# #

Isaiah Jewett Wins 800m National Title, USC Men Place 5th At NCAA Track & Field Championships

by usctrojans.com
Jun 11, 2021

Isaiah Jewett set the school record in becoming the first USC 800m champion and the Trojan men placed fifth at the 2021 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships held at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore. today (June 11) before 6,234 fans.   

The Trojans began the day with no points and finished with 33, tying for their ninth-most since the scoring system changed in 1985.  It was the fourth top five finish for the USC men's team in the seven championships with USC Director of Track & Field Caryl Smith Gilbert in charge of the program.  It is also the 19th top 10 finish in the last 27 seasons by the USC men.

"Today was a day that was exciting in a lot of areas and disappointing in others," said Caryl Smith Gilbert.  "Our overall finish in fifth was better than our indoor finish (11th).  We had a lot of adversity this year.  It was great to see Isaiah Jewett be the first USC 800m champion and I loved the way Cam Samuel had a PR and ran a very, very great race.  Davonte Burnett came around late in the season and was able to score points for us, especially out of lane one in the 200m.  We didn't come through in other areas we needed to in order to get a trophy, but overall with everything that went on, we had a good year and I think this is a good path for us for next year.  The men know what they have to do now.  We will add some more bodies to the system and have a great 2022."

  • Jewett set the USC school record with a time of 1:44.68 to win the NCAA 800m title, the first ever won by a Trojan.  Jewett had a 53.72 final lap to secure the event title.  His time ranks eighth on the all-time NCAA 800m list and third on the all-time Pac-12 list.  It was the 23rd time a Trojan had earned All-America honors in the 800m and his time was more than two seconds faster than any of them (best was Robert Ford – 1:46.72 in 2018).  Jewett earned the Trojans 10 team points.  Jewett's event title means that a Trojan man or woman has won at least one NCAA individual title in 23 of the last 29 championships.
  • The running portion of the meet began for USC with Tade Ojora placing sixth in the men's 110m hurdles final with a season-best time of 13.57 (-0.6), 0.01 second outside of cracking the Trojans' top 10 in the event.  He earned the Trojans their first three points in the team competition. He became the first Trojan to score in the event since Marquis Morris in 2017, who also placed sixth.  He becomes USC's 55th All-American in the 110m/120-yard hurdles.
  • Davonte Burnett was next on the track and he placed fifth in the men's 100m final with a time of 10.19 (+0.4) to become an All-American and earn the Trojans four points.  He is the first Trojan to score in the men's 100m dash final since Andre DeGrasse won it all in 2015.  He becomes the 49th USC All-American in the event.
  • Cameron Samuel placed third in the men's 400m hurdles final with a PR of 48.68 to earn USC six more points.  Samuel moved from seventh to fifth on USC's all-time 400m hurdles list.  Samuel placed sixth in the event at the 2019 NCAA Championships and becomes the first Trojan to scored in back-to-back NCAA meets in the event since Reggie Wyatt in 2012 and 2013.  He becomes USC's 22nd All-American in the event.
  • Burnett came back to place sixth in the men's 200m dash, running 20.55 (-0.4) out of lane one.  He became the first Trojan to score in the 200m since Andre DeGrasse won both the 100 and 200m in 2015.  He becomes USC's 40th All-American in the event and earned USC three more team points.
  • Earnest Sears III finished seventh in the men's high jump with a clearance of 7-2.50 (2.20m), which he cleared in his first attempt, before going out at 7-3.75 (2.23m).  He became a two-time All-American in the event and earned the Trojans two more points.
  • Jordan Scott and Jalyn Jackson did not reach the men's triple jump final today, as Scott had a best leap of 52-4/15.95m (-0.5) to finish 12th and Jackson had a best jump of 51-7.25/15.73m (-1.5) to place 16th.  The pair earned second-team All-America honors.
  • The final event of the day was the men's 4x400m relay and USC's team of Nicholas Ramey, Brian Herron, Samuel and Jewett placed fourth in a season-best time of 3:02.49 which moved them from seventh to fifth on USC's all-time list.  They earned All-America honors and earned USC its final five points in the meet to secure a top five finish.

Tomorrow the No.-2 ranked USC women's team will be competing in the final day of the NCAA Women's Outdoor Track and Field Championships.  Trojan women who qualified for finals Saturday are:  Angie Annelus (200m, 4x100m), Jasmine Jones (4x100m), Anna Cockrell (100m H, 400m H), Kyra Constantine (400m, 4x400m), Kimberly Harris (4x400m), Bailey Lear (400m, 4x400m), Temi Ojora (TJ), Morgan Smalls (HJ), TeeTee Terry (100m, 200m, 4x100m), Lanae-Tava Thomas (100m, 4x100m), Nicole Yeargin (400m, 4x400m).
 
# # # # #

 

 

Related News & Videos