Birmingham, Ala. - After a successful showing at the Southeastern Conference Indoor Championships, seven Tigers were named to an All-SEC team, as announced by the league office Tuesday.
Freshman Kanyinsola Ajayi was named to the All-SEC First Team and senior Ryan Kinnane, juniors Louis O'Loughlin and Simone Johnson, sophomores Paula Grauvogel and LeBron Bessick and freshman Max Hardin were named to All-SEC Second Team.
This past weekend, the Tigers competed in Fayetteville, Arkansas for the SEC Indoor Track & Field Championships at the Randal Tyson Track Center. The seventh place, 41-point showing for the women was their best finish at the meet since 2012. The men earned 29 points to finish 11th.
Ajayi became the third Auburn man to win gold in the 60m in the last four years. His time was 6.60. He joined Favor Ashe and Dante Brown who won in 2023 and 2021, respectively. His win as a freshman marked the first by an Auburn male at SEC Indoors in 24 years when Sajay Ayre won the 400m dash.
The distance medley relay quartet made up of Max Hardin, LeBron Bessick, Louis O'Loughlin, and Ryan Kinnane wrapped up day one of the championships with a second-place finish. The group broke the school record last week at the Terrier DMR Challenge in Boston by seven seconds (9:24.43). Hardin got things started for the group and passed the baton to Bessick. Bessick and O'Loughlin kept the race close before handing it off to Kinnane in the anchor spot. Kinnane ran the last mile of the race in under four minutes to finish with a time of 9:35.06.
Graugvogel finished second in the women's pentathlon with a lifetime-best of 4,011 points, which is the third-highest total ever by an Auburn woman in the event. She established four new PRs in the 60m hurdles, shot put, long jump and the 800m.
Making her SEC Championship debut, Johnson earned bronze in her event with a leap of 13.06m.
The All-SEC first team consists of the top finishers in each event while the second team consists of the second and third-place finishers in each event. Ties are not broken.
For a full list of the 2024 All-SEC Indoor Track & Field Teams, visit here.