Special to the News

02/26 at 01:16 AM

Head diving coach Jeff Shaffer was named SEC Male Diving Coach of the Year, while three student-athletes earned SEC honors, the league office announced.

Senior Kelly Marx was named Male Diver of the Year, Thad Ellis earned Male Freshman Diver of the Year and Jordan Anderson was named Co-Scholar Athlete of the Year.

The Auburn men picked up its SEC-record 14th-straight conference title on Saturday, defeating Florida by a mere 19 points (784-765).

The honor marks the fifth time Shaffer has been named SEC Coach of the Year, having earned the award four times as the men’s coach and one as the coach of the LSU women’s team. He previously won the award in 2008 after he led Marx to a title on the one-meter springboard and Dan Mazzaferro to the win on the platform. In all, his divers at Auburn have won 14 total SEC titles and nine NCAA titles.

This season, Shaffer guided all four divers to the championship round on all three boards. Marx and Ellis, along with Vennie Dantin and Anna Aguero, qualified for the finals on the one-meter, three-meter and platform. Marx came away with two titles, while Dantin won the three-meter with a school-record score of 371.65 and Aguero was second on the one-meter with a record-tying score of 320.20.

“It’s very seldom when you can go to a competition and have all athletes step up and compete,” Shaffer said.  “I couldn’t be more proud of their performances this week. They represented Auburn and themselves greatly and hopefully the meet gave us the confidence that will give us great results in the next stage of the season.”

Marx won the one-meter and platform titles at the SEC Championships and aided the team in recording its 14th-straight conference title. His score of 400.90 on the one-meter set a new school mark, a record he had broken earlier in the season. Marx’s total of 446.60 points on the platform was a personal-best for the senior. The SEC Male Diver of the Year honor is Marx’s first of his career, but the second-consecutive for Auburn and the third in the last four years.

To add to his conference honor, Marx was also awarded the Commissioner’s Trophy at the conclusion of the meet as the high male point scorer. He scored 57 total points for the Tigers.

“Going into this meet, I wanted to help lead the entire team and show everyone that diving plays a huge role in the team’s overall success,” Marx said. “I’m so honored to a part of Auburn and to be recognized by the conference. This is my first honor and to get the award my senior year is very special.”

Ellis advanced to the finals on all three boards, coming in fifth on the one-meter and platform and eighth on the three-meter. He set personal-bests on both the one-meter and platform and combined for 39 total points for the team.

“My focus was to score points for the team because I knew it was going to be a tight finish,” Ellis said. “The fact that I could contribute as much as I could as a freshman really meant a lot. Winning the award was great because after a year full of hard work, it is nice to see it all pay off.”

Anderson, a senior captain for the Auburn men, was named Co-Scholar Athlete of the Year. The 2009 Rhodes Scholar posted a 4.0 during the 2009 fall semester and has an overall grade-point average of 3.92.

Anderson is studying biomedical sciences with an emphasis in pre-dentistry. At the conference meet, Anderson was a part of the champion 200 medley relay and reached the championship finals in the 100 fly and 100 back.

In addition, the Tigers had 17 athletes placed on the All-SEC First Team, three to the All-SEC Second Team and five to the SEC All-Freshmen Team.

Auburn will next compete at the NCAA Championships in March. The women’s will compete March 18-20 in West Lafayette, Ind., while the men’s championships will be held in Columbus, Ohio, March 25-27.

Track & field heads to SEC Championships
The Auburn men’s and women’s track and field teams will travel to Fayetteville, Ark., to compete in the 2010 Southeastern Conference Indoor Championships today-Sunday at the Randal Tyson Track Center.

Competition begins today with the women’s pentathlon and first day of the men’s heptathlon. The rest of the athletes will begin competing Saturday and the meet will conclude on Sunday.

The Auburn women enter the meet ranked No. 9 in the nation, while the men are ranked 16th. However, both teams will face stiff competition as the SEC once again has multiple nationally-ranked squads.

In the men’s poll, No. 3 LSU leads the way, followed by No. 4 Florida, No. 6 Arkansas, No. 16 Auburn, No. 21 Alabama, No. 23 Kentucky and No. 25 Georgia. The women’s rankings include No. 3 Florida, No. 4 Tennessee, No. 5 LSU, No. 6 Arkansas and No. 9 Auburn.

“We’ve looked at the meet on paper and our women’s team should be right there in the hunt,” said 13th-year head coach Ralph Spry. “If we perform like we’re capable, we have a shot to challenge for the championship, and I’m excited about that opportunity. We’re not able to line up our men’s team the way I’d like, but we still have some individuals that should do well.”

