02/15 at 12:02 AM

Six-time Olympic coach Richard Quick and Swim Across America (SAA) hosted the national cancer awareness and fund-raising event, Swim Quick, Saturday on the campus of Auburn University.

SAA is a non-profit organization dedicated to raising funds and awareness for cancer research, prevention and treatment through swimming-related events. Auburn served as one of four major “hubs” for the event.

SAA Executive Director Janel Jorgensen organized the event after learning of Quick’s diagnosis of an inoperable brain tumor in December of 2008. The Olympic silver medalist swam for Quick at the 1988 Seoul Games and collegiately at Stanford.

“It was fantastic,” said Jorgensen. “I think it really meant a lot to Richard.”

“Finding a cure for any disease is important and we are so thankful to all those who helped this event take shape. We really appreciate everyone around the country coming together and donating to this extremely important cause. It’s nice to have the ability to give back in any way you can.”

Swim Quick kicked off at 9 a.m. with an introduction of Coach Quick by John Asmuth. A long-time member of the Auburn swimming & diving family, Asmuth served as an assistant to Quick on his first Auburn team back in 1978.

Coach Quick then addressed the participants lining the deck. The five-time NCAA Coach of the Year thanked the crowd and SAA for their efforts and support.

“I am very appreciative for the number of people that are here and the cause this is all about,” said Quick. “Not for me, but for other people around the world. I really mean that.”

After all the participants completed their dedication swims, Quick joined the Auburn swimming and diving teams on the deck for a speech.

Auburn senior Matt Targett was present.

“We had finished our swim and coach introduced Janel to us,” recalled Targett. “He told us how she swam with so much courage and we should all inspire to do the same in the pool and in life.

“He told us he would be watching us at SECs and we all came together for the fight song. It was a real inspiring moment.”

Swimmers perform well at Missouri
COLUMBIA, Mo. — Current and former Tigers showed up big at the first two days of the 2009 Missouri Grand Prix. Former Auburn Olympians Eric Shanteau and Fred Bousquet earned a pair of gold medals while incoming freshman Adam Brown posted two top-5 finishes.

Shanteau kick-started his Grand Prix by besting the field in the 100m breast 1:01.93) by nearly a second. The 11-time NCAA All-American nearly pulled off another win, finishing second in the 200m IM with a time of 2:00.88.

Bousquet posted a 21.59 in the 50m free coming out of lane one. The Frenchman’s mark was just three-tenths of a second shy of the world long-course record and a tenth off the American record.

Auburn co-head men’s coach Brett Hawke is in Columbia with the Tigers.

“It was a real surprise to see that time pop up in the final,” said Hawke. “Fred didn’t swim well in the prelim and qualified in lane one. He came out in the final and just tore the field apart. He came in a full body length ahead of everybody.”

Auburn graduate assistant and NCAA Champion Bryan Lundquist finished third in the 50m free. His time of 22.28 was a tenth of a second off his best time. Lundquist also advanced to the finals in the 100m fly, finishing seventh with a 55.57.

“It’s the first competition in 2009 for us to race against the top talent in the United States,” said Lundquist. “There’s top international competition here, as well. We’re excited to be up here racing the long course.“

Brown almost hit a new 50m free top-time of his own, clocking in at 22.45 to take fourth. The 2008 Olympian did find a new top-time in the 100 fly, touching in at 54.94.

Freshman Chris Fox made his way to two finals throughout the first two days of competition. The Wolverhampton, England native finished fifth in the 100m breast (1:03.49) and eighth in the 50m free (23.23).

Action at the Missouri Grand Prix continues through Monday. Official times are available at http://www.csctigersharks.org/realtime.

Track picks up more wins at Arkansas
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The Auburn men’s and women’s track and field team completed a stellar meet at the Tyson Invitational, hosted by the University of Arkansas, winning four more events and recording one automatic and five provisional NCAA qualifying marks Saturday.

Freshman Marcus Rowland won his second event of the meet, taking the men’s 200-meter title, while senior Raeven Harris won the high jump, sophomore Amber Riley won the 3,000 meters and the women’s 4x400-meter relay team was victorious.

“We had a good meet, and everybody was pretty solid,” said head coach Ralph Spry. “We’ve now got most of our key people qualified for the NCAA Championships, although there are a few more we want to get. This is a big-time meet with big-time competition, and we performed well. Hopefully we can carry this momentum into the SEC Championships. We’ve got a young group but they are showing they can compete at this level.”

Rowland remained undefeated in individual events this year, racing to a time of 20.92 to win the 200 crown. His time ranks fourth best in the NCAA this year and was just .01 seconds away from the second-best mark in Auburn indoor history. He won the 60 meters on Friday. Sophomore Michael DeHaven was 14th in the 200 with a time of 21.54.

