Auburn fans are invited to get a “sneak peek” at Auburn Arena on A-Day, April 17.

The doors of Auburn Arena will first open for Tigers Unlimited members from 10-11 a.m., while the arena will remain open for the general public from 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. and after the A-Day game until 5 p.m.

The Auburn Arena entrance is located on the north side of the building.

Due to on-going construction, public restrooms will not be available in the arena for the sneak peek.

Williams signs on with baseball team
Max Williams has agreed to join the Auburn baseball team for the 2011 season, Auburn head coach John Pawlowski announced Thursday.

Williams is a 6-1, 180-pound outfielder from Atlanta who has averaged 22 stolen bases a year for his high school career.

“We are excited to have Max as part of our program. He is an elite athlete that we believe has the potential to develop into a very good baseball player,” Pawlowski said.

A four-year letter winner at The Lovett School, he is a left-handed hitting and fielding center fielder by trade and has a career batting average of .405. In 2008 he helped The Lovett School win the AA state championship and was named All-Region and All-Area. The team was also the 2007 state runner-up and in the 2006 final four.

Williams has also excelled on the football field and the basketball court, lettering four times in football and twice in basketball. A 2009 All-State, All-Region and All-Fulton County wide receiver, he is The Lovett School’s career (2006-09) and single-season (2009) record holder for receptions and receiving yards, hauling in 64 catches for 1,003 yards last season while scoring 12 total touchdowns with 1,577 all-purpose yards.

Track heads to Arizona, Georgia
The Auburn men’s and women’s teams will split their squads this weekend, sending many of their top sprinters to the Sun Angel Classic hosted by Arizona State University, while several field event athletes and distance runners will join the remaining sprinters in Athens, Ga., for the Spec Towns Invitational.

Most of the action at both meets will take place on Saturday. Only selected field events will be held today, with few Tigers scheduled to compete.

Auburn enters the weekend ranked No. 7 nationally in the men’s rankings, and 14th in the women’s rankings. Several other nationally-ranked squads will provide stiff competition for the Tigers at both meets.

With two outdoor meets under their belts, the Tigers are just beginning to hit their stride. Some of Auburn’s top competitors will be running in their premier events for the first time this weekend, while others will continue to build toward the conference and national meets later in the spring.

“We’re sending the bulk of our sprinters to Arizona State because it’s always a high-level meet in the sprints,” said head coach Ralph Spry. “The weather is usually good and it’s a great opportunity to run real fast. We’re really going to load up on the women’s sprints in particular.

“Another group is going to Georgia because the field events will be stronger there. Coming off the Tiger Track Classic last weekend we’re just looking to get sharper. We want to keep everybody competing.”

The Tigers will look to add to their list of athletes that have marks that will qualify them for the NCAA East Preliminary Round. At the end of the conference meets, individual athletes ranked in the top 48 in the region and relays ranked in the top 24 will be qualified for the Preliminary Round. Currently, the Tigers have 13 individual marks and three relays that meet the cutoff, but the list will change drastically in the coming weeks.

Auburn will host its second and final home meet of the year the following weekend, when the Auburn Invitational takes place April 16-17.

All home meets are free and open to the public.

Men’s tennis faces Ole Miss, Miss. State
The No. 37 Auburn men’s tennis team travels to the state of Mississippi for two SEC weekend matches.

The Tigers take on Ole Miss at 2 p.m. in Oxford today and then head to Starkville for a 1 p.m. match against Mississippi State on Sunday.

“We’re coming off a good weekend, picking up two key SEC wins at home,” head coach Eric Shore said. “Looking at this weekend against Ole Miss and Mississippi State, it’s going to be a tough weekend on the road. Sunday’s match against Mississippi State will be big for us and we hope to play well against Ole Miss on Friday.”

Ole Miss holds a 28-24 series lead over the Tigers and took a 6-1 victory over Auburn last season. Auburn has a slim 20-19 advantage over Mississippi State in a series that had the two teams meet twice last year. The Bulldogs topped the Tigers during the regular season, 4-3, but Auburn defeated Mississippi State in the first round of the SEC Tournament by a score of 4-1.

Against Arkansas & LSU, Auburn picked up two key SEC wins this past weekend at the City of Auburn/Auburn University Tennis Center. The Tigers opened with a 4-3 thriller on Friday evening, defeating Arkansas. In the final match of the evening, freshman Tim Hewitt put together a three-set victory at No. 2 singles to give Auburn the win. On Sunday afternoon, Auburn took on LSU and came away with a 5-2 win. Hewitt, freshman Lucas Lopasso and sophomore Alex Stamchev each recorded two singles victories on the weekend.