DES MOINES, Iowa – The No. 13 Auburn women’s and No. 22 men’s track and field teams have 13 athletes (eight women and five men) in Des Moines, Iowa, for the NCAA Outdoor Championships from Wednesday through Saturday. The Tigers, including one relay team, have combined for 16 qualifications in 11 events.

Of Auburn’s 16 marks, six of them are ranked in the top eight after the NCAA preliminary rounds in their respective events, which would earn the Tigers All-America honors and team points.

Stephen Saenz enters the meet as the second seed in the shot put after posting a personal record of 19.82m (65-0.25) in the NCAA East Preliminary Round. Joanna Atkins and Nivea Smith share the next highest ranking entering the meet with the nation’s third-best times in the 400 meters and 200 meters, respectively. The women’s 4x400-meter relay earned a fifth seed after the preliminary round. Maya Pressley is tied for sixth in the women’s high jump, while teammate DJ Smith is in the eighth spot for the men’s high jump.

The men’s team has finished in the top 10 in seven of the last 12 years, and the women have finished in the top 25 for 10 straight years. 

The Tigers have won 35 individual national championships over the years at the NCAA Championships, including 24 titles by men and 10 by women. Auburn has had at least one champion from its men’s or women’s team for 12 straight years, including seven in the last five seasons. Atkins is the lone member of this year’s team to have won an outdoor national title, winning the women’s 400 meters in 2009. Sheniqua Ferguson owns an indoor title from 2010 in the 200 meters.

Eight different Tigers have won at least two outdoor national titles for Auburn, while Harvey Glance (1976 100m and 200m, 1977 100m) is the lone three-time individual outdoor champion from Auburn.