Special to the News

03/12 at 01:34 AM

Six members of the Auburn men’s and women’s track and field teams will participate today and Saturday at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships in Fayetteville, Ark.

Three men and three women will be competing in a total of eight events for the Tigers.

Auburn will be looking to add to the eight top-10 team finishes it has had at the NCAA Indoor Championships under 13th-year head coach Ralph Spry. Tiger athletes have earned 11 individual national championships and 90 All-American honors at the NCAA indoor meet under Spry’s direction.

The Auburn women enter the NCAA Indoor Championships ranked No. 12 nationally in the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association’s top 25 rankings, while the men are ranked No. 17.

“We have a small group going, but a very talented group,” said Spry. “The goal this weekend is for us to leave with all six athletes having earned All-American honors. If we can do that, we’re going to score some pretty good points and we’d have a shot at finishing in the top 10 with both teams. All six athletes that are competing are high on the national list, so I think they all have a good shot at being All-Americans, and if we can do that, we’ll have a pretty solid outcome.”

The Tigers have one of the top sprinters in the field on both the men’s and women’s sides. For the men, sophomore Marcus Rowland enters the competition ranked tied for second in the field in the 60 meters (6.60) and fourth in the 200 meters (20.76). For the women, junior Sheniqua Ferguson enters the meet ranked third in both the 60 (7.22) and the 200 (23.14).

Also for the women, junior Joanna Atkins is fifth in the field in the 400 meters (52.77) and was the 2009 NCAA Outdoor Champion in that event, while sophomore Nivea Smith is ranked sixth in the 200 meters (23.32).

The other two men’s competitors include sophomore Ryan Fleck, who is ranked ninth in the high jump (2.22 meters, 7-3.25) and was the runner-up at the 2009 NCAA Outdoor Championships, and redshirt freshman Harry Adams, who is tied for 11th in the 60 meters (6.65).

Swimming sends 25 to NCAA Championships
A total of twenty-five Auburn swimmers were selected to participate in the 2010 NCAA Women’s and Men’s Championships, the NCAA office announced.

Eight women will represent the Tigers at the women’s championships held March 18-20 in West Lafayette, Ind., while 17 men will compete at the men’s meet March 25-27 in Columbus, Ohio.

Seniors Maggie Bird, Melissa Marik and Ava Ohlgren will lead the women, seeing the trio compete in three events. Joining them will be junior Caitlin Geary, sophomores Micah Lawrence and Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace and freshmen Katie Gardocki and Hannah Riordan.

“This is probably one of the smaller teams we’ve had at Auburn on the women’s side,” head coach Brett Hawke said. “Despite the small number, we’re more excited about the quality of athlete we’re bringing to the national meet. They are highly motivated and the team is going to be more focused on their performance than the final team outcome.”

The men are looking to defend their 2009 national title and will be led by six seniors in Jordan Anderson, Will Dove, Gideon Louw, Tyler McGill, Michael Silva and Pascal Wollach. Joining them are four juniors in Adam Klein, Andrew Mitchell, Kohlton Norys and Jared White and four sophomores in Adam Brown, Christopher Fox, Karl Krug and Max Murphy.

Competing in their first-ever NCAA meet will be freshmen Tony Cox, Stuart Ferguson and Kyle Owens. Also traveling with the team will be senior Kyle Maese, who will serve as an alternate for the Tigers.

“The team is excited to defend their title and feel they have a lot to prove in this meet,” Hawke said. “There is a lot of experience on this team and a handful of exciting freshmen to watch. We have a great ability to score points and we’re anxious to get started.”

Diving heads to NCAA Zone B
Members of the Auburn diving team are set to start the NCAA Championship season as the Tigers travel to Atlanta for the NCAA Zone B Diving Championships at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center, today-Sunday.

There are five Zone meets taking place this weekend across the country, and these meets give divers a chance to qualify for the NCAA Championships. Zone B will qualify eight women and seven men for the national meet.

The women’s NCAA Championships will be March 18-20 in West Lafayette, Ind., and the men will compete in Columbus, Ohio, March 25-27.
A trio of sophomores in Anna Aguero, Vennie Dantin and Mary Catherine Cochran will represent the women, while senior Kelly Marx and freshman Thad Ellis will compete for the men.

“This should be a very exciting meet for our team,” head coach Jeff Shaffer said. “We’re well prepared for it. The team is coming off a great SEC Championships and that will really help our confidence.”

Marx, Ellis, Dantin and Aguero represented Auburn at the 2010 SEC Championships and all four qualified for the finals on all three boards.

Marx concluded his final conference meet strong, capturing titles on the 1-meter and platform and being named SEC Male Diver of the Year. Dantin was SEC champion on the 3-meter springboard and runner-up on the platform, while Aguero was runner-up on 1-meter. Ellis, competing in his first-ever SEC meet, was named SEC Male Freshman Diver of the Year.

Cochran advanced to the Zone meet after recording her first-collegiate zone scores on the 1-meter (284.47) and 3-meter (300.38) during the regular season.

Women’s golf heads to Tiger/Wave
NEW ORLEANS — The No. 3 Auburn women’s golf team will head to New Orleans for Spring Break as the Tigers compete at the 2010 Tiger/Wave Classic.

Play is set to begin with tee times at 8 a.m. today.

The Tiger/Wave Classic is co-hosted by LSU and Tulane and will be played at the par-72, 6,132 yard English Turn Golf & Country Club in New Orleans. English Turn is the former host course of the PGA TOUR’s Zurich Classic of New Orleans.

