USC Women Place 4th, Men 11th At NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships
Kaelin Roberts won her second indoor 400m title, TeeTee Terry scored high in both sprint finals and the women's relay placed second with the fourth-fastest time in school history to lead USC during the final day of competition at the 2021 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships held at Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville, Ark. today (March 13). The USC women's team placed fourth with 35 points and the men's team finished 11th with 17 points.
"Today I am very proud of our teams. The men's team came into the meet ranked #13 and ended up #11 and the women came in ranked #7 and fought to #4," said USC Director of Track & Field Caryl Smith Gilbert.
"On the men's side, McKay (Johnson) and Earnie (Sears) had solid showings after overcoming adversity during the competition. McKay had 2 fouls and Earnie had 2 misses but they both responded with huge performances and ended up in second place scoring 8 points each for the Shield! I commend Dan Lange and Nick Newman for doing a heck of a coaching job. They both finished higher than they ever have at an NCAA Championship meet. It was nice to see Zach Shinnick make nationals and run healthy. Looking forward to watching his progress outdoors. Brendon (Stewart) made his first NCAA final which was very exciting."
"The women's team had a amazing meet. We suffered a lot of casualties coming into the meet due to injuries and COVID related setbacks in training, but we did the best we could with who we had. Yesterday was rough with Jasmine Jones nicking the hurdle and not finishing and Bailey Lear and Nicole Yeargin making a few tactical errors that cost them a lane in the finals. But the performance by Kaelin Roberts today will be one to remember for the ages. Coach Quincy Watts formulated a brilliant strategic game plan for her to run and she executed it to the letter."
"TeeTee (Terry) stumbled again today out of the blocks in the 60m dash and it cost her the 'W' and the collegiate record but she remained poised after the race and came back in the 200 meters and ran and personal best and 4th place finish which gave us 5 points. It was great to see her tie the school record by Trojan Great Angela Williams yesterday. Mecca McGlaston truly inspired me by coming off a hamstring injury from the Razorback meet in January to make the 60H final, run a season best time and score 3 points for the Shield. After not practicing for 4 weeks and only going over hurdles since last week I am impressed with her mental attitude, perseverance and warrior spirit. The women's 4x4 relay ran and season best and fought hard in a down and dirty alley fight of a race running to second place."
"Looking back at the weekend, it was a very honorable and gritty performance all the way around. I am also simply grateful we were able to come to this meet healthy and safe and give the kids an opportunity to compete again after their season was cancelled in 2020. We have some of the best coaches, directors of operations, athletic trainers and administrators in the U.S. I cannot emphasize enough how much I am looking forward to competing this outdoor season and do our absolute best to bring home 2 National Championships to downtown Los Angeles!"
- Roberts won her second NCAA women's Indoor 400m title by running a PR of 50.84, running more than a second faster than her previous season-best time. Roberts bettered her second-place standing on USC's all-time indoor list. Her previous career-best time of 51.50 was run in winning the 2019 NCAA indoor 400m title. Roberts earned USC 10 points in the team competition.
- Terry took second in the women's 60m dash final with a time of 7.14. She earned USC eight points in the team competition. The winner set the collegiate indoor record of 7.05. Yesterday in the semifinal Terry tied the USC indoor record with a time of 7.09 which was the collegiate leader until today.
- Terry came back later to place fourth in the women's 200m final with a PR of 22.75. That time moved her into second on USC's all-time indoor 200m list. She earned the Trojans five more points in the team scoring. The winner tied the collegiate record.
- Mecca McGlaston had a season-best time of 8.07 to finish sixth in the women's 60m hurdles final. She earned three points for USC in the team competition.
- The women's 4x400m relay team of Bailey Lear, Jan'Taijah Ford, Nicole Yeargin and Roberts closed out the meet by taking second with a season-best time of 3:27.91to earn USC's final eigh points. USC's time was the fourth-fastest in school history.
- Brendon Stewart got the Trojans' day started by placing eighth in the men's 60m dash final with a time of 6.69. He earned USC a point in the team competition and its final point as he was the only USC male athlete competing today.