AUBURN, Ala. - Auburn track & field set for the 2024 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Eugene, Oregon at historic Hayward Field on the campus of the University of Oregon, June 5-8.
The Tigers have nine men and six women competing in 13 individual events and one relay at the top collegiate meet in the country. The men will compete Wednesday and Friday, while the women's events will take place Thursday and Saturday.
"I couldn't be happier for the athletes that stepped up," Auburn track & field head coach Leroy Burrell said. "We're in a good place and we've got some talented young men and women who are going to compete in Eugene and represent Auburn in a fine fashion."
At last year's national championships, Madi Malone, Auburn's most decorated hammer thrower in school history, grabbed a spot on the podium with a second-place finish in the hammer throw.
Competing at the 2024 NCAA East Preliminaries in Lexington, Kentucky, the team delivered solid performances to punch their tickets for the NCAA Championships.
"It was exciting," Burrell said. "When the dust settles and you look to see what the program, staff, and athletes accomplished, it was a tremendous meet for us."
The Tigers' dynamic duo of 100-meter runners, junior Favour Ashe and freshman Kanyinsola Ajayi had record-breaking performances to qualify for the championships. Ashe broke his own record, equaled the nation's top time and broke the facility record (9.94). Ajayi tied the freshman record, crossing the line in 10.03.
Junior Makanakaishe Charamba earned his first trip to NCAA Outdoors with his school record-breaking time of 19.95 in the 200m.
Freshman Ja'Kobe Tharp became Auburn's first freshman NCAA qualifier in the 110m hurdles with a time of 13.24, the top time of the day.
Auburn sophomore throwers Keyshawn Strachan and Matthew Rueff are making their NCAA Championships debuts. Strachan finished East Prelims in third with a throw of 74.63m in javelin. Meanwhile, Rueff had a PR toss of 18.84m to qualify in shot put.
On the women's side, three Tigers punched tickets to the outdoor championships. Freshman Marley Raikiwasa broke the Auburn women's discus record to qualify with a mark of 57.42m. She will be joined by sophomore Megan Hague who delivered a lifetime best throw of 16.65m in shot put.
Graduate student Shaniya Holley will make her second championship appearance in javelin. Holley's final throw of 49.30m solidified her spot in Eugene.
Junior Vimbayi Maisvorewa ran a PR of 51.43 in the 400m to win her heat and automatically qualify for nationals.
Sophomore Alyssa Quinones-Mixon earned her spot at the outdoor championships, equaling her PR mark of 4.20m in pole vault. She was just the second woman in Auburn history to advance in the event since 2015.
Fellow sophomores Michael May and Paula Grauvogel also punched their tickets to Nationals prior to East Preliminaries with May competing in the men's decathlon and Grauvogel in the women's heptathlon.
"We're in a good position and I'm happy with what we've been able to accomplish thus far," Burrell said. "Auburn is performing great. To rewrite the men's sprint record book over the past year has been outstanding. Now, we want to continue to build the whole program to be competitive at the conference and national level."
May will kick off the action Wednesday with the decathlon 100m at 2:30 p.m. CT. Running events will start at 6:32 p.m. CT with the quartet of Charamba, Ajayi, junior Dario Matau and sophomore Azeem Fahmi in the 4x100m relay.
Live stats can be found at flashresults.ncaa.com. The meet will be streamed live on ESPN+ and coverage throughout the meet can also be found on the ESPN family of networks during the week.