Special to the News

02/28 at 11:57 PM

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Junior Sheniqua Ferguson and sophomore Marcus Rowland both won individual titles and also claimed runner-up finishes as Auburn completed competition at the Southeastern Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships on Sunday.

Ferguson won the 200 meters and placed second in the 60 meters, while Rowland reversed that feat, winning the 60 and finishing second in the 200.

Both the Auburn men and the women finished the meet in sixth place. The women scored 55 points, while the men finished with 50 points.

“We got hit by a couple of key injuries that really hurt us badly,” said head coach Ralph Spry. “We tried to fight hard and our kids competed very hard, but we just had some bad breaks today and didn’t capitalize on some things we should have. But I feel good about the fact that we had a couple of SEC champions.”

Ferguson won the 200 meters in 23.14 seconds, posting the nation’s third-best time this year. Her time ranks her fourth in Auburn indoor history and made her the third Auburn woman to win the 200 meters in the last six SEC indoor meets. Fana Ashby was the 2005 champion while Kerron Stewart won in 2007.

In the 60 meters, Ferguson finished second, matching her personal best of 7.22 seconds that also ranks No. 3 in the NCAA this year. South Carolina’s Lakya Bookins had the fastest start in the field, and held off a late charge by Ferguson to win in 7.18 seconds. Junior Joanna Atkins finished seventh in 7.40 seconds.

“It was a good experience,” said Ferguson. “I wanted to win the 60 but it didn’t happen, so I took that feeling of getting second place into my 200. I just really wanted to win the 200 so I just went out there and gave it my all. I’m not as happy with the 60 because I knew I could have run faster, but overall, I’m healthy and didn’t receive any injuries, so I’m happy.”

In the men’s 60 meters, Rowland started strong and pulled away to win in 6.62 seconds, missing his personal best by just .02 seconds. He became the first Auburn man to win the short sprint (formerly 60 yards or 55 meters) since Bryan Howard in 1997. In addition, redshirt freshman Harry Adams finished fifth, clocking a time of 6.72 seconds.

Rowland nearly made it a double victory in the 200 meters, but finished second in 20.81 seconds. Running out of lane six — the outermost lane — Rowland didn’t have the start he wanted but came on strong down the stretch to move up to second. Junior Michael DeHaven also placed for Auburn, finishing sixth with a time of 21.09, matching his time from Saturday’s preliminaries.

“I told myself if I could get one SEC title I’d be happy,” said Rowland. “I really wanted that 200 but it didn’t happen, but I’m still satisfied. In the 60, I wanted to keep my stride going and get a good start. My start wasn’t that good so I guess the main thing was my stride — I kept that going well. I wasn’t so happy with the time but I’m very happy with my place in the SEC.”

Although the Tigers had some strong individual performances, a string of unfortunate incidents cost the women a better team finish.

It all began when All-American Hollie Knight was injured during the final event Saturday — the 3,000 meters — costing the Tigers points in that event as well as Sunday’s 5,000 meters. The first race Sunday resulted in an injury to All-American hurdler Danielle Gilchrist, costing the team more points in the 60-meter hurdles and keeping her out of the 4x400-meter relay as well.

Then in the 400 meters, Atkins, the defending champion and the NCAA champion during the 2009 outdoor season, stumbled in a collision with another runner and never regained her stride, costing her several positions. She still managed to finish seventh, but her time of 54.73 seconds was far off her time from Saturday of 52.77 that would have been good enough to win on Sunday.

Auburn’s bad luck continued in the women’s 4x400-meter relay. The Tigers entered the race ranked third, but on the lead leg, junior Cache Armbrister was in the lead when she was unintentionally spiked from behind by an LSU runner and tumbled to the ground, and was unable to continue. LSU was disqualified, but that was little consolation for Auburn, as it didn’t result in any points for the Tigers.

Despite the bad luck, Auburn did have several others fare well. In addition to Ferguson, the Tigers had two other scorers in the women’s 200 meters. Sophomore Nivea Smith was second with a personal-best time of 23.32, moving up to fifth in school indoor history. Armbrister placed eighth in 24.01 seconds.

In the men’s 5,000 meters, sophomore Ben Cheruiyot finished second, clocking an indoor best of 13:54.86, improving his previous best mark that ranks third in school history by nearly two seconds. Senior Felix Kiboiywo just missed scoring in his second event of the meet, placing ninth in 14:23.05.

Freshman Maya Pressley took third in the women’s high jump, posting a top clearance of 1.75 meters (5-8.75). She was perfect through her first three attempts, but was unable to get over 1.79 meters (5-10.5).