Harris also remained undefeated this season in the high jump, winning for the fourth time in four competitions with a leap of 1.87 meters (6-1.5), which is an automatic NCAA qualifying mark, although it did not quite match her school-record jump of 6-2.25, which ranks third in the NCAA.

Riley won the women’s 3,000 meter championship event with a time of 9:40.80, just missing her season best. Junior Sabrina Fischer was seventh in 10:00.47.

The women’s 4x400-meter relay team, which is ranked second in the nation, won with a time of 3:37.75, missing their season-best mark by less than four tenths of a second. Freshman CeCe Williams led off, followed by sophomore Joanna Atkins, junior Danielle Gilchrist and sophomore Cache Armbrister.

Junior Elkanah Kibet finished second in the men’s championship 3,000 meters, but first among collegiate competitors, with a time of 8:00.97. His NCAA provisional mark ranks 10th best in the NCAA this year and improved him to fourth in school indoor history. Junior Felix Kiboiywo was fifth in 8:05.59, which ranks eighth in Auburn history but just missed the NCAA provisional mark.

Armbrister clocked an NCAA provisional time in the women’s 200 meters, finishing sixth in 23.79 seconds, while CeCe Williams was 10th in 24.10. Freshman Nivea Smith posted what would have been the winning time of 23.49 seconds, but was disqualified for a lane violation.

Freshman Ryan Fleck was Auburn’s final provisional qualifier, tying for sixth in the high jump with a mark of 2.14 meters (7-0.25). His mark ranks him tied for sixth in Auburn indoor history.

In the men’s championships 5,000 meters, junior Scott Novack was third with a time of 14:15.16, and junior Jean-Pierre Weerts finished sixth in 14:42.54.

The men’s 4x400-meter relay team of sophomore Bernard Spivey, sophomore Michael DeHaven, redshirt freshman Nick Green and Rowland was sixth in 3:13.03, and Gilchrist placed eighth in the 60-meter consolation finals in 8.60 seconds.

In non-championship finals, sophomore Erika Akins was fifth in the triple jump (39-3), sophomore Allison Smith was eighth in the women’s 3,000 meters (10:24.34) and freshman Jeff Sanders placed 14th in the men’s 3,000 meters (8:33.86).

The Tigers will take next weekend off before competing at the SEC Indoor Championships on Feb. 27-March 1 in Lexington, Ky.

Softball wins another in Tiger Invite
Freshman catcher Elizabeth Eisterhold’s first home run of the season came in the bottom of the eighth inning with two aboard and lifted the Auburn softball team to a come-from-behind, 5-3 victory over Western Kentucky in the second day of the Tiger Invitational.

Auburn improved to 9-1 with the win, while Western Kentucky dropped to 4-2. The Tigers return to action in the last game of the Tiger Invitational, playing Morehead State at 2 p.m. today.

“This was a great win for our team,” Auburn head coach Tina Deese said. “We made things tough on ourselves, but we kept battling and came through in the clutch. I’m really proud of the way came back twice from deficits.”

Anna Thompson earned the win in relief to move to 3-1 on the season. Thompson threw four innings, allowing two runs, one earned, on three hits with five strikeouts and one walk. Jenee Loree started and went four innings, allowing one run, earned, on four hits with two strikeouts and one walk.

Ryan Rogge took the loss to fall to 2-1. Rogge threw 7 1/3 innings, giving up five runs, four earned, on nine hits with three walks and two strikeouts.

Morgan Murphy put the Tigers on the scoreboard in the bottom of the third inning with solo home run to left. It was the second home run of the season for Murphy and gave the Tigers a 1-0 lead.

Western Kentucky put up a pair of runs in the fifth inning to take a 2-1 lead. Brooke Reed opened the inning with a single, which chased Loree from the game. Thompson entered and gave up a double to Lindsay Antone which scored Reed and tied the game at 1-1. With one out, Terri Ellingsworth singled to left to score Antone and give the Hilltoppers a 2-1 advantage.

The Tigers rallied in the bottom of the sixth, tying the game on Lauren Guzman’s sac fly to center. Kyndall White got the rally started with a one-out double to center. After stealing third, White came in to score on Guzman’s sacrifice fly to center.

With the tiebreaker rule in effect in the top of the eighth inning, Western Kentucky took advantage of a pair of Auburn errors to push across the go-ahead run. With Kelsey McCauley at second, Shannon Smith hit a ground ball that White booted at short, putting runners at first and second. On a bunt by Rachelle Boucher, Thompson fielded clean but threw wild to first allowing McCauley to score from second and give WKU a 3-2 lead.

In the bottom of the eighth, with one out and Katie Colton at second and White at first, Eisterhold cranked her first home run of the season over the wall in centerfield to give the Tigers a victory.