The Auburn men's and women's track and field teams competed in the rain at the Sun Angel Classic, hosted by Arizona State, April 11 and 12.
"This is our 12th year coming here, and we typically have good weather and great competition," said head coach Ralph Spry. "We still had great competition, but the weather was challenging. Even so, the outcome was still favorable. We still had a lot of good performances."
The Auburn teams competed against 10 nationally-ranked men's teams and six ranked women's teams. The Tigers received 11 regional qualifying marks, with seven events having first-time qualifiers.
"I think this meet allowed us to get tougher because the weather was not ideal," Spry said. "We accomplished more by posting good marks in poor conditions. It forced us to make the best of the situation, and our kids stepped up and performed well."
Coming in second overall and first among collegiate runners in the 100-meter dash, freshman Marcus Rowland finished with a time of 10.45 seconds.
"I had to do a whole lot more warming up and stretching, and I was a whole lot more focused because of the risks with possibly pulling a muscle," Rowland said. "It definitely wasn't sprinter weather."
Rowland said, considering the bad weather and the headwind sprinters ran against, he felt good about his time.
"Finishing first among collegiate runners and second overall was pretty good, considering the guys that were in the field," Rowland said.
In the men's 200 meters, sophomore Michael DeHaven finished fourth overall and second among collegiate runners with a time of 21.01 seconds. Junior Scott Novack finished sixth in the men's 5,000 meters in 14:24.61.
With a time of 3:50.88, freshman Julian Matthews finished 14th in the B heat of the men's 1,500 meters, and Jeff Sanders, also a freshman, finished eighth in the C and D heats with a time of 3:52.88.
With a personal-best time of 22.89 seconds in the women's 200-meters, sophomore Joanna Atkins finished third overall and second among collegiate runners.
Her time ranks third in Auburn history. Sophomore Cache Armbrister and freshman CeCe Williams also made regional qualifying marks in the women's 200-meters.
Shaquela Williams, CeCe Williams, Armbrister and Atkins finished third in the women's 4x100-meter relay with a time of 44.43.
Junior Danielle Gilchrist finished seventh in the women's 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1:00.24.
Placing sixth in the women's 800 meters, junior Sabrina Fischer, finished in 2:11.62.
Sophomore Amber Riley finished fourth in the women's 3,000-meter steeplechase with a time of 10:39.83.
"I'm happy because I qualified for regionals, but it was kind of a sloppy run, and I know I can do better," Riley said. "But it was a good opening race, and qualifying for regionals is amazing."
Junior Laurel Pritchard finished third at the meet with a time of 16:42.22. Her time ranks sixth in Auburn history for the 5,000 meters.
Placing second, freshman Ryan Fleck jumped 2.10 meters (6-10.75) in the men's high jump.
Senior Raevan Harris tied for second in the women's high jump with a jump of 1.75 meters (5-8.75).
The Tiger Track Classic will be Auburn's final home meet of the season April 17 and 18 at Hutsell-Rosen Track.
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