Auburn, Ala. - After a break from competition last weekend, the Auburn track & field team will split the squad between the Tiger Paw Invitational in Clemson, South Carolina and the Music City Challenge in Nashville, Tennessee Feb. 9-10.
Action from the Clemson University Indoor Complex will begin Friday at 10 a.m. CT with the men's weight throw while action from the Vanderbilt Multipurpose Facility begins Saturday at 9 a.m. CT with the women's shot put.
Last time out, the team had a strong showing in Fayetteville, Arkansas at the Razorback Invitational with 16 new personal-best marks over the weekend. The highlight of the meet was senior Ryan Kinnane in the mile. Kinnane's time of 3:58.28 broke a 42-year-old school record set by Roger James. Kinnane was the second track & field student-athlete in school history to run a sub-four-minute mile Indoors, and finished the meet in third overall.
"We put on a solid group of performances," Auburn track & field head coach Leroy Burrell said. "We still have a little way to go to show what we can do. We have not competed with all our athletes yet. The Arkansas meet was a precursor to the conference meet. Given that eight conference schools were there, we represented ourselves well."
Freshman Max Hardin ran his first collegiate indoor mile with a time of 4:01.50 and broke the previous freshman school record of 4:03.50 set by Felix Kiboiywo in 2007.
"Max Hardin had a gutsy performance and I think he has more in the tank." Burrell said. "When it is all said and done, we will have three guys that can run sub four miles."
Senior Sanaa Barnes continued her hot streak in women's high jump. She earned a silver medal with a jump clearing 1.82m for her third top-two finish of the indoor season.
With a throw of 19.20m, sophomore John Leonard moved into seventh on the Auburn weight throw performer list. Teammate Kyle Moison took home bronze in the event with a new all-time best throw of 20.86m.
Led by Kinnane, Hardin, and junior Louis O'Loughlin, Auburn's white hot distance crew are set to head to Nashville for yet another challenge.
Going toe-to-toe with Auburn in Music City will be the host Vanderbilt, Georgia, South Alabama, Tennessee, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Missouri, and Samford.
While in Clemson, the Tigers will line up against Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi State, Oklahoma, Tennessee, South Carolina, Texas A&M and the host Clemson.
"We're building a program and a team." Burrell said. "You are going to see a lot more competitive track and field from the Tigers as we move into the championship season."
Live results on Friday for the Tiger Paw Invitational can be found at FlashResults.com and the live stream of the event can be found at ACCNX.
Live Results on Friday for the Music City Challenge can be found at pttiming.com and the live stream of the event can be found at SEC Network+.