BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Auburn track and field team will travel to Birmingham for the second time in as many weeks as the Tigers compete at the Samford Open on Saturday at the Birmingham CrossPlex.
“It’s a slightly bigger meet, not a more competitive meet, but just bigger than the one we attended last week,” Auburn head coach Leroy Burrell said. “But generally, it will be the same group of athletes competing. We’re looking to do a week one to week two improvement and clean up the little things we got wrong and then try to get some big marks out of those athletes.’
Action begins at 10 a.m. CT with the women’s shot put while running events start at 12 pm with the women’s 60m prelims. Auburn will travel 22 women and 12 men to compete on Saturday.
Last Friday at the CrossPlex, Auburn kicked off the 2026 indoor season at UAB Blazer Invitational with 11 individual titles, two relays wins and 11 personal or collegiate bests.
“I thought we had a really solid opener,” Burrell said. “For what we did and what our plan was, which was to knock the rust off and get everybody loosened up and get ready for the bigger things later in the season, I thought we started out well.”
Senior transfer Reese Webster led the Tigers, winning the women’s 60m and 200m events, including the then nation’s leading time in the 200, taking gold in 23.48. On the men’s side, senior All-American sprinter Azeem Fahmi started his indoor season off in fine fashion, winning the men’s 60m in a NCAA top time of 6.60, just four hundredths shy of equaling his personal best.
The Tigers swept the men’s and women’s 400m with wins from senior transfers Devin Nugent and Cassidra Thompson. Both returned later to help their respective 4x400m relay teams garner gold.
“We had several athletes who opened up in the best opener they've ever had and a couple that were close to personal bests,” Burrell said. “All in all, I left the meeting feeling positive about what we were able to accomplish.”
In the field events, senior All-American Megan Hague took the women’s shot put, while junior John Leonard won the men’s weight throw. Senior pole vaulter Alyssa Quinones-Mixon won her fourth collegiate indoor event as the Tigers took home the top four spots.
In the distance events, freshman Arianna Roy won the women’s mile and returner Evan Hill won his first collegiate indoor event as the junior won the men’s mile.
Live results for the Samford Indoor Open can be found here.