Special to the News

02/28 at 01:07 AM

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — With two out of three days of the Southeastern Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships in the books, the Auburn women’s team has put itself in a position to finish among the league’s top squads today.

Auburn is currently in a deceiving 11th place with 3 points, but only five of 17 events have been completed, and all of the Tigers’ strongest events will conclude today.

Auburn, ranked No. 9 in the national rankings, has multiple finalists in every sprint and hurdle competition, and had the top time in three of the preliminary-round competitions in those events on Saturday.

Meanwhile, the men’s team currently stands in sixth place, also with just five of 17 events completed. The No. 16 Tigers were bolstered by a pair of top-three finishes among the five finals today to help the team accumulate 17 points, and put two sprinters in the finals of both the 60 and 200 meters.

“When you get into competition here it just reminds you of how tough of a league this really is,” said head coach Ralph Spry. “I’m really pleased with our effort today. I thought we had about as good of a day as we could have had on both sides, except for an injury to Hollie Knight in the women’s 3,000. We hope she’ll be okay for tomorrow, and that set us back a little bit, but there are always ups and downs in a meet like this. We just have to come back and reload, and take advantage of things where we can.”

Auburn’s top finisher in Saturday’s finals was sophomore Ryan Fleck, who tied for second in a tough men’s high jump competition that featured three jumpers clearing heights that rank among the top five in the NCAA this year. Fleck’s final clearance of 2.22 meters (7-3.25) was an indoor personal best and improves his second-best mark in school history.
In the men’s 3,000 meters, senior Felix Kiboiywo placed third with a personal indoor best of 8:04.48 that ranks ninth in school history and is also an NCAA provisional qualifying time. Sophomore Ben Cheruiyot finished seventh in 8:13.95 to give the Tigers two more points.

In the men’s heptathlon, senior Jager Livingston completed two days of grueling competition by finishing seventh with 4,887 points. Livingston moved up from 10th at the start of the day by finishing in the top five of all three events on Saturday.

Most of Saturday’s action involved preliminary rounds, and the Auburn women excelled in those races. The Tigers had three qualifiers in the 200 meters, including the two fastest times in the prelims. Junior Sheniqua Ferguson clocked an indoor best of 23.35 for the fastest time in the field, and her mark ranks fourth best in school history and fifth in the NCAA this year. Right behind was sophomore Nivea Smith, who improved her personal best by .01 seconds with a time of 23.43.

Sophomore Cache Armbrister rounded out the trio, clocking a personal best of 23.77 which ranks seventh in the field and ninth in school history.

Auburn also advanced three women to the finals of the 60-meter hurdles. Senior Danielle Gilchrist had the second-best time in the prelims of 8.35 seconds, junior Krystal Bodie was fourth in 8.38 seconds and senior Amelia Anderson grabbed the eighth and final spot in the finals after clocking a time of 8.53 seconds.

In the women’s 60-meter prelims, Auburn had two qualifiers, including the top performer. Ferguson won her heat with the top time in the field of 7.30, but the top eight were all separated by just .09 seconds.

Junior Joanna Atkins was the eighth and final qualifier, finishing second in her heat with a time of 7.39.

Atkins was the top prelims performer in the women’s 400 meters, clocking a season-best time of 52.77 seconds that ranks third in the NCAA. In addition, sophomore CeCe Williams advanced to the finals, finishing eighth in the prelims in a personal-best time of 54.19 seconds that moves her up to fourth place in Auburn indoor history.

In the men’s preliminaries, Auburn had a pair of qualifiers in the 60 meters, and once again had the top time in the field. Sophomore Marcus Rowland had a personal-best time of 6.60 seconds to lead the field, while also becoming just the third sprinter in the country this year to post an automatic qualifying time for the NCAA Championships. He edged his personal best by .01 seconds to move into sole possession of the second-best mark in school history. In addition, redshirt freshman Harry Adams finished fifth overall in the prelims with a personal best of 6.66, also improving his previous best by .01 seconds.

