McArthur Takes Fifth In Hammer Throw At Pac-12 Championships

Joy McArthur placed fifth in the women's hammer throw and six Trojans advanced to event finals during the first day of the Pac-12 Track & Field Championships held at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore. today (May 13).  The Trojans were only competing in the women's hammer throw, the men's and women's 200m prelims and the women's 400m hurdles prelims today.  Temperatures were in the low 50s all-day and there was a constant light rain.

• McArthur got things started for the Trojans by finishing fifth in the women's hammer throw with a best mark of 209-7 (63.88m) which came in her final attempt.  She earned the Trojan women their first four points of the meet.  McArthur scored in the event for the fourth time at the conference meet.  Summer Mosley, in her first Pac-12 Championships, missed making the finals by one centimeter, finishing 10th with a best mark of 187-10 (57.25m).
• The women's 200m was next and the Trojans narrowly missed advancing to the event final.  Chioma Okonkwo was 10th with a time of 23.91 (+0.6), Zion Corrales Nelson was 11th with a time of 24.15 (-0.9) and Samirah Moody was 14th with a time of 24.24 (+0.6).
• The USC men then qualified four athletes for the 200m final on Sunday.  Davonte Burnett won his heat and was second overall with a time of 20.72 (+0.3), Ashton Allen qualified fifth overall with a season-best time of 20.86 (+1.3), Kasaun James qualified sixth with a time of 20.89 (+0.2) and Johnnie Blockburger qualified eighth with a time of 21.03 (+1.6). Eric Allen Jr. was 11th (.475) and Daniel Robinson 12th (.477) both with a time of 21.48 and Gavin Schurr was 16th with a