Special to the News

03/13 at 11:43 PM

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The Auburn men’s and women’s track and field teams took just three athletes apiece to the NCAA Indoor Championships, but thanks to a strong showing by that group that saw all six earn All-America honors, the women finished the meet in sixth place, while the men tied for 12th.

Sophomore Marcus Rowland and junior Sheniqua Ferguson each earned their second All-American honors of the meet by finishing third and fourth, respectively in the men’s and women’s 60 meters, while junior Joanna Atkins (women’s 400 meters ) and sophomore Ryan Fleck (men’s high jump) also earned fourth-place finishes on Saturday.

Ferguson won the national title in the 200 meters on Friday night.

The sixth-place finish by the women’s squad marked the second-best finish in school history at the NCAA Indoor Championships, behind only the 2007 squad that finished fifth. The men recorded their best finish at the NCAA indoor meet since the 2007 men also took fifth.

In 13 years with Ralph Spry as head coach, the Tigers have now had nine top-10 team finishes at the NCAA Indoor Championships, while crowning 12 individual national champions and earning 98 All-American honors.

“Coming into the weekend our goal was to leave with six All-Americans, and we accomplished that goal,” said Spry. “I’m really pleased with how we finished the indoor season, and I can’t say enough about the athletes that we brought to the meet. We just didn’t have enough qualifiers to really compete, but that will keep us hungry as we go to the outdoor season.”

Rowland earned his fifth career All-America honor by taking third in the 60 meters in 6.61 seconds. Rowland had clocked the field’s second-fastest time in Friday’s prelims of 6.58, but just missed matching that performance. Still, his third-place finish marked the highest by an Auburn men’s sprinter in the 60 meters since Marc Burns placed third in 2004.

Ferguson finished fourth in the 60 meters with a time of 7.23 seconds, missing her personal best by just .01 seconds. She became just the third Auburn woman to earn All-American honors in both short sprints at the NCAA indoor meet, joining Juliet Campell (1992, 1993) and Kerron Stewart (2006, 2007).

Atkins finished fourth in the women’s 400 meters, clocking a time of 52.43 seconds, breaking her own indoor school record that she set during Friday’s prelims. Atkins, who entered the competition ranked fifth in the field, had set the school record with a time of 52.47 seconds in the prelims. She earned All-American honors in the 400 meters for the third time in her career.

Fleck finished fourth in the men’s high jump, equaling his indoor personal best with a mark of 2.22 meters (7-3.25). Fleck, who earned his second career All-American honor, was one of just two jumpers who were perfect through the first four heights, but missed all three attempts at 2.25 meters (7-4.5) to drop out of the competition.

Oregon won the women’s team title with 61 points, followed by Tennessee (36), LSU (35), Florida (33), Texas A&M (31) and Auburn (28). Florida won the men’s title with 57 points, while Auburn tied with Florida State for 12th place with 16 points.

“We’re typically a better outdoor team than indoor, and this gives us a lot of momentum going into the outdoor season,” said Spry. “I’m really excited to come out of this meet with a national champion and six All-Americans, and am looking forward to getting the outdoor season started.”

The Tigers will take next weekend off before beginning their outdoor season March 26-27 at the Yellow Jacket Invitational hosted by Georgia Tech.

Women’s golf in tie for 1st
NEW ORLEANS — Junior Cydney Clanton carded a 1-under 71 in Saturday’s second round of the Tiger/Wave Classic, leading the No. 3 Auburn women’s golf team to a share of the lead with co-host LSU heading into Sunday’s final round. The Tigers opened the day 12 shots off the lead, but carded the low round of the day to tie for the top spot.

Clanton heads into the final round with a share of the individual lead as well, coupling her 1-under 71 with her first-round 73 to finish the day at even-par 144. She shares the individual lead with LSU’s Megan McChrystal. Clanton climbed into the lead by tying for low round of the day with Texas Christian’s Rachel Raastad.

Hosted by LSU and Tulane, the Tiger/Wave Classic is a 54-hole tournament being played at the par-72, 6,132-yard English Turn Golf & Country Club, the former home of the PGA Tour’s Zurich Classic of New Orleans. The three-day tournament features 23 teams from around the country, nine of which are ranked in the GolfWorld top 25.

Auburn carded an 8-over 296 in the second round, the low round of the day by two strokes. Texas Christian followed with a 10-over 298 while co-leader LSU came in with the third-lowest round at 19-over 307.

For the second day in a row, teams dealt with heavy winds coming in off the river at English Turn.