In the women’s 60-meter hurdles, although Gilchrist was unable to finish, junior Krystal Bodie placed fourth and senior Amelia Anderson took fifth. Bodie clocked a time of 8.41 seconds, with Anderson just .04 seconds behind.

While Atkins suffered misfortune in the women’s 400 meters, sophomore CeCe Williams placed fifth with a personal-best time of 53.86 seconds, becoming just the fourth Auburn woman in history to go under 54 seconds indoors.

In the women’s 5,000 meters, senior Laurel Pritchard placed seventh in 17:20.41, while senior Stephanie Barnes was ninth in 17:33.44.

“We put ourselves in position after day one and day two, and we really had done what we needed to do on the women’s side,” said Spry. “I knew with our men’s team this was a little bit of a rebuilding time for us. We came in half loaded with the men, but still the first two days went great, but the final day it was just one of those unfortunate things. But we have two teams that are ranked very high on the national level, so we just have to regroup and finish this indoor season strong.”

Also for Auburn, in the women’s triple jump, junior Erica Akins finished 10th with a personal-best mark of 12.02 meters (39-5.25) while Anderson was 13th with a jump of 11.68 meters (38-4) and freshman Katherine Culwell was 15th (11.44 meters, 37-6.5).

Senior Valentina Srsa placed 18th in the weight throw, sophomore Monica Carney was 18th in the high jump, junior Gerard Brown was 19th in the triple jump

Next weekend, selected members of the Auburn teams will compete in Last Chance Qualifying meets in an attempt to qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships, which will take place March 12-13 in Fayetteville.

Women improve times at Bulldog Invitational
ATHENS, Ga. — Members of the Auburn women’s swimming team participated in the two-day Bulldog Invitational last chance meet at Gabrielsen Natatorium over the weekend.

Athletes swam in the meet in hopes of improving times and qualifying for the 2010 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships.

On day one, senior Maggie Bird improved her provisional qualifying in the 500 free, finishing in 4:43.02. Junior Micah Martindale also swam in the 500 free and touched in an improved B time of 4:51.97. Martindale also had a faster time in the 200 free, touching in a B time of 1:48.35.

A pair of freshmen in Lauren Norberg and Becca Jones put together season-best swims during the meet. Norberg picked up a B time of 1:02.55 in the 100 breast, while Jones swam a B time of 50.22 in the 100 free.

Junior Erica Meissner improved both her 100 and 200 backstroke provisional times on the weekend. She swam a 54.85 in the 100 back and finished in 1:56.36 in the 200 back. Senior Abby MacGregor swam a 2:15.56 in the 200 breast to improve her B time.

The Auburn men will have their turn to improve their provisional times as they host the James E. Martin Invitational last chance meet on next Sunday at the James E. Martin Aquatic Center.

Members of the team will also participate in the three-day Austin Grand Prix in Austin, Texas, from Thursday-Saturday.

Athletes who qualify will participate in the NCAA Championships. The women will compete March 18-20 in West Lafayette, Ind., while the men’s championships will be held in Columbus, Ohio, from March 25-27.

Softball rallies past N.C. State
COLUMBUS, Ga. — In a game that featured a combined 27 strikeouts by Auburn and NC State pitchers, the Tigers were able to rally for a 2-1 victory over the Wolfpack in softball action Sunday afternoon.

Auburn’s record moved to 9-6 with the win. NC State dropped to 9-7.

The Tigers return to action Tuesday when they host No. 4 Michigan at Jane B. Moore Field. First pitch between the Tigers and Wolverines is slated for 6 p.m.

Anna Thompson (4-4) relieved starter Jenee Loree in third inning to earn the win. Thompson pitched the final 4 2/3 innings. Thompson did not allow a hit and walked just one.  The Huntsville native fanned 10.

For the tournament, Thompson pitched 18 1/3 innings, allowed four hits, struck out 42 hitters, walked four and posted a 0.38 ERA and held opponents to a .069 batting average.

Lindsay Campana (6-2) took the loss after throwing a complete game. Campana struck out 14 in the game, allowed two runs, both earned, on four hits and walked two.

The Wolfpack wasted no time getting on the scoreboard as Alyssa Ishibashi blasted a leadoff home run to left-center in the bottom of the first inning. It was Ishibashi’s first home run of the season and gave NC State a 1-0 lead.

Loree ran into trouble in the third inning. After retiring the first hitter of the inning, Loree gave up a single down the left field line to Landon Warren. Alyssa Allbritten followed with a ground ball to Lauren Guzman at short. Guzman fired wide to second, going for the force on Warren. The error allowed Warren to move to third and chased Loree from the game.

