this, because it begins the process of broadening our squad to help up be more competitive in the conference and at nationals."
On the women's side, it has been the jumps putting up big numbers. At the Tiger Paw Invitational in Clemson, South Carolina, junior Simone Johnson established a new lifetime best in triple jump. With a jump of 13.46m, Johnson finished in second place with a mark good enough for eighth nationally which was also the fourth-best mark in program history.
Senior Amy Warren also had a career day in Clemson. She won triple jump with a personal best leap of 13.04m, which was good for the No. 27 mark nationally.
In her debut as a Tiger, rookie Camilia Gomes broke the school's freshman indoor record in the women's mile with a time of 4:38.18 at the Music City Challenge in Nashville, Tennessee.
The live results for Friday can be found at FlastResults.com and events will be streamed starting at 1:30 p.m. CT and 4 p.m. CT on SEC Network+.
On Saturday, live results will be available at FlashResults.com and events will be streamed at 2 p.m. CT and 4 p.m. CT on SEC Network+.