“There were tremendous winds today with 20-30 mile per hour gusts,” said Auburn head coach Kim Evans. “We played really well today in that weather, we really did. I don’t know what it was, but we were able to put together a good round today when some other teams were not.”

The Tigers came in nine strokes lower than their first round score on a day in which 21 of the other 22 teams in the field posted a higher score.

“We were not exactly happy with (Friday), but we just took it as we were trying too hard and we were beating ourselves,” said Evans. “We came out and went at it again (Saturday). Cydney had a really good round and played so well out in that wind with several birdies.”

Clanton birdied five holes on the day, compared to four bogeys. The Concord, N.C., native was 1-over for the round heading down the final stretch, but carded birdies on two of her final four holes to take a share of the individual lead.

“Haley Wilson stepped up and had a really good round today and got some things going,” said Evans. “Candace Schepperle played really solid today. They did a good job today, they did what they had to do to get back in it to have a chance (today).”

Wilson carded an even-par 72, moving up 50 places from the first round to finish the day in a tie for 10th with a 6-over 150. Schepperle followed her first-round 76 with another 4-over 76 in the second round, finishing the day in a tie for 16th at 8-over 152.

Also scoring for Auburn was freshman Carlie Yadloczky with a 5-over 77. She improved four strokes from her first-round 81 to finish the round in a tie for 50th at 14-over 158. Rounding out the Auburn lineup was sophomore Patricia Sanz with a 10-over 82, giving her a tie for 65th with a 16-over 160.

Competing as an individual at the tournament is sophomore Madison Overbey. She improved three strokes for a 7-over 79, moving up 30 spots to a tie for 74th with a 17-over 161.

In the team race, TCU is in third place with a 27-over 603, two strokes behind leaders Auburn and LSU. First-round leader Alabama is in fourth with a 31-over 607 while Virginia rounds out the top five with a 35-over 611.

Individually, Virginia’s Calle Nielson and LSU’s Tessa Teachman are in a tie for third with a 1-over 145s, one stroke behind Clanton and McChrystal. Alabama’s Camilla Lennarth rounds out the top five with a 3-over 147.

“Our goal in every tournament is to play in the last group every day,” said Evans. “I am proud of them, it is hard to make up ground like that in the conditions we played in. We are happy and I am proud, but we are going to get some rest and go out to work (today).”

Today’s final round is an 8:30 a.m. shotgun start. Auburn will play in the leader group off the No. 1 tee.

Diving through Day 2 at NCAA Zone
ATLANTA — The second day of diving competition concluded Saturday at the 2010 NCAA Zone B Championships at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center.

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.

Competing on the three-meter springboard were sophomores Anna Aguero, Vennie Dantin and Mary Catherine Cochran. Dantin had the best finish for the Tigers, coming in eighth with a score of 590.20. Aguero was 13th overall (572.95), while Cochran competed in the preliminaries and finished 30th (207.90).

“The women were a little off (Saturday),” head diving coach Jeff Shaffer said. “Both Anna and Vennie missed a couple of dives and will now have to really perform on the platform (today). They both have chances to qualify so (today) will be a big day for them.”

A pair of men represented Auburn on the one-meter in senior Kelly Marx and freshman Thad Ellis. Marx, who qualified for the NCAA meet Friday, finished third in the event with a score of 727.95. Ellis came in eighth with 634.10 points.

“Thad did a good job (Saturday),” Shaffer said. “I was really pleased with how he performed his second list and he has a lot to build on for (today) and next season.”

The NCAA Zone B meet concludes today with the men and women’s platform event. Live results can be found at http://www.divemeets.com.

Gymnastics falls to Ohio State
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Participating in its first co-ed meet since the 2007 season, the No. 17 Auburn gymnastics team was defeated 195.525-194.725 by the No. 33 Ohio State Buckeyes on Saturday afternoon at Ohio State’s St. John’s Arena. Sophomore Allyson Sandusky took home a pair of titles on bars and beam, while senior Krissy Voss set a pair of season highs, but it wasn’t enough as Ohio State set season highs on bars, beam, and floor, as well as a season-high 195.525 team score.

“We just underperformed,” said head coach Jeff Thompson. “We’re one of the top 10 teams in the country when we’re right, but we just had mistakes on every event that were uncharacteristic of us. We were still on pace to go over 196, but we just came unglued on beam.”

Auburn began the meet on bars for the first time this year, and were led by Sandusky, who scored a 9.85 for the second consecutive meet and captured the third bar title of her career. Freshman Petrina Yokay chipped in a 9.825, while sophomore Kendall Swartz cracked the 9.8 barrier for the first time since the Kentucky meet. In total, Auburn scored a 48.950 in the first rotation.

