TRACK AND FIELD

Atkins earns All-America honors

Auburn senior Joanna Atkins earned her second outdoor All-America honors of her career Friday, finishing in second place in the women’s 400 meters with a season’s best time of 51.50 at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships held at Jim Duncan Track on the Drake campus.

Earlier in the day, Atkins helped lead the Tigers’ 4x400-meter relay team to the second fastest time of the day to qualify for Saturday’s finals in the event.

The quartet of CeCe Williams, Kai Selvon, Cache Armbrister and Atkins clocked a 3:30.62 in the 4x400, which was a season’s best and third fastest in school history. The Tigers placed second in the heat to Texas A&M which had the fastest overall time.

On the men’s side, the Tigers had a trio of freshmen field athletes competing in their first-ever NCAA Outdoor Championships.

Freshmen Stephen Saenz and Marcus Popenfoose, finished 10th and 16th, respectively, in the men’s shot put.

Freshman high jumper D.J. Smith finished 11th after clearing 7-0.25 (2.14m). The SEC Champion in the event, Smith successfully cleared his first two heights before missing and then hitting at 7-0.25. Smith came up short however at his next level, missing all three attempts at 7-1.50.

Texas Tech leads the men’s team competition with 32 points followed by Virginia Tech and Florida and Florida State, which are tied for third. On the women’s side, Oklahoma leads with 28 points. Texas A&M is second and Oregon third.

Saturday’s final day of competition will begin at 11 a.m. with the women’s shot put. Running events will begin at noon with the 4x100 meter relay.

Auburn’s day will begin at 12:41 p.m., as Nivea Smith will be competing in the women’s 200 finals. Distance runner Ben Cheruiyot will run in the men’s 5,000 at 1:21 p.m., with the women’s 4x400 relay finishing the Tigers’ efforts at the meet at 1:40 p.m.

MEN’S GOLF

Barber wins at Stanwich Club

Auburn rising junior Blayne Barber defeated Augusta State’s Hendrik Norlander in Palmer Cup singles match play Friday at the Stanwich Club in Greenwich, Conn.

The victory was Barber’s second of the event, after the Lake City, Fla., native picked up a win alongside Georgia’s Russell Henley in Thursday morning four ball.

The win, however, was not enough to preserve the American lead, as Team Europe won four singles matches to only two for the host country. With only Saturday’s match play round remaining, Team USA will look to overcome the 8.5-7.5 European advantage.