AUBURN, Ala. - Auburn track & field travels to Gainesville, Florida to compete in the 2024 Southeastern Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships at James G. Presley Stadium at Percy Beard Track May 9-11.
Action will start Thursday at 10:30 a.m. CT with the decathlon 100m, pick back up Friday at 10 a.m. CT with the decathlon 110m hurdles and Saturday's events will start at 2:00 p.m. CT with the men's discus throw.
The Tigers will be returning to Gainesville for the third meet this outdoor season.
"We have had some success in Gainesville," Auburn track & field head coach Leroy Burrell said. "We have seen some quality marks and personal bests performances during our last trips, but we're going to have to step it up going into conference championships week."
At last year's SEC championships, the Tigers sent three athletes to the podium. Madi Malone brought home gold in the women's hammer throw (68.69m), while Dontavious Hill and junior Favour Ashe had silver-worthy finishes. The former Tiger had a leap of 2.18m in high jump while Ashe crossed the 100m finish line in 10.08.
The team looks to continue their success into the postseason after a strong showing at the LSU Invitational for the final meet of the regular season. The Tigers brought home gold in three different events.
Freshman Ja'Kobe Tharp won the men's 110m hurdles with a time of 13.40. Junior Makanakaishe Charamba crossed the finish line first in the 200m (20.11). In the women's 1500m, sophomore Gené Coetzee delivered a collegiate best performance in the 1500m (4:24.76).
The men enter the weekend ranked tenth overall in the most recent USTFCCCA poll with the 100m squad ranked second in the nation.
"One thing that is going to show how we will finish nationally is the men's sprints," Burrell said. "We have two athletes, Favour Ashe and Makanakaishe Charamba, that are ranked in the top three in their respective events. They both could be factors at the national meet as well as our men's 4x100m relay. They are still ranked No. 2 in the country. We need to fight for a conference championship and build some confidence going into the NCAA championships."
The men's 4x100m relay team of Fahmi, Ashe, Matau and Ajayi holds the second fastest time in the nation (38.64).
In Baton Rouge, four Auburn men raced in the 100m dash. Freshman Kanyinsola Ajayi took second (10.06), Charamba finished seventh (10.16), junior Dario Matau in 11th (10.237) and sophomore Azeem Fahmi in 12th (10.240).
Shot put duo Matthew Rueff and Grant Griffin finished in fourth and seventh respectively with marks of 18.27m and 17.02m.
For the throws on the women's side Marley Raikiwasa broke her freshman shot put record with a mark of 16.79m. Her previous throw was 16.25m. She finished the event in fourth place and now holds the tenth furthest throw in the SEC.
Sophomore Megan Hague also competed in shot put where she finished behind Raikiwasa in fifth place. She delivered a PR toss of 16.35m that earned her the No. 13 spot in the SEC.
Graduate student Shaniya Holley took home silver in javelin throw with a mark of 49.70m.
"For the women, we have to get off to a good start on day one with the heptathlon with Paula Grauvogel and Elise Heddens," Burrell said. "We are looking forward to starting the meet with some points on Thursday."
Earlier this season at the Hurricane Alumni Invitational sophomores Grauvogel and Heddens delivered college best performances in the heptathlon. Ending the meet with 5,572 points, Grauvogel is currently No. 4 in the SEC and third on Auburn women's outdoor top performers list. Heddens is currently ranked eleventh in the SEC with 4,991 points.
Going toe-to-toe with the men and women this weekend will be 4/15 Alabama, 5/2 Arkansas, 1/7 Florida, 22/8 Georgia, 12/NR Kentucky, 3/1 LSU, 15/NR Mississippi State, Missouri, NR/12 Ole Miss, 20/6 South Carolina, 14/10 Tennessee, 2/4 Texas A&M and Vanderbilt.
"It is going to be an amazing competition," Burrell said. "I am looking forward to seeing a great crowd there and I believe this will be a NCAA preview for us."
Live results for the meet will be available at Deltatiming.com. SEC Network+ will livestream the event Thursday (10:55 a.m. CT – 3:30 p.m. CT and 4:25 – 7:00 p.m. CT), Friday (10:25 a.m. CT – 3:30 p.m. CT and 4:55 – 7:30 p.m. CT) and Saturday (1:55 – 3:30 p.m. CT).