USC Track & Field Sets 1 School Record, 4 Meet Records In Sweep Of Dual Meet With UCLA

Matthew Katnik set the school shot put record, TeeTee Terry, Isaiah Jewett and the women's 4x100m and 4x400m relays all set meet records to lead the Trojans to a sweep at the annual Dual Meet held at Drake Stadium in Westwood, Calif. today (May 2).  The men's team won 114-42, its most points since scoring 120 points in 1950 and its third-highest total points ever at the Dual Meet.  USC's women's team won 93-70 to run its winning streak at the Dual Meet to seven seasons, despite trailing 32-4 after the first four events.  USC's men now lead the all-time series with UCLA 45-42 and the women, by virtue of its seven consecutive wins, now trail 21-15.  USC last swept the Dual Meet in 2018 and is now has three sweeps and four splits in the last seven Dual Meets.

"We had a great Dual Meet today," said USC Director of Track & Field Caryl Smith Gilbert.  "We showed up with some great performances.  The men were very impressive and the short sprints group finally showed up the way I knew they could.  We worked very hard at overcoming adversity with the pandemic and COVID-19.  This was the team I thought it was.  It was great to see such enthusiasm and energy out there today.  It is a good start to the postseason and the championship segment of our year.  I'm looking forward to what we have coming.  Finals start this week, so by Pac-12s everyone should be rested and ready to go.  There were so many great performances, PRs, wins and sweeps I can't name them all.  I just want to say that as a whole I'm very impressed with the men's team and the women's team had some more pieces of the puzzle filled in.  It is an exciting time for USC track and field and I'm looking forward to the next month."

