Highly Ranked USC In Oregon For NCAA Track & Field Championships
The No. 2-ranked USC women's team and the No. 3 ranked men's track and field team will be competing at the 2021 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore. from June 9-12. The top 24 athletes in the country, 12 in each event from both the East & West Preliminary Rounds, have advanced to the championships. USC has 15 women who have qualified in a total of 18 events, plus the two relays for a total of 16 Trojan women set to compete at the Championships. The men's team has 11 individuals qualified in 12 events, plus the two relays for a total of 17 men ready for action in Eugene. USC's women's team will have 20 scoring opportunities, while the men's team will have 14. The 33 combined Trojan athletes at the NCAA Championships are the most in the Smith Gilbert era.
USC AT THE NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS -- The USC men's track and field team has won 26 NCAA outdoor titles, more than double the next-best program Arkansas, which has won 12. USC won a record 9-straight titles from 1935-43. USC also has the most individual men's titles with 120. The USC women's team won the 2018 team title, the second in program history (2001). Both of the USC's women's team titles have come at Hayward Field. USC's men have placed in the top 10 in 17 of the last 25 seasons. USC's women have finished in the top 10 in 16 of the last 25 seasons. USC's women have scored 230 points in the first six seasons at the NCAA Championships with Caryl Smith Gilbert as the Director of Track & Field, its most points in a six-year stretch since scoring a total of 270 points from 1999-2004. USC's women have finished in the top three in each of the last three NCAA Outdoor Championships, the only women's program to do so. USC's women placed second with 57 points scored in 2019, while the men's team finished 37th with six points scored. At least one Trojan man or woman has won an individual NCAA outdoor title in 22 of the last 28 championships.
Most Men's NCAA Outdoor T&F Titles
1.) USC 26
2.) Arkansas 12
3.) UCLA 8
4.) Oregon 7
WHERE TO WATCH THE MEET - The entire 2021 NCAA Track & Field Championships will be televised on one of the ESPN network platforms. The coverage on June 9 will begin at 1:00 p.m. on ESPN3, 5:00 p.m. on ESPNU and 6:00 p.m. on ESPN2; on June 10 at 9:30 a.m. on ESPN3, at 3:30 p.m. on ESPN2; on June 11 at noon on ESPN3 and 5:00 p.m. on ESPN2; June 12 at 11 a.m. on ESPN3 and at 3:00 p.m. on ESPNU. All times are PT. For the sixth year in a row, the men's and women's meets will be contested on alternate days with the men's semifinals on June 9, the women's semifinals on June 10, the men's finals on June 11 and the women's finals on June 12.
TROJANS EARNING THEIR WAY TO EUGENE - Members of USC's 2021 track and field team scheduled to compete this week at the NCAA Championships are:
Women: Angie Annelus (200m, 4x100m), Breanna Bernard-Joseph (400m H), Anna Cockrell (100m H, 400m H), Kyra Constantine (400m, 4x400m), Jan'Taijah Ford (4x400m-alt,), Kimberly Harris (400m), Jasmine Jones (100m H, 4x100m), Bailey Lear (400m, 4x400m), Joy McArthur (HT), Mecca McGlaston (100m H), Temi Ojora (TJ), Kaelin Roberts (400m, 4x400m), Morgan Smalls (HJ), TeeTee Terry (100m, 200m, 4x100m), Lanae-Tava Thomas (100m, 200m, 4x100m), Nicole Yeargin (400m, 4x100m).
Men: Eric Allen Jr. (4x100m), Alexander Barnum (4x100m-alt.), Nathan Bultman (HT), Davonte Burnett (100m, 200m, 4x100m), Kenan Christon (4x100m), Brian Herron (400m, 4x400m), Jalyn Jackson (TJ), Isaiah Jewett (800m, 4x400m), McKay Johnson (SP), Matthew Katnik (SP), Tade Ojora (110m H), Nicholas Ramey (4x400m), Cameron Samuel (400m H, 4x400m), Jordan Scott (TJ), Earnest Sears III (HJ), Zach Shinnick (4x400m-alt.), Brendon Stewart (4x100m).