Rowland also clocked an NCAA automatic qualifying time in the 200 meters, posting a personal-best time of 20.76 seconds, improving his second-best mark in school history. His time also ranks fourth best in the NCAA this year. He will be joined the finals by junior Michael DeHaven, who provisionally qualified for the NCAA Championships with a season-best time of 21.09 that ranked seventh in the prelims.

The Tigers suffered one blow on Saturday, though, when Knight was forced to drop out of the women’s 3,000 meters. Knight, a junior who was ranked fourth in the field, was in fifth place and climbing with less than 800 meters remaining when she was forced to drop out.

Auburn just missed out on one other potential finalist in the women’s 800 meters, as junior Amber Riley missed earning one of the nine spots in the final by one spot, finishing 10th in 2:13.18.

“There’s a lot of track and field left tomorrow, and we’re still in the hunt,” said Spry. “We just have to bounce back tomorrow and do what we’re capable of doing, and I think we’ll be pleased with the outcome.”

The final day of the SEC Indoor Championships will take place today beginning at 10 a.m. with the women’s weight throw. Running events begin at 12:35 p.m.

Softball splits on 2nd day at NFCA
COLUMBUS, Ga. —  Southern Illinois relief pitcher Alex Peters held the Tigers scoreless, including holding off a scoring threat in the seventh inning as the Salukis defeated the Auburn softball team, 1-0, Saturday evening at the NFCA Leadoff Classic.

Auburn dropped to 8-6 with the loss. Southern Illinois moved to 10-4 with the win. The Tigers will close their stay at the NFCA Leadoff Classic with an 11:30 a.m. game against N.C. State today.

For SIU, Peters entered the game after starter Brittney Lang recorded one out and was pulled from the game. Peters went 6 2/3 innings, scattering six hits, walking one and striking out two. Peters improved to 4-1 on the season.

Angel Bunner took the loss for Auburn to fall to 3-1 on the season. Bunner went just one-third of an inning and allowed one run, earned, on one hit. Bunner relieved starter Jenee Loree. Loree went 4 2/3 scoreless innings. Loree struck out a career-best nine hitters, while issuing just one walk, and scattering four hits.

Bunner threw a four-hit shutout and Amber Harrison delivered a two-run home run as the Tigers defeated Virginia Tech, 2-0, in their first game Saturday..

Bunner got the win after going five innings without allowing a walk and scattering four hits. Bunner fanned two and hit one batter in notching her third win of the season.

Anna Thompson earned her second save of the season and the 11th of her career, which moved her into a tie for first place in the Auburn career saves list. Thompson is tied with Holly Currie (2004-07) and Kristen Keyes (2002-04) with 11 saves. Thompson went the final two innings, did not allow a batter to reach base and fanned four of six batters faced.

Jasmin Harrell took the loss to go to 3-2 on the season. Harrell went the distance, going seven innings, allowing two runs, both earned, on eight hits with no walks and no strikeouts.

Men’s tennis travels to Tulsa
The No. 35 Auburn men’s tennis team travels to Tulsa, Okla., today to face the No. 33 Tulsa Golden Hurricane in a noon match at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center.

“Tulsa is a team that we’ve had really good matches against in the past,” head coach Eric Shore said. “They are a very competitive team and we’re going to have to play extremely well.”

The Tigers (3-3) hold a 7-3 series mark against the Golden Hurricane. Tulsa came away with a 4-3 victory last year against Auburn in the NCAA Regional Tournament in Athens, Ga.

The Golden Hurricane are led by sophomores Ashley Watling and Rusty Turpin. Watling is ranked No. 32 in singles play and is 12-6 on the year, while Turpin is currently 8-4. Watling and doubles partner Philip Stephens sit at No. 44 in the country with an 11-6 overall mark.

Auburn junior Tim Puetz picked up his first SEC weekly honor of the season, being named men’s tennis Player of the Week, the league office announced Wednesday.

The Usingen, Germany, product stands at 7-0 on the spring season and is 18-4 overall this year at the No. 1 singles spot for the nationally ranked Tigers. His only other SEC honor came on Feb. 19, 2008, when he was named SEC Freshman of the Week.