The Auburn Men's and Women's Track and Field teams racked up experience for the SEC Outdoor Championships and three second-place finishes at the Penn Relays in Philadelphia last Saturday.
Sophomore Marcus Rowland, whose 10.03 time in the 100-meter dash ranks as the best in the country for juniors, finished second in the event at 10.36 seconds.
"It was definitely a great experience for me to be able to run in the Penn Relays," Rowland said. "I'm glad I ran the race and had the experience. I think we did real good considering that we had a lot of injuries on the guy's side. I wish I could have run better, but I'll take the experience."
The Tigers opened with three relays Thursday, as the women's 4x100 relay team finished eighth to qualify for the finals.
The team included sophomore CeCe Williams and juniors Cache Armbrister, Latoya Parkinson and Joanna Atkins.
Meanwhile, senior Stephanie Barnes, freshman Kai Selvon, senior Laurel Pritchard and junior Holly Knight qualified for the finals of the women's distance medley relay, finishing 10th.
"This was our last competition before the conference championships," said coach Ralph Spry. "It was kind of a measuring stick for us, so I want to make sure we end on a good note with everybody looking sharp and feeling good. This time of year we're just really working on being technical and peaking, so I feel pretty good about what I saw and the level we committed to competing."
Day two of competition saw the women's 4x100 relay team, consisting of Atkins, senior Shaquela Williams, junior Shanequa Ferguson and sophomore Nivea Smith, take fourth in the Championship of America final. Atkins, Armbrister, Smith, Ferguson and later competed in the 4x200 relay, posting a time of 1:32.31 that ranks second in Auburn history.
"We've got a lot of balance on the women's team," Spry said. "We're going to have a team that'll be in the hunt for sure. We're pretty strong in the sprints, jumps and distance, so I feel like if we can line up a full team healthy, which I suspect we can do, I think we'll have a good shot to challenge for the SEC Championship."
Rowland's 100-meter qualifying time of 10.25 seconds was the fastest in the field and, moving into the final day, he was projected as the favorite.
However, a slow start and a headwind produced a second-place finish at a below average time for Rowland at 10.36 seconds.
"In front of 60,000 people, it was a great experience," Rowland said. "I didn't run the race like I should have. I didn't have a good start."
Another second-place finish came from the 4xmile Championship of America final, due in large to senior Felix Fiboiywo, the NCAA leader in the 1500 meters.
Meanwhile, the final second-place finish came from the women's 4x200 relay team, consisting of Atkins, Ferguson, Smith and Armbrister.
Auburn now begins the two-weekend rest before the SEC Championships, which will be May 13-16 in Knoxville, Tenn.
"I feel really good about the two and a half weeks when we'll go to SEC," Spry said. "Marcus Rowland was a big one. He's probably our top gun in individual events. We didn't win any championships, but all in all I feel pretty good about what we did."
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