Des Moines, Iowa--Members of the Auburn track and field teams, both literally and figuratively, cleared more hurdles on the second day of competition at the NCAA Track and Field Championships.
In the men’s field, number two seed Reuben McCoy, advanced to the finals of the 400-meter hurdles on Thursday. The senior posted a time of 49.12, the fastest of the semi-final round.
AU coach Ralph Spry said, “Reuben looked like a million bucks. He’s running well and looks really confident right now.”
In the women’s 400 hurdles, sophomore Danielle Gilchrist and junior Amelia Anderson also advanced through the semi-finals. Gilchrist ran a personal record time of 56.84, the fourth best in the round and the third fastest time in AU history. She finished third in her heat as did Anderson, who ran a time of 57.57.
“I was happy with the time, but I was mostly just excited that I did what I had to do to get to the finals,” Gilchrist said. “I’m ready to run the race of my life tomorrow and see how it goes.”
In the men’s 110 hurdles, defending NCAA champ Ty Akins moved to Friday’s semi-finals with a time of 13.68, which was the seventh best of the day. He came into the meet seeded second.
The athlete expected to be Auburn’s top scorer at the nationals qualified with ease in the men’s shot put. Senior Cory Martin needed just one throw to advance into the finals with the best qualifying toss of 63 feet, 11 inches. Martin is also the top qualifier in the hammer.
Cory Martin is shown in competition on Thursday in Des Moines.
“Everything we needed to do, we did,” Spry said. “We got the people through to the finals that we needed in order to be a factor this weekend so now it’s just a matter of getting it done in the finals. We just want to continue to line up and be ready to go. Friday is going to be a really big day for us.”
In the women’s 200 meters, freshman Cache Ambrister advanced through the quarter-finals, but was 11th in the semi-finals and was eliminated with a time of 23.42 running into a headwind. In the men’s shot put, Eric Werskey threw 57 feet, 8 1/2 and didn’t advance to the finals to finish 17th.
The competition at Drake University runs through Saturday. Other Auburn athletes still competing for the Tigers include Jake Dunkleberger in the hammer, Raevan Harris in the women’s high jump, freshman Hollie Knight in the women’s 5000 run and Felix Kiboiywo in the men’s 5,000.
NCAA Track and Field Scoreboard
Game Of My Life Auburn
Premium Subscription Signup
Subscribe to Magazine Only