TROJANS LEADING THE WAY - The Trojans entered the NCAA Preliminaries with two NCAA leading times: Anna Cockrell (W-400m H, 54.77) and Isaiah Jewett (M-800m, 1:45.16). The Trojans entered the NCAA four rounds with 40 times or marks within the top 30 on the NCAA descending order lists.
RETURNING 2019 ALL-AMERICANS -- Women: Angie Annelus (100m, 200m, 4x100m), Anna Cockrell (100m H, 400m H, 4x400m), Kyra Constantine (400m, 4x400m), Bailey Lear (4x400m), Kaelin Roberts (4x400m), TeeTee Terry (100m, 4x100m), Lanae-Tava Thomas (200m, 4x100m). Men: Matthew Katnik (SP), Cameron Samuel (400m H).
ROBERTS HAS HER SIGHTS ON AN NCAA DOUBLE -- Kaelin Roberts won the 2021 NCAA indoor women's 400m title with an indoor PR of 50.84 on March 13 and heads to the NCAA Outdoor Championships as one of the favorites. She also won the 2019 NCAA Indoor title with her previous personal best of 51.50. Roberts opened up the 2021 outdoor season with a PR and NCAA-leading time of 51.23, then bettered it to 51.14 at the Dual Meet on May 2 which moved her from 4th to 3rd on USC's all-time list. Robert sat out the Pac-12 Championships and then ran an outdoor PR of 50.82 in the NCAA Quarterfinal on May 29 to move to second on USC's all-time list.
ANNELUS EYES A THREE-PEAT - USC sprinter Angie Annelus is the two-time defending NCAA women's 200m champion and looks to become the second person ever to win the event three times, joining Kimberlyn Duncan of LSU. Annelus won the 2018 200m title with a time of 22.76 (-2.3) to help lead the Trojans to the team title and then set the USC record in the 200m with a winning time of 22.16 (+1.3) in the 2019 final. Annelus posted her first 200m time of the season in the Pac-12 semifinals with a time of 23.28w on May 14, then ran 22.86 to finish second in the final on May 16 which ranked tied for 12th nationally entering the NCAA Preliminary Rounds.
SCOTT SOARING UP THE CHARTS - Graduate transfer Jordan Scott has triple jumped at least 54 feet in five of the six meets in which he has competed. In the previous 17 seasons, USC had only one jumper jump over 54 feet (Eric Sloan who jumped 55-6.25 in 2017). Scott landed the third-farthest triple jump in USC history of 55-7.75/16.96 (+0.9) at the Florida Relays on April 3. Scott now trails only Allen Simms who set the record of 56-4 (17.17m) on April 28, 2003 and Julien Kapek who jumped 56-2 (17.12m) on June14, 2003 to win the NCAA title. Scott's legal PR is 56-0.50/17.08m, but he has a wind-aided PR of 57-0/17.37m.
QUARTERMILE MONOPOLY - USC has five runners qualified for the women's 400m semifinal, more athletes in one women's event group from one school than any other program. Currently, Kaelin Roberts (1st - 50.82), Kyra Constantine (4th - 51.16), Bailey Lear (5th - 51.21) and Nicole Yeargin (T-6th - 51.39) all rank in USC's all-time outdoor top 10 in the event. Entering the Preliminary Rounds, USC had four women's 400m runners ranking in the top 15 nationally: Roberts (3rd), Lear (15th), Constantine (4th) and Nicole Yeargin (10th). At the Pac-12 Championships with Roberts sitting out, USC still finished 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th and 7th to earn 30 points and help secure the come-from-behind team title.
DAN LANGE, THE ALL-AMERICAN COACH -- Dan Lange is in his 32nd season as USC throws coach and is one of the nation's most respected teachers, having guided his athletes to All-American honors 69 times. He also has coached Trojan throwers to 12 school records and 28 individual Pac-12 titles. If you want to measure his impact on the Trojan throws program, you have to go no farther than the USC top 10 lists as all but one of the top 10 male and female hammer throwers in school history have been coached by Lange and all but one of the USC record-holders in the men's and women's hammer, discus, javelin and shot put have been coached by Lange. For 21 consecutive seasons (1993-2013) he guided at least one Trojan hammer thrower to All-America honors and he has coached at least one Trojan thrower to All-America honors in 30 of his first 31 seasons.