FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The Auburn men’s and women’s track and field teams had a tough opening day of competition Friday at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships.

The Tigers had five athletes competing Friday, with one reaching a final, but have yet to score.

Ty Akins provided the highlight of the day by reaching the finals of the men’s 60m hurdles, but the NCAA’s No. 2-ranked hurdler was disqualified in the finals for a false start. Akins’ false start was the second of the finals, as his quick start on the first attempt was called back by a false start by LSU’s Ryan Fontenot.

“It (the first false start) really didn’t throw me off,” said Akins. “I reset myself, but the second time, when we were in the set position, I thought the person next to me moved or made a noise and it triggered me to jump out.

“This is hurting me bad because I was in a position to win and I knew I was going to have a good race, but unfortunately it didn’t work out that way.”

Akins advanced to the finals for the first time of his indoor career by clocking a personal-best time of 7.66 in the semifinals, which ranked third-best in the prelims. The time improved his previous career best of 7.68 and keeps him ranked No. 2 in school history.

Unfortunately for the Tigers, Akins’ race in the prelims was the lone bright spot, as none of Auburn’s other four competitors scored or reached the finals.

Sophomore Eric Werskey finished 11th in the men’s shot put, posting a top throw of 17.79m (58-4.5). In the women’s 400m prelims, freshman Joanna Atkins placed 12th with a time of 53.85.  Senior Reuben McCoy finished 15th in the prelims of the men’s 400m in 47.86 seconds.

In the women’s high jump, junior Raevan Harris finished tied for 18th with a top jump of 1.75m (5-8.75).

Competition at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships will conclude today. Jacob Dunkleberger will be Auburn’s lone competitor, participating in the men’s weight throw.

Softball heads to Ole Miss today
The Auburn softball team will travel to Oxford for its first Southeastern Conference road series of the season with a three-game set against the Ole Miss Rebels beginning today.

Auburn (22-4, 2-1 SEC) will play the Rebels (14-9, 0-3 SEC) in a doubleheader at 1 p.m. Then, on Sunday, AU will close the series out with a 1 p.m. game.

“We are looking forward to going on the road in SEC play,” Auburn head coach Tina Deese said.

“Playing in this league is never easy, but it’s especially a challenge when you are playing on the other team’s field.”

The Tigers are coming off a series win against 15th-ranked Mississippi State. Auburn lost the first game of the series 8-3, but rallied to win game two 5-4 in nine innings and then run-ruled the Bulldogs 8-0 in five innings in the finale.

Men’s golf tied for 10th at E-Z-Go Invitational
STATESBORO, Ga. — The No. 11 Auburn men’s golf team carded an 8-over 196 and is tied for 10th after the first round of the Chris Schenkel E-Z-Go Invitational at the par-72, 6,962-yard Forest Heights Country Club in Statesboro, Ga.

Junior Glenn Northcutt (72) is tied for 16th, followed by senior Jay Moseley (73) tied for 23rd, senior Jaime Bowen (75) tied for 49th, senior Patton Kizzire (76) tied for 57th and senior Steven Groover (79) tied for 83rd.

“We didn’t do a lot of things right today,” said head coach Mike Griffin. “Everybody at some point was playing well today but we didn’t get the birdies we needed.”

No. 13 Tennessee (282) finished first round play in the lead, followed by No. 1 Alabama (285). South Carolina’s Mark Anderson, UAB’s Zach Sucher and LSU’s Clayton Rotz are tied for the individual lead with 4-under 68s.

Men’s tennisadvances to semifinals
MONTGOMERY — The 28th-ranked Auburn men’s tennis team (8-5) advanced to the semifinals of the 2008 Blue-Gray Tennis Classic on Friday as the Tigers pulled out a 4-0 win over No. 24 Oklahoma State.

Auburn won the first four singles matches of the meeting with the Sooners, earning the four points needed for the win. In an effort to save time, the remaining matches, including all of the doubles matches, were suspended.

“We showed up to compete from the first ball today, unlike last Sunday at Mississippi State,” said head coach Eric Shore. “We started with singles, but we were ready to play and jumped on them early. We jumped out 3-0 with matches all in straight sets, we were just ready to play today.”

Action in the Auburn vs. Texas Tech match is set to begin at 1:30 p.m. at the Lagoon Park Tennis Center in Montgomery.