Coming off of a win at the Auburn Invitational, Auburn head coach Kim Evans noted that the season is just beginning for the team.

“We are glad to get the season underway,” said Evans. “We have not had a real chance to start. We have had three rounds of golf and have not been walking or playing like we should. In a weird way, this is what we have been waiting for so we are just going to take it one step at a time.”

At last year’s LSU Golf Classic, Virginia took the team title by carding an 8-under 856 tournament total. Individually, Lucy Nunn of Arkansas earned medalist honors as she defeated South Carolina’s Benedicte Toumpsin and Virginia’s Calle Nielson in a playoff. Nunn finished the event with a 54-hole total of 7-under-par 209.

This weekend, Evans will be the only member of the Auburn family with experience on the course as the Auburn coach has played and watched rounds at the English Turn Golf & Country Club.

“It seems to always be windy and has some smaller greens,” said Evans. “It is a well-designed course and you have to be pretty accurate with your approach shots. We have never played there as a team, so this will be a first for us.”

The Tigers have seen their share of success at the Classic, however, taking wins in 2002 and 2006. The pair of victories places Auburn in a tie for third for the most wins at this particular event.

The five competing players for the weekend will be Cydney Clanton, Candace Schepperle, Patricia Sanz, Haley Wilson and Carlie Yadloczky.

Sophomore Madison Overbey will also compete as an individual.

Leading the team will be Clanton, who has top-five finishes at each tournament this season along with a team-best stroke average of 70.54.

The Concord, N.C., native has collected a pair of individual victories, taking the top-spot at both the Hooters Collegiate Match Play Qualifying and the NCAA Fall Preview. At the Auburn Invitational, Clanton earned a second-place tie following her even-par 72 round.

Following Clanton will be Sanz, who has seen a successful spring thus far. In the two events played, Sanz has finished within the top-15, including a second-place tie at last weekend’s Auburn Invitational. In her past two tournaments, the Madrid, Spain native has lowered her score with each round played.

Auburn’s three-spot player will be Schepperle, the veteran leader of the squad. Schepperle has logged four top-10 finishes this year, most recently at the Auburn Invitational, where she tied for 10th with a 4-over 76 performance.

Also competing for the team are Yadloczky and Wilson, who tied for 18th and 10th, respectively, at the Auburn Invitational. Yadloczky owns a 74.69 stroke average, while Wilson claims a 75.92 mark.

The Tiger/Wave Classic welcomes a field of 23 teams, including nine of the top-25 teams in the March 9 release of the Golf World/NGCA women’s coaches’ poll.

“It is a great field,” said Evans. “It has some top-heavy SEC teams and some top-heavy ACC teams. It is a good field and an incredible golf course.”

The first and second rounds of the three-day event will begin at 8 a.m. today and Saturday, with tee times off the Nos. 1 and 10 tees. The final round will begin at 8:30 a.m. on Sunday with a shotgun start.

Other teams competing in the 2010 Tiger/Wave Classic are Alabama, Arkansas, College of Charleston, Furman, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisville, LSU, Mississippi State, North Carolina, North Carolina State, North Carolina-Wilmington, Notre Dame, Ole Miss, Purdue, Tennessee, TCU, Tulane, Central Florida, Vanderbilt, Virginia and Wake Forest.

Auburn’s tee times will run from 8:50-9:30 a.m., today. The Tigers are paired with Georgia, Tennessee and Wake Forest in the first round.

Hobbs on Community Service team
BIRMINGHAM — Auburn junior Reneisha Hobbs has been named to the 2010 Southeastern Conference Women’s Basketball Community Service Team, the league announced last week at the SEC Tournament.

This marks the 12th year for the SEC Community Service Team for women’s basketball as well as for men’s basketball. All 20 league-sponsored sports have had a Community Service Team since 2004, with at-large teams for men’s and women’s sports being chosen from 1999-2003. The SEC began this concept with a football Community Service Team in 1994.

Hobbs has been involved with several community service projects during her time at Auburn. Along with volunteering at the East Alabama Food Bank and area schools, she has also volunteered at Camp Mountain Top at Lakeview Baptist Church, a summer day camp for handicapped children.

She also helped set up and run the Storybook Farms Kentucky Derby, a fundraiser for the farm’s work with disabled children.

Hobbs, a Huntsville native, missed the 2009-10 season after suffering an injury during preseason practice. She has played in 58 games as a Tiger, averaging 2.6 points and 1.4 rebounds per game.

Men’s tennis faces Florida, South Carolina
The No. 68 Auburn men’s tennis team takes to the road for a pair of SEC matches today and Sunday.

The Tigers travel to Gainesville, Fla., today to face the No. 7 Florida Gators at 2 p.m. and then head to Columbia, S.C., for a noon match against No. 50 South Carolina.

“We’re trying to build and get better each and every match we play,” head coach Eric Shore said. “Friday is a big challenge for us in Gainesville and we hope to take what happens there to compete even stronger on Sunday against South Carolina.

“We’ve had some very tough matches over the last couple weeks and I think we’re heading in the right direction. Our team has had some major challenges and they are constantly learning from them.”
Florida holds a 30-14 series record over the Tigers (3-6, 0-2 SEC).

Auburn took last season’s regular season match, topping the Gators, 4-3, at the City of Auburn/Auburn University Yarbrough Tennis Center on April 12.

The Tigers are 15-10 all-time against the Gamecocks and won last year’s match at home by a score of 6-1.