AUBURN, Ala. - The Auburn track & field team will split duties this weekend between the Bryan Clay Invitational in Azusa, California, April 11-13, and the Tom Jones Memorial Invitational in Gainesville, Florida, April 12-13.
Action from the former's Cougar Stadium begins Thursday with the 100m heptathlon at 7:00 a.m. CT while action from the latter's James G. Pressley Stadium at Percy Beard Track will begin Friday at noon with the men's hammer throw.
Entering the weekend, the Auburn men are ranked ninth in the most recent USTFCCCA poll.
The men and women fill face off against No. 1/1 Texas A&M, No. 4/2 LSU, No. 6/5 Texas Tech, No. NR/6 Oregon, UCLA and No. 5/NR Alabama in Azusa.
While in Gainesville, the Tigers will go toe to toe with No. 16/7 Ole Miss, No. 4/2 LSU, No. 8/NR Mississippi State, No. 3/NR South Florida, No. 11/11 Georgia and host No. 2/NR Florida.
Coming off a strong weekend at the Hurricane Alumni Invitational in Miami, Florida and the Crimson Tide Invitational in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, the Tigers are looking to keep the positive momentum rolling as they head into the backend of the season.
"The past three weeks, we've risen up in the charts and gotten some solid performances," Auburn track & field head coach Leroy Burrell said. "We need to confirm those performances this weekend."
While in Miami this past weekend, sophomore Paula Grauvogel took home silver in the heptathlon with a new personal best of 5,572 points. She had four PRs throughout the event, including the 200m (24.69), 800m (2:24.73), 100m hurdles (13.60) and shot put (11.69). Currently, she is No. 4 in the SEC and No. 8 in the nation.
The Auburn distance men delivered solid performances for the Tigers in Tuscaloosa. Sophomores Hayden Judge and Joseph Perry finished first and second in the 5000m, respectively. Both established PRs in the event with a time of 14:19.79 for Judge and 14:20.61 for Perry.
The squad put up impressive marks at the last outing in Gainesville. There were four first-place finishes including Favour Ashe's 9.99 in the 100m dash. He was accompanied by Ja'Kobe Tharp in the 110m hurdles (13.46), Matthew Rueff in shot put (17.92m) and Keyshawn Strachan in javelin throw 74.01m
"We are going to be at one of the best sprints, jumps, and hurdle meets in the country down in Gainesville," Burrell said. "It is going to be a preview of the SEC championships or NCAA championships. The athletes who come out on top will have surely put themselves in contention for scoring at the NCAA meet."
While in Azusa, the Tigers plan to utilize the distance runners including senior Ryan Kinnane, juniors Samantha Rogers and Cooper Atkins, sophomore Gené Coetzee and freshman Max Hardin and Nickson Chebii.
"The entirety of the distance community is going out to Azusa," Leroy Burrell said. "The weather is absolutely astounding for distance running at that venue."
Live results for the Tom Jones Invitational can be found at pttiming.com.
Live results for the Bryan Clay Invitational can be found at finishedresults.com.
Up Next
The Tigers will be at home Saturday, April 20 for the Tiger Track Classic at Hutsell-Rosen Track.