Auburn is seeking its first SEC indoor team title since the men won four straight from 1977-80, but the Tigers have had a great deal of individual success in recent seasons, winning 35 individual conference titles since 2000. In addition, the Tigers have had three high point scorers at the meet in the last seven years, including Elva Goulbourne (2003 female), Leevan Sands (2004 male) and Kerron Stewart (2006 female).

The best team finishes at the SEC indoor meet thus far under Spry are a runner-up finish by the 2006 women’s team and a third-place showing by the 2004 men’s squad.  This year’s Auburn women’s squad is poised to contend once again.

Junior Sheniqua Ferguson is one of the conference leaders in the sprints, as she shares the national lead in the 60 meters and ranks second in the SEC in the 200 meters. In the 200, she sits right behind sophomore teammate Nivea Smith. Junior Joanna Atkins is the defending SEC indoor champion in the 400 meters, and is also ranked fourth in the 60 meters and sixth in the 200 meters.

The Tigers have a strong set of 60-meter hurdlers, with junior Krystal Bodie sharing the SEC lead in that event, with seniors Danielle Gilchrist and Amelia Anderson ranked third and fourth, respectively. Anderson is also ranked third in the triple jump and fourth in the pentathlon.

Freshman Maya Pressley is third in the high jump, while the distance runners include junior Holly Knight, who is ranked fourth in the 3,000 meters, and senior Laurel Pritchard, who ranks fifth in the 5,000 meters. In addition, the women’s 4x400-meter relay team is ranked third.

While injuries and a lack of depth will hurt the men’s chances in the team race, the Tigers do have a number of top competitors. Sophomore Marcus Rowland is expected to contend in the sprints, entering the meet ranked third in the SEC in both the 60 and 200 meters. Sophomore Harry Adams is ranked sixth in the 60 meters, and junior Michael DeHaven was an All-American at 200 meters last year.

Junior Ben Cheruiyot is ranked second in the 5,000 meters and fifth in the 3,000 meters, while senior Felix Kiboiywo is a former SEC champion in the mile. Sophomore Ryan Fleck is ranked second in the high jump, and senior Jager Livingston is seventh in the heptathlon.
“It’s going to be a war, as always,” said Spry. “Our women in particular have an opportunity to do something special, but both teams should be ready to line up and compete.”

The meet will be broadcast by ESPNU on a tape-delayed basis. It will be shown Thursday, March 11, at 8 p.m. 

Softball in Columbus, Ga., for tourney
The Auburn softball team will play five games in the NFCA Leadoff Classic tournament beginning today, in Columbus, Ga.

The Tigers (7-3) will play Kent State at 10 a.m. and Illinois State at 3 p.m.

Kent State is 0-5 this season, while Illinois State is 5-3.

Auburn will play Virginia Tech at 10 a.m. on Saturday, followed by a 3 p.m. game against Southern Illinois.

Virginia Tech is 4-5 this season, while the Southern Illinois Saluki’s are 7-2.

The Tigers’ last game of the tournament has been moved from a 9 a.m. start to an 11:30 a.m. start. Auburn will play North Carolina State on Sunday to close out the Leadoff Classic. The Wolfpack are 6-4 this season.

Auburn is playing in the NFCA Leadoff Classic for the fifth time. The Tigers first competed in the tournament in 1998 and made return trips in 2006, 2007 and 2008.

The Tigers are a combined 3-6 against their opponents in the tournament, with six of the nine games decided by one run including all three games in the series against Southern Illinois.

McAlary competing in national meet
Auburn sophomore Hunt Seat rider Maggie McAlary will compete in the inaugural Collegiate Equitation Challenge at the FTI Winter Equestrian Festival in Wellington, Fla. today at 6 p.m. in the International Arena.

McAlary was named the Most Valuable Rider at the Varsity Equestrian National Championships last April.

The tournament will be held in the Varsity Equestrian head-to-head format.

Equitation and Sale horses will be on loan from local professionals.

Sixteen riders, 14 from NCAA schools and two from Florida schools, were invited to compete with selections based upon individual national rankings from the Fall 2009 season.

The event will consist of eight head-to-head brackets with single elimination leading to an exciting head to head final. The course will be set at 3’6” with the riders competing on unfamiliar horses.

Riders will have 4 minutes to school, two on the flat and two over fences with a maximum of four warmup jumps. The 16 riders will compete on eight horses with the highest score of each match up proceeding to the next round. Tournament will be single elimination.

Schools participating in the competition include Auburn, Baylor, Delaware State, Florida State, Georgia, Kansas State, Miami, New Mexico State, Oklahoma State, Sacred Heart, South Carolina, South Dakota State, SMU, Texas A&M, TCU and UT-Martin.