Nineteen athletes from Auburn men's and women's track and field teams competed in the NCAA East Region Preliminary Round Competition May 26-28 in Bloomington, Ind.
The Tigers earned 16 qualifying marks for the NCAA Outdoor Championships, which will be held June 8-11 in Des Moines, Iowa.
"I'm really, really pleased with our efforts," head coach Ralph Spry said. "We really had a great meet on both sides. I think that everybody that was supposed to get through and advance to the NCAA Championships did that."
The team still has room for improvement after a mishap in the women's 4x100-meter relay led to a disqualification.
"That's going to really hurt us because I think our women's team could have a top five finish. We will have to overcome that and find a way to make those points up. We had a lot of freshmen really step it up this weekend like the throwers and the sprinters."
Five athletes from the men's team qualified for six events, and seven athletes and a relay from the No. 12 women's team qualified for nine events.
Athletes and relay teams who finished in the top 12 during the preliminary round competition secured a spot at the Championships.
"I think we are performing well at the right time, and now it's just a matter of staying sharp for the next couple of weeks before we head out to Des Moines." Spry said. "It should be a good competition for us."
Clocking in at 23.22 seconds, Sheniqua Ferguson led Auburn in the women's 200-meter dash.
Three of the 12 athletes who qualified for the women's 200-meter dash ran for Auburn.
Ferguson also qualified in the 100 and 400 meters.
Junior Nivea Smith qualified for nationals for the 200-meter dash with a time of 23.25 and a fourth place finish, and sophomore Kai Selvon qualified with a time of 23.44 seconds and a seventh place finish.
Redshirt freshman Stephen Saenz and freshman Marcus Popenfoose both qualified for the Championships in shot put and discus.
With a mark of 55.21 meters, Saenz took the 8th qualifying spot in discus.
In shot put, Saenz said he reached a personal record of 19.82 m.
"I improved on my distance, which was what I wanted to do in shot put," Saenz said.
Saenz said he and his coach had been working on some technical aspects of his event before the meet, and he had been searching for his rhythm.
He said he wants to place in the top three at nationals and earn All-American honors.
"I don't want to get too excited right now, but if I keep working on things technically, I can have a really good chance of winning," Saenz said.
Saenz said that so many freshmen qualifying for nationals this year is a good sign for the future of the team.
With a distance of 54.27 meters (178-1), Popenfoose earned the 12th qualifying spot in the men's shot put.
"Going into the weekend, there weren't too many high expectations set out for me, so I just had to step in and do my best and hope for the best, and that's what I did that got me through to nationals," Popenfoose said.
Popenfoose said he is aiming to set a personal best at the Championships.
Ben Cheruivot, two-time SEC champion in the men's 5,000-meter run, qualified for nationals with a time of 14:08.08.
With a season-best time of 3:31.50, the women's 4x400-meter relay team of junior CeCe Williams, senior Joanna Atkins, senior Cache Armbrister and sophomore Kai Selvon placed first overall and qualified for nationals.
In the 400-meter dash, Atkins placed third overall. She said she was not happy with her individual performance, but was thankful to qualify for the Championships.
"The upside is I made it to nationals, and it gives me a new fire and determination to do really good at nationals," Atkins said.
Williams also qualified in the 400 -meter dash.
Other athletes who qualified for the Championships at the regional meet include DJ Smith in the high jump, Holly Knight in the 10,000-meter run, Maya Pressley in high jump and Keenan Brock in the 100-meter dash.
For more information and updates on the NCAA Championships, visit http://auburntigers.cstv.com.
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