Ohio State began on vault with three gymnasts scoring 9.8 or above, as Rebecca Best tallied a 9.85. She was followed by Taylor Jones’ 9.825 and Nicole Krauter’s 9.8. Ohio State totaled a 48.775, giving Auburn a .175 lead heading into the second rotation.

Auburn took to vault in the second rotation, where sophomore Kylie Shields led off with a 9.775. She was followed by a pair of 9.825’s by Voss, a season high, and freshman Maya Wickus. Freshman Toi Garcia then notched a 9.775 in the No. 5 spot to give the Tigers an event score of 48.925.

The Buckeyes, moving to bars in the second rotation, were led by Best’s 9.8. Hillary Dow followed and matched her teammate with a 9.8, while Colleen Dean and Jones scored 9.775’s as Ohio State totaled a 48.900 in the event. The Buckeyes season-high on bars resulted in the Tigers taking a slim 97.875-97.675 lead going into floor exercise. Auburn moved to floor in rotation three and struggled early on. However, a 9.8 by Shields followed by season-high 9.825 by Voss helped give the Tigers a 48.775 on floor.

Ohio State turned things around in rotation three with its second season-high score of the meet, this time with a 49.000 on beam. The Buckeyes were led by career highs as Dean scored a 9.875 and Best who tallied a 9.85, which was enough for the Buckeyes to take their first lead of the day, 146.675-146.650, heading into rotation four. Auburn began the fourth rotation by having to count a pair of falls on beam, as Brzostowski led off with a 9.225, followed by a 9.175 by junior Katie Hurley.  Auburn finished the apparatus strong, as Sandusky marked a 9.875, followed by Inniss’ second 9.9 of the season.

The Buckeyes sealed the meet on floor, scoring a season-best 48.850. Dean scored a 9.825, while Jones scored a 9.85 to give Ohio State an event score of 48.850 and secure their second straight victory over the Tigers.

The men’s meet, running simultaneously with the women, featured the No. 2 Oklahoma Sooners and the No. 5 Buckeyes, a meet that Oklahoma won.

Auburn continues its road swing next week, as the team travels to College Park, Md., for a quad-meet hosted by the Maryland Terrapins at 3 p.m. Also participating in the meet are the George Washington Colonials as well as the Yale Bulldogs.

Fresno State tops Tigers equestrian
FRESNO, Calif. — The No. 2 Auburn equestrian team fell 8-7 to No. 10 Fresno State on Saturday. The Tigers fell to 11-3 with the loss.

“We had some good rides, but it didn’t turn out in our favor,” said Auburn head coach Greg Williams. “We have a great opportunity to redeem ourselves against Kansas State (today).”

In Hunt Seat Equitation over Fences, Western Horsemanship and Western Reining, the Tigers and Bulldogs tied at 2-2. Fresno State defeated Auburn 2-1 in Hunt Seat Equitation on the Flat.

In Hunt Seat Equitation over Fences, the Tigers and Bulldogs tied at 2-2. Auburn’s Maggie McAlary defeated Chelsea Stone 78-45 and Ali Loprete defeated Jessica Kissell 70-58. Fresno State’s Holly Elsbernd defeated Dottie Grubb 71-60 and MVP Lisa Wells defeated Anna Becker 80-79.

In Hunt Seat Equitation on the Flat, the Bulldogs defeated the Tigers 2-1 behind MVP Lauren Carr. Carr defeated Mallory Kolpin 69-63 and Jessica Kissell defeated Lindsay Portela 63-62. Auburn’s Ali Loprete defeated Lisa Beach 66-64 while Fresno State’s Kimberly Steinbuch and Chelsea Anheuser tied at 66.

In Western Horsemanship, Auburn and Fresno State again tied 2-2. Fresno State’s Sammie Jo Stone defeated Kristin Hansen 72.5-72 and MVP Madison Silver defeated Kylie Miller 73-64. Auburn winners included Indy Roper over Ally Warkentin 72-71 and Jessica Jones over Christa Beezley 72-70.

In Western Reining, the Tigers and Bulldogs tied 2-2 for a third time. Fresno State winners included Shawna McClurg over Paige Monfore 68.5-63.5 and Sydney Coletti over Jillian Fuller 70-63. Auburn MVP Lyndsey Jordan defeated Keri Blackledge 72-71 and Kim Pope defeated Jill Tebbe 71-69.

Auburn returns to action today against No. 6 Kansas State in Fresno, Calif., at 11 a.m.