• Katnik won an exciting shot put duel with teammate McKay Johnson, finishing with a USC-record throw of 68-1.50 (20.76m) in his final attempt.  His mark also moves him to second on the NCAA descending order list.  Katnik's final three marks were all better than his previous career best by over a foot and a half.  Johnson was nearly as impressive as he had a PR of 66-2.50 (20.18) to move into fourth on USC's all-time list and fifth on the NCAA descending order list.  All six of Johnson's shot put attempts went for at least 64 feet
• The pair later teamed up to go 1-2 in the men's discus throw in another entertaining battle and earned another eight points.  Johnson won in his first discus competition since 2018 with a best throw of 173-2 (52.79m) and Katnik was second with a PR of 173-1 (52.76m). Christian Johnson placed fifth with a mark of 164-7 (50.17m) and Trey Knight was seventh with a throw of 151-2 (46.09m). It was the first collegiate discus throw competition for both of them.
• The day's action began with the men's hammer throw at 10 a.m. and Nathan Bultman won the event with a PR of 231-1 (70.44m).  That throw moved him into 6th on USC's all-time list and to 10th on the NCAA descending order list.  Knight finished second with a best mark of 219-9 (66.98m) and Christian Johnson was third with a throw of 194-4 (59.23m).  USC took an early lead of 8-1.
• The USC women started the day with Joy McArthur and Karlee Freeman taking second and third respectively in the women's hammer throw.  McArthur had a best throw of 209-9 (63.93m) and Freeman a top mark of 187-5 (57.12m).  USC trailed 5-4 after the first event.
• Freeman later came back to place second in both the women's shot put and discus throw.  She took second in the shot put with a best mark of 51-5.75 (15.69m) and second in the discus throw with a best throw of 170-11 (52.10m).  She earned USC's women six more team points.
• Christian Johnson came back to win the men's javelin throw, his first collegiate javelin throw competition.  Johnson won with a PR of 164-0 (49.99m) and Dylan Lange was second with a best mark of 153-2 (46.70m).  USC earned eight more points and led 16-2 after two events.
• Jordan Scott competed in his first collegiate men's high jump competition and took second place with a clearance of 5-10.75 (1.80m), earning USC three points in the team competition.  He then won both the men's long jump and triple jump competitions.  First, he won the long jump with a best leap of 24-2.50/7.38m (+0.1) and was followed by Jalyn Jackson in second with a jump of 23-0.50/7.02m (+0.3).  Darryl Shaw finished fourth in the long jump with a best mark of 22-1.50/6.74m (+0.0). USC earned eight points in the long jump.  Scott later won the triple jump with a best leap of 52-0.75/15.87m (+0.9). The Trojans swept the event to earn nine more points as Shaw was second with a best jump of 49-8.25/15.14m (+1.0) and Jackson was third with a best of 47-4.25/14.43m (+1.5).
• Morgan Smalls won the women's long jump with a PR of 21-0.75/6.42m (+0.8).  That jump moved her into a fifth-place tie on USC's all-time list.  Lanae-Tava Thomas was second with a best jump of 20-6.50/6.26m (+0.0) and Temi Ojora was third in her first college long jump competition with a jump of 19-6.75/5.96m (+0.0).
• Ojora and Smalls then finished first and second respectively in both the high jump and the triple jump.  Ojora matched her career best in the high jump with a clearance of 5-10.75 (1.80m) and won on misses as she was clean through that height. Ojora moved into a 10th-place tie on USC's all-time list with Smalls. Smalls also tied her season best with a clearance of 5-10.75 to take second.  Ojora later won the triple jump with a leap of 43-3.00/13.18m (+0.0) and Smalls took second with a jump of 42-8.00/13.00m (+0.0) which moved her into 10th place on USC's all-time list.  They earned the women's team 16 more points.
• The running portion of the meet began with the USC women's 4x100m relay team of Nicole Yeargin, Angie Annelus, Thomas and TeeTee Terry setting a Dual Meet record with a time of 42.63.  That time moved them to fourth on USC's all-time list and in the NCAA lead in the event.
• The men's 4x100m relay team of Davonte Burnett, Brendon Stewart, Kenan Christon and Nicholas Ramey followed with a time of 39.92 to win.
• George Gleason won the men's 1500m with a time of 3:46.61 to earn USC's men's team five points.  Josh Ligas finished eighth with a PR of 3:52.27 and John Dempsey finished 12th with a time of 4:03.25.
• Anna Cockrell won the women's 100m hurdles with a season-best time of 12.79 (+1.5) to lead the Trojans to a sweep of the event and nine points.  Jasmine Jones was second with a time of 13.05 (+1.5) and Mecca McGlaston was third with a time of 13.26 (+1.5).
• Cockrell later won the women's 400m hurdles with a season-best and NCAA-leading time of 55.59.  Breanna Bernard-Joseph was second with a big PR of 57.93 to take second.  USC earned eight more points in this event.
• Tade Ojora won the men's 110m hurdles with a time of 13.85 (+0.5) to earn USC five points. He then came back to run his first career 400m hurdles race and finished second with a time of 58.18, despite a nasty fall.  Cameron Samuel won the even with a time of 51.00 and together with Ojora earned the USC men eight points.
• The women's 400m dash race was one of the most exciting and impressive races of the day as the top five finishers all ran under 52 seconds.  Kaelin Roberts had a great stretch run to edge UCLA's Shae Anderson at the wire with a PR and NCAA-leading time of 51.14.  She also moved from fourth to third on USC's all-time list in the event.  Kyra Constantine was third with a season-best time of 51.58, Bailey Lear was fourth with a time of 51.79, Yeargin was fifth with a PR of 51.99, Kimberly Harris was sixth with a season-best time of 52.78, Rae-Anne Serville was seventh with a time of 53.08 and Jan'Taijah Ford was eighth with a time of 53.47.  USC earned six points in the event.
• Brian Herron won the men's 400m with a time of 46.38.  Ramey was second in the 400m with a time of 46.65 and together with Herron earned USC another eight points in the men's competition.
• Terry set the Dual Meet women's 100m dash record with a winning time of 11.09 (+0.7) to lead a Trojan sweep in the event.  Thomas was second with a time of 11.20 and Annelus was third with a time of 11.27, both season bests.  USC picked up nine points.
• Burnett had a PR of 10.22 (-0.2) to win the men's 100m dash.  Alexander Barnum took third with a season-best time of 10.58 (-0.2) to give USC six points in the event.  Daniel Robinson finished fourth in the event with a time of 10.65 (-0.2).
• USC's women's team then earned eight points as Jemima Russell won the 800m race with a time of 2:05.75, followed by Alyssa Brewer in second with a time of 2:06.63.  Abygail Paez finished fourth in the event with a time of 2:15.45 and Jennifer Daly was fifth with a time of 2:20.40.
• Isaiah Jewett won the men's 800m race with a PR, meet record and NCAA-leading time of 1:45.80.  That time also bettered his third place standing on USC's all-time list.  Sam VanDorpe was second with a PR of 1:48.65 and Jack Carter finished fourth with a PR of 1:52.38.  USC's men earned eight more points.
• Thomas was first with a time of 23.54 (+2.4w) and Jones was second with a time of 23.87 (+2.4w) in the women's 200m dash.  They earned the Trojans eight points.
• In his first college 200m race, Christon was a winner with a time of 21.17 (+0.2).  USC swept the event to earn nine points as Ramey was second at 21.51 (+0.2), Burnett was third at 21.71 (+1.6) and Barnum was fourth with a season-best time of 22.14 (+1.6).
• Gleason circled back to take second in the men's 3000m with a time of 8:32.94 and earn USC's men five points.
• The women's 4x400m relay team of Lear, Yeargin, Harris and Constantine closed things in style for the women's team by setting the Dual Meet record with a time of 3:29.72, a record that had stood since 1998.
• The men's 4x400m relay team then closed out the Dual Meet sweep with a winning time of 3:06.19.  USC ran a team of Ramey, Herron, Samuel and Jewett.

Both the USC men's and women's teams earned the Trojans 10 points in the annual Crosstown Cup all-sports competition between USC and UCLA.

USC will next be in action when it hosts the Pac-12 Track & Field Championships at Loker Stadium on May 14-16.