The Auburn Track & Field team traveled to Fayetteville, Ark., last weekend to compete in the SEC Indoor Championships.
Both No. 16 men's and No. 9 women's teams finished in sixth place, with sophomore Marcus Rowland and junior Sheniqua Ferguson winning individual titles.
Rowland said the team wasn't thrilled with its placing, but knew it will get better in time.
"At first we were all kind of down, but we realized we're a young team," Rowland said. "We have a lot of growing to do."
Auburn head coach Ralph Spry said, in a press release, the team competed well, but didn't catch the breaks it needed. "We tried to fight hard and our kids competed very hard, but we just had some bad breaks and didn't capitalize on some things we should have," Spry said. "But I feel good about the fact that we had a couple of SEC champions."
Rowland won the SEC championship in the 60 meters and finished as runner up in the 200 meters. "I ran my first race in the 60 and I ran a good time with a 6.60 (seconds), which is my PR or my personal best time in the 60," Rowland said.
Rowland said he stayed focused and warm waiting for the finals of the 60m.
He won the finals with a time of 6.62 seconds.
"I didn't have a good start, unfortunately, but I stayed in my lane and kept my focus," Rowland said. "I didn't run a faster time, but I ran in a tough heat and I won."
Rowland said he didn't have the best run in the 200m, but was content with being a sophomore and placing second behind the No. 4 University of Florida's Calvin Smith.
"Unfortunately in the finals, I wasn't in the best lane and didn't have the best start so I didn't have enough time to recuperate from my start," Rowland said. Rowland also competed in the 1600-meter relay with sophomore Spencer Ferguson, redshirt freshman Harry Adams and sophomore Neil Danville. The relay team finished in ninth place. "Overall I had a good meet and learned a lot from it," Rowland said. With the two high finishes, Rowland qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships in Fayetteville March 12-13. "I was real excited, because if you place good at SECs, you'll pretty much place good at NCAAs," Rowland said.
Ferguson won the SEC championship in the 200m and finished as runner up in the 60m.
"It was a good experience," Ferguson said. "I wanted to win the 60 but it didn't happen, so I took that feeling of getting second place into my 200."
Ferguson ran the 200m in a time of 23.14 seconds, making her the fourth fastest woman to run the 200m indoors in Auburn history.
"I just really wanted to win the 200 so I just went out there and gave it my all," Ferguson said.
She ran the 60m in 7.22 seconds, but Lakya Brookins of the University of South Carolina edged Ferguson out by .04 seconds.
"I'm not as happy with the 60 because I knew I could have run faster, but overall, I'm healthy and didn't receive any injuries, so I'm happy," Ferguson said.
Ferguson's times in the 200m and the 60m automatically qualify her for the NCAA Indoor Championships as well.
Spry said he knew this was a rebuilding time for the men's team, but that didn't mean they won't compete at nationals.
"We have two teams that are ranked very high on the national level, so we just have to regroup and finish this indoor season strong," Spry said.
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