Here's the start list for Auburn athletes competing at the NCAA Indoor Championships, and how to watch them compete for national titles
The Tigers are sending eight athletes to vie for national championships Friday-Saturday in Fayetteville, Ark.
Auburn is sending the most sprinters of any school in the men’s 60-meter dash to the NCAA Indoor Championships, with three Tigers heading to Fayetteville to chase the sprint title.
A total of eight Auburn athletes between the men and women are heading to nationals this weekend and competing Friday-Saturday. Most events Friday are preliminaries with their finals being Saturday.
In the men’s 60-meter dash, red-hot Auburn junior Kayinsola Ajayi has the highest-seeded time nationally entering the meet, after he ran a searing 6.45 to win the 60-meters at the SEC Indoor Championships two weeks ago. That marked matched the NCAA record for fastest time ever in the event, putting him in company with only three other sprinters all-time at the top. Ajayi was the national runner-up at indoor nationals last year — and at outdoor nationals in the 100-meter — and looks to finally add an individual NCAA gold to his trophy case after winning those silvers. He was a part of Auburn’s 4x100 national championship relay team in 2024.
Behind Ajayi, Auburn also qualified Israel Okon and Omari Lewis to the same event. Okon enters as an 8-seed, matching the nation’s eighth-best qualifying time, and Lewis enters having matched the 17th-best time.
The men’s 60-meter dash preliminaries are scheduled for 5:45 p.m. Friday.
In Heat 1, Lewis will be in Lane 2 while Okon will be in Lane 6. In Heat 2, Ajayi will be in Lane 5.
Eight will advance to the final scheduled for 4:40 p.m. Saturday. The top two from each heat advance, plus the four best non-top-two times from either heat.
“The men’s 60 is where we are going to really make things happen in terms of scoring points. Between Ajayi, Israel and Omari, we think we have a chance of sending two or three to the finals,” Auburn head coach Leroy Burrell said in a release. “They have been coming on week in, and week out. Ajayi equaled the collegiate record and his national record at SECs; we are healthy and hopefully peaking at the right time at NCAAs.”
The meet will be streamed all weekend on ESPN+.
The men’s 60-meter dash preliminaries will be on the Friday evening stream here, while the final will be on the Saturday afternoon stream here.
Here’s a look at the other five Auburn athletes challenging for national champions, and how to watch them: