AUBURN, Ala. - Auburn track & field will split duties this weekend, Feb. 14-15 between the Tiger Paw Invitational in Clemson, South Carolina, and the Boston University David Hemery Valentine Invitational in Boston, Massachusetts.
Action from the Clemson University Indoor Complex will begin Friday at 10 am CT in the men’s weight throw while action from the Boston University Track and Tennis Center begins Friday at 1:20 p.m. CT with the men’s mile.
At their last outing, the Tigers had a limited squad compete at the Charlie Thomas Invitational in Bryan-College Station, Texas where the team earned two event wins. Seniors Maura Huwalt and Kyle Brown swept the titles in weight throw. Huwalt’s top mark of 21.31m and Brown’s best attempt of the day was 21.22m.
The Tigers are looking to get one last tune up before the postseason in two weeks.
“We’ve got another big meet, a championship preview for us at Clemson this weekend,” Auburn track & field head coach Leroy Burrell said. “We are looking forward to a good competition and putting some big marks up. We are really focused on not only the SEC meet but qualifying a pretty substantial group to the championships.”
Going toe-to-toe with Auburn in Clemson will be NR/No. 24 Alabama, Florida State, NR/No. 8 Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi State, NR/No. 23 Tennessee, No. 1/16 USC and the host NR/No. 19 Clemson.
“We’ve got our sprints, jumps and throws group going over to the Tiger Paw Invite,” Burrell said. “Our men and women have competed well there. We are looking forward to continuing that trend and preparing ourselves for the championship meet.”
The last time the Tigers were in Clemson, they took gold in four different events and delivered 12 collegiate personal bests at the Bob Pollock Invitational.
Junior Alyssa Quinones-Mixon was the highlight of the competition as she finished pole vault first overall with a collegiate best clearance of 4.38m. Her new mark placed her fifth in the SEC.
As the indoor season progresses, Auburn sprints continue to show their dominance. Senior Chante Clinkscale continued to sign her name in the Auburn record books as she earned a PR in the women’s 60m dash. She ran a collegiate best time of 7.26 in the preliminary round and improved her time in the semis (7.23). Her time is ninth on Auburn’s top 10 list.
On the men’s side, senior Maka Charamba currently holds third fastest 200m time in the nation (20.55) and sophomore Ja’Kobe Tharp’s 60m hurdle time of 7.60 is ranked No. 7.
In Boston, the Tigers plan to utilize the distance runners including senior Cooper Atkins, junior Gené Coetzee, sophomores Camila Gomes, Cady McPhail, Nickson Chebii and Max Hardin and freshman Brenda Jepchirchir.
“On the distance side of things, if you want to qualify for nationals, you probably need to go to Boston,” Burrell said. “We want them to put themselves in position to be able to score at conference and improve upon their national ranking.”
While in Boston, the Tigers will line up against No. 24/15 Baylor, No. 6/9 Florida, No. 19/NR Iowa, NR/No. 18 LSU, No. 13/NR Ole Miss, No. 14/NR Penn State, NR/No.23 Tennessee, Texas, NR/No. 3 Oregon, and the host Boston University.
Live results for the Tiger Paw Invite can be found on FlashResults.com.
Live results for the BU David Hemery Valentine Invite can be found on LancerTiming.
Up Next
The Tigers will take a break from competition and return for the Southeastern Conference Championships in Bryan-College Station, Texas, Feb. 27 – March 1.