Thompson entered the game and, after pinch-runner Krystal Hawkins stole second, got Stephanie Call to strike out swinging for the second out of the inning. Thompson halted the scoring threat with a called third strike on Kristine Bechtholdt.

Campana held the Tigers to one hit through five innings with eight strikeouts. But in the sixth inning the Tigers got consecutive singles from Kelley Smiley and Caitlin Stangl to open the inning to put two on with no outs.

Smiley then stole third with Stangl advancing to second on the throw. Harrison then tied the game with a ground ball that Ishibashi booted at second base. Smiley scored on the play and Stangl moved to third.

Another Wolfpack error gave the Tigers the lead. Shortstop Breanna Andrews misplayed a ground ball off the bat of Kelsey Cartwright and Stangl scored to give the Tigers a 2-1 lead.

North Carolina State would never threaten over the final two innings. A leadoff walk in the sixth inning was quickly erased by Thompson with a double-play and she retired the side in order in the seventh to seal the win for the Tigers.

Women’s tennis gets past TCU
The No. 46 Auburn women’s tennis team won its fourth-straight match Sunday afternoon at the City of Auburn/Auburn University Yarbrough Tennis Center, as the Tigers defeated the No. 32 TCU Horned Frogs, 4-3.

Auburn dropped the doubles point, but rallied in singles play to win four matches and secure the team victory.

“It was a great match,” said head coach Tim Gray. “We had a lot of opportunities in doubles. We did a really fantastic job turning it around after dropping the doubles point and I thought we were extremely confident in singles play. Our girls did a great job today.”

The afternoon began with TCU taking the doubles point, winning the No. 1 doubles matchup by an 8-3 tally over Auburn’s tandem of senior Myrthe Molenveld and freshman Caroline Thornton. Auburn managed to take the second flight doubles match, as seniors Fani Chifchieva and Jil Hastenrath downed the Horned Frogs’ Maria Babanova and Nina Munch-Soegaard by an 8-5 count.

The doubles point was decided in the No. 3 spot, as TCU’s Gabby Mastromarino and Idunn Hertzberg defeated Auburn’s freshman pairing of Plamena Kurteva and Paulina Schippers, 8-6. The previously undefeated Tiger pairing trailed the majority of the match, but rallied to cut the TCU lead to 7-6. However, Auburn dropped the seventh and eighth points to fall to 7-1 on the season in doubles play.

Facing a situation Auburn hasn’t seen in three weeks, the Tigers trailed heading into singles play. Auburn evened up the score at 1-1 as Schippers made quick work of Mastromarino, taking the match 6-0, 6-1, while No. 59 Chifchieva defeated Munch-Soegaard 6-1, 6-3 to give Auburn the 2-1 lead.

TCU evened the match up at 2-2, as Tuohimmaa defeated Auburn sophomore Daniela Vukadinovic 6-3, 6-2. However, Hastenrath defeated Babanova in the No. 6 position 6-2, 6-5 to take a 3-2 advantage. It was Thornton’s 7-6, 6-2 win over Hertzberg at No. 4 singles that secured the win for the Tigers.

Molenveld closed out the day for Auburn by taking the No. 67 player in the country, Kayla Duncan, into a tiebreaker. The senior won the first set against Duncan 7-6, but dropped the next set 6-3. Duncan proved to be too much for Molenveld in the tiebreaker, as she was defeated 10-5.

“Myrthe gave a lot of effort winning that first set. Even though she didn’t win, that gave the other courts a lot energy and a lot of fight. This is a great team we played today. TCU has played a lot of tough teams this season and has had a lot of tough losses. Overall I am very pleased with our effort and pleased we came out with a win.”

Auburn opens up SEC play in Knoxville, Tenn., on Friday at 3 p.m. as the Tigers will hit the road for the first time since ITA Kickoff on Jan. 29. Following Friday’s match against No. 13 Tennessee, Auburn will travel to No. 16 Georgia on Sunday for a noon matchup.

Men’s tennis falls at Tulsa
TULSA, Okla. — The No. 35 Auburn men’s tennis team traveled to Tulsa on Sunday and fell in a hotly contested match with the No. 33 Tulsa Golden Hurricane, 4-2, at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center.

“Tulsa is clearly better than their current ranking,” head coach Eric Shore said. “We put ourselves in a position to win, but our bottom lineup is not getting it done for us. We can’t continue to count on the top to win matches.”

The Hurricane improve to 9-3 on the season, while the Tigers are now 3-4.

Tulsa opened up the day strong, capturing the doubles point and sweeping the Tigers in all three matches. The Hurricane’s Marcelo Arevalo and Grant Ive came away with the 8-4 win over Tim Hewitt and Lucas Lopasso at the No. 3 position to start the day.

