The Auburn Track and Field team will compete in its first outdoor meet in two weeks Saturday, heading to the Yellow Jacket Invitational hosted by Georgia Tech. Coach Ralph Spry said some of the team has had even more time off, with only a few athletes competing in the NCAA indoor competition. Auburn showed nicely at the NCAA meet, with all six Tiger competitors earning All-American honors. "The women finished 6th and the men finished 12th, which are a couple of strong finishes for having such a young team," Spry said. "The key now is just to continue to build off that."
Laurel Pritchard, senior distance runner, said the time off between competitive phases gives time to nurse injuries from the indoor season. "It's actually been really great because once we finish our indoor season we have a few weeks to increase our miles a little bit and get in a couple more really strong work outs," Pritchard said. "I think it actually gives us a lot of confidence." The team has 13 meets over the course of indoor and outdoor competitions, with only two of those being at home. Junior sprinter Stephen Fly said traveling so much doesn't affect his team as much as it affects other sports.
"All the big meets like SEC championships and national championships are always away," Fly said. "We've learned to thrive at other people's tracks." Auburn's first outdoor home meet is the Tiger Track Classic April 2-3, following the Yellow Jacket Invitational closely. Spry said the Tigers will be taking it easy at the meet in Atlanta to prepare for the Tiger Track Classic. "We probably won't hit it as hard at Georgia Tech, just because it is going to continue getting more competitive from this point in," Spry said.
Prior to nationals, junior sprinter Sheniqua Ferguson and sophomore sprinter Marcus Rowland were both awarded First Team All-SEC honors, with three other athletes making the second team. Spry said he has strong teams on both the men and women's side and is proud of their showing at this point in the season "We finished out the indoor season well, and if we keep up our training up the way we're going, we should have a very strong outdoor season as well," Spry said.
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