USC Track & Field Heads To Pac-12 Championships In Oregon
The USC Track & Field team will be competing at the 2022 Pac-12 Track & Field Championships to be held in Eugene, Ore. from May 13-15. USC is sending a group of 41 athletes to the Pac-12 Championships, 21 men and 20 women.
TRACKING THE TROJANS ON TELEVISION -- Coverage of the Pac-12 T&F Championships on the Pac-12 Network begins on May 13 at 4:30 p.m. PT with the women's hammer finals. The men's and women's javelin and pole vault finals will air on the Pac-12 Now app and on Pac-12.com starting at 5:15 p.m. PT. and the men's and women's 10,000m finals wrap up the evening beginning at 7:30 p.m. PT. Finals coverage of the field events continues on Saturday, May 14 and Sunday, May 15 on Pac-12 Network, the Pac-12 Now app and Pac-12.com. Coverage of the track event finals begins on Sunday, May 15 at 1 p.m. PT / 2 p.m. MT on Pac-12 Network with the 4x100m relays, and wraps up at 4:30 p.m. PT after the conclusion of the 4x400m relays. Jim Watson and Jordan Kent will be calling the action for the Pac-12 Network broadcast platforms.
TROJANS AT THE PAC-12 CHAMPIONSHIPS -- The USC women's team won the 2021 Pac-12 team title, their third consecutive and fourth in program history (also in 1996). USC's women have finished first or second in each of the last seven conference meets. The USC men placed second at the 2021 Pac-12 T&F Championships. USC's men's team has finished in the top three in nine of the last 12 conference meets and has won the team title 16 times. The last USC men's team title came in 2006, but USC has scored 99 or more points in 19 of the last 24 seasons. The USC women's team has finished fourth or higher in 29 of the 34 seasons of the women's meet and has scored 99 or more points in 21 of the last 25 meets. USC's men have won 215 individual awards, 20 percent of all awards presented. The USC women's team has won a combined 158 individual and relays titles at the Pac-12 Meet, more than any other school.
RETURNING PAC-12 CHAMPIONS -- USC has five athletes on its current roster which are defending individual event or relay champions from the 2021 Pac-12 Championships held at USC: Eric Allen Jr. (M-4x100m), Johnnie Blockburger (M-400m while at Arizona), Davonte Burnett (M-100, 200m, 4x100m), Jan'Taijah Ford (W-4x400m), Brendon Stewart (M-4x100m).
DELAYED BROOMING OF THE BRUINS -- When USC's track and field teams were last in action, they completed a sweep of UCLA in the annual Dual Meet on April 30-May 1... but not until nearly a half-hour after the meet was over and UCLA's women had taken a victory lap. It was at that point that a mistake was noticed in the women's discus throw and that Karlee Freeman had won the event which shifted the score four points and the Trojan women had an 81-80 victory, their eighth consecutive in the series. It would have made Jan'Taijah Ford's mind-boggling close and win by 0.04 seconds in the women's 4x400m relay even more dramatic, as it actually decided the meet. The men's 4x400m also squeaked out a 4x400m relay win to clinch an 86-76 win over the Bruins. USC has now swept or split the last eight Dual Meets (4-0-4). The USC women's team re-enacted a victory lap with a tape of the band playing and teammates cheering at the track on May 2 (https://twitter.com/i/status/1521565315129257984).
TOP 30 TROJANS - The Trojans have 13 athletes and four relays which rank in the top 30 among NCAA performances during the 2022 outdoor season. They are:
Women: Celera Barnes (1st - 100m), Jan'Taijah Ford (T-17th - 400m), Karlee Freeman (19th - DT), Jasmine Jones (9th - 100m H), Joy McArthur (17th - HT), Samirah Moody (9th - 100m), 4x100m (19th school) and 4x400m (11th school).
Men: Johnnie Blockberger (12th - 400m), Davonte Burnett (5th - 100m, 9th - 200m), Christian Johnson (27th - HT), Trey Knight (5th - HT), Tade Ojora (7th - 110m H), Earnest Sears III (T-1st - HJ), Sam VanDorpe (30th - 800m), 4x100m (3rd school) and 4x400m (15th school).
DAVONTE'S INFERNO -- Senior sprinter Davonte Burnett, a two-time outdoor All-American in 2021, opened his 2022 outdoor season by winning the 100m dash at the Mt. SAC Relays with a PR of 9.99 (+0.3). His time moved him to tied for second on USC's all-time list and currently ranks eighth in the world. Burnett won the 2022 NCAA indoor 60m title and placed fifth in the 100m and sixth in the 200m at the 2021 NCAA Championships. He is the defending Pac-12 champion in the 100m, 200m and as part of USC's 4x100m relay.
IT'S A BIRD, IT'S A PLANE, IT'S...EARNIE SEARS! -- Earnest Sears III won the Invitational Elite men's high jump competition at the Mt. SAC Relays on April 16 with a PR and the second-leading clearance all-time by a Trojan of 7-6.50 (2.30m). He now only trails Jesse Williams who has the school record of 7-7.25 (2.32m) set in 2006. The 7-6.50 mark is tied for the world-leading height and also ties him for fifth all-time by a Pac-12 athlete. Sears III has the USC indoor high jump record, which is the same height of 7-6.50. Sears III won the Pac-12 high jump title in 2018 and 2019.
TOP OF THE PAC -- USC's men's 800m runners Sam VanDorpe and Bobby Poynter currently ranks first and second in the Pac-12 in the 800m. VanDorpe ran a PR of 1:48.23 and Poynter a PR of 1:48.33 at the Mt. SAC Relays on April 15.
ACTION JACKSON -- USC junior jumper Jalyn Jackson has best wind-legal jumps this outdoor season of 51-7.00 (15.72m) in the triple jump and 25-0.75 (7.64m) in the long jump. His triple jump ranks T-31st in the country and his best long jump of 25-2.75/7.69m (+3.1w)ranks T-42nd in the country. Jackson ranks third in both events among Pac-12 athletes in 2022.
NEXT MEET: NCAA PRELIMINARY ROUNDS -- The next meet for the Trojans will be the NCAA West Preliminary Rounds to be held in Fayetteville, Ark. on May 26-28.