May 30, 2009
Complete Results | Photo Gallery
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The Auburn men's and women's track and field teams had eight more automatic qualifying marks for the NCAA Championships during the final day of the NCAA Mideast Regional Championships Saturday. The Tigers finished the two day meet with 15 athletes (nine men, six women), automatically qualified in a total of 12 events for the NCAA meet June 10-13 in Fayetteville, Ark.
The top five finishers in individual events during the regional meet and the top three relays earn automatic spots at the NCAA Championships. Others who finish in the top 12 at the meet must wait until Tuesday to find out if they will earn an at-large spot in the field.
Auburn's men finished the meet in fourth place with 45 points, while the women were fifth with 35.5 points.
"We had a lot of ups and downs but for the most part we got the majority of the people that we thought could qualify for the NCAA Championships into the meet," said head coach Ralph Spry. "We had two big mishaps this weekend - the women's 4x100 relay and Marcus Rowland in the 100 meters - but overall I'm still pleased. Other than those two setbacks, we accomplished our mission. We'll have a lot of people at nationals, and if we perform well there both our men and women can finish in the top 10."
Freshman Marcus Rowland had an up-and-down day. He qualified for the NCAA Championships in the 200 meters and as part of the 4x100-meter relay, but was disqualified from the 100 meters for a false start, making him ineligible for the NCAA Championships in that event even though he entered the meet ranked tied for fourth in the nation.
He bounced back from that disappointment to finish a close second in the 200 meters with a time of 20.49 seconds that ranks him fifth in Auburn history. He was just .03 seconds behind the winner, Gavin Smellie of Western Kentucky.
"I decided to be mature about the situation," said Rowland. "I could have cried or thrown a fit (after the 100 meters), but instead I had to use that anger in the 200. Instead of getting mad about it I put it out of my head. I'm satisfied with my 200 meters but I can go a lot faster."
Rowland also anchored the Auburn men's 4x100-meter relay team that qualified for the NCAA Championships for the first time since 2003, finishing third with a time of 39.51 seconds. Sophomores Stephen Fly and Michael DeHaven and senior Jerod Wims joined Rowland to finish just .01 seconds behind the Tigers' season-best time.
In the women's 200 meters, sophomore Cache Armbrister finished second with a season-best time of 23.22 to advance to the NCAA Championships in that event for the second year in a row. Freshman CeCe Williams missed by one spot, finishing sixth with a season-best time of 23.71 seconds.
Sophomore Joanna Atkins finished third in the 400 meters to secure her spot at the NCAA Championships. Atkins clocked a time of 52.71 seconds, improving slightly on her time from the prelims of 53.09. She finished fourth in the 400 at the NCAA Indoor Championships in March.
Williams, Armbrister and Atkins also combined with sophomore Latoya Parkinson to finish second in the women's 4x400-meter relay with a time of 3:31.79. Their time, which ranks fourth in school history, was better than any other time in the nation entering the meet, but came up just shy of LSU's winning time of 3:31.53.
Junior Felix Kiboiywo advanced to the NCAA Championships in the 1500 meters after finishing fourth in that event on Saturday with a time of 3:49.50. Kiboiywo was pinned against the rail for three laps, but on the final lap, dropped back to last place before moving to the outside and passing one runner after another, moving from 12th place all the way to fourth by the time he reached the finish line. It will be his second trip to the NCAA Outdoor Championships, but first in the 1500 meters.
Junior Danielle Gilchrist qualified for the NCAA meet by placing fifth in the women's 400-meter hurdles. Gilchrist, an All-American in that event in 2008, clocked a time of 58.49 seconds, which was slightly off her SEC title-winning time of 57.83 set two weeks ago.
Senior Raevan Harris had to work overtime to earn her spot in the NCAA Championships field. Harris finished the competition in a four-way tie for third with a jump of 1.74 meters (5-8.5), meaning the four competitors had to have a jump-off to determine the final three automatic qualifying spots. The final spot came down to Harris and Indiana's Ashley Rhoades, with Harris earning the spot by clearing four consecutive bars on her first try, including the final bar at 1.80 meters (5-10.75), to knock Rhoades out of the competition.
DeHaven finished sixth in the men's 200 meters with a time of 20.77 seconds, missing an automatic qualifying spot by one place. However, with a season-best mark of 20.64, which ranked tied for ninth nationally entering the weekend, he is expected to receive an at-large spot in the NCAA field.
DeHaven also led off the men's 4x400-meter relay team that missed an automatic qualifying spot by one place, finishing fourth with a time of 3:06.72. Wims, redshirt freshman Nick Green and Rowland combined to miss a season best by less than four tenths of a second.
Junior Shaquela Williams finished seventh in the women's 100 meters with a time of 11.59, missing out on a spot in the top five by just .03 seconds. Sophomore Zach Clayton was also seventh in his event, with a season-best mark of 57.43 meters (188-5) in the men's discus.
Also for Auburn, junior Scott Novack was 12th in the men's 3000-meter steeplechase with a time of 9:30.50, and sophomore Amber Riley placed 20th in the women's 3000-meter steeplechase in 11:05.67.
In the men's hammer throw, freshman Wesley Wright finished 28th with a throw of 52.93 meters (173-8). Junior Eric Werskey, who qualified Friday in the shot put, had three fouls in the discus and did not place.
Auburn's Automatic NCAA Championships Qualifiers
Men
Michael DeHaven (4x100-meter relay)
Ryan Fleck (High Jump)
Stephen Fly (4x100-meter relay)
Felix Kiboiywo (1500 meters)
Girma Mecheso (10,000 meters)
Marcus Rowland (200 meters, 4x100-meter relay)
Jean-Pierre Weerts (5,000 meters)
Eric Werskey (shot put)
Jerod Wims (4x100-meter relay)
Women
Cache Armbrister (200 meters, 4x400-meter relay)
Joanna Atkins (400 meters, 4x400-meter relay)
Danielle Gilchrist (400-meter hurdles)
Raevan Harris (high jump)
Latoya Parkinson (4x400-meter relay)
CeCe Williams (4x400-meter relay)