The home team secured the doubles point with an 8-6 victory at the No. 1 doubles spot, seeing Philip Stephens and Ashley Watling defeat Andreas Mies and Tim Puetz. Marko Ballok and Alastair Barnes closed out doubles competition at No. 2, defeating Alexander Sajonz and Alex Stamchev, 9-7.

The Hurricane picked up 2 more points once singles play started, seeing wins at the No. 5 and No. 6 spots.

Auburn put points on the board after freshmen Hewitt and Lopasso picked up key victories at the No. 2 and No. 4 spots, respectively. Hewitt topped Stephens in two sets (6-4, 7-6) to improve his singles record to 6-2 on the spring season. Lopasso defeated Barnes in a tough, three-set battle (6-4, 3-6, 6-3) to up his career record to 4-3.

The two teams saw a major battle at the No. 1 spot as Arevalo and Puetz fought for a much-needed team point. Puetz, the 25th-ranked player in the country, opened up with a 6-4 win in the first set. Arevalo, however, came back with a 6-3 win in set two. The pair went back and forth in the final set, but Arevalo had enough left in him to come away with the 7-6 set three victory and gave Puetz his first loss on the season.

At the No. 3 singles spot, Stamchev defeated Watling, 7-6, in the first set. Watling, however, earned a 6-4 win in the second to force the deciding set. Stamchev was up 2-1 in set three before play was called.

The Tigers begin SEC play as they host Tennessee at the City of Auburn/Auburn University Yarbrough Tennis Center on Friday. Start time is set for 2 p.m.

Equestrian pounds Baylor on Saturday
The No. 2 Auburn equestrian team defeated No. 7 Baylor, 14-4, on Saturday at the Auburn Equestrian Center.

The Tigers improved to 10-2 while the Bears fell to 8-5.

“We had just an unbelievable run on the Hunt Seat side today,” said Auburn head coach Greg Williams. “They almost swept every point. Our Western squad picked up the win. It was a little more hard-fought, but I think the Hunt Seat riders kind of hit a new level today.

“We really try to peak in April, and we’re riding so well, but we’ve got more to offer. We’ve got to keep working on the mechanics and we can still apply more pressure, yet again, in April. They were riding really, really well right after Christmas break, and came back pushing hard, riding hard. If they’ll do that when we ask it again in the latter part of March then we’ll be in contention to win the SEC and we will be one of the contenders for the national championship.”

The Tigers won each of the four events on the day, winning Hunt Seat Equitation on the Flat, 4-1, Hunt Seat Equitation over Fences, 5-0, Western Horsemanship, 2-1, and Western Reigning, 5-3.

In Hunt Seat Equitation on the Flat, the Tigers were led by MVP Lindsey Portela. Portela defeated Baylor’s Margaret Beaudoin 58-54. Other Tiger winners were Anna Becker over Kim Woodsum, 56-48, Katie Breedlove over Melanie Appel, 59-54, and Chelsea Anheuser over Mary Smitson, 66-39. Baylor’s Heather Healy earned the point for the Bears, defeating Auburn’s Dottie Grubb, 54-47.

In Hunt Seat Equitation over Fences, the Tigers took all 5 points as Anna Schierholz defeated Healy, 76-75, Ali Loprete defeated Lisa Goldman, 86-85, Maggie McAlary defeated Taylor Brown, 87-82, MVP Grace Socha defeated Kendra Vicary, 89-83, and Grubb defeated Kara Fergusson, 84-73.

In Western Horsemanship, the Tigers took 2 of the total 3 points, as two head-to-head matchups resulted in ties. For Auburn, Indy Roper defeated Allison Orosz, 72-70.5, and Bailey Dymond defeated MVP Lindsay Douglas, 72.5-72. For Baylor, Ashley Garza defeated Lauren Rooney, 73-71.5. Auburn’s Jessica Jones and Baylor’s Lindsey Tomko tied at 71.5, and Auburn’s Kylie Miller and Baylor’s Meghan Murphy tied at 71.5.

In Western Reigning, Auburn defeated Baylor again, 3-2. Auburn winners included Roper over Amber Mooney, 69-66.5, Lyndsey Jordan over Olivia Rogers, 67.5-0, and Kim Pope over Tomko, 67-64.5. Baylor winners included MVP Madelyn Mooney over Kelsey George, 71.5-66, and Katie Buss over Paige Monfore 68-66.

Auburn returns to action this Saturday against conference rival and first-ranked Georgia at 10 a.m. at the Auburn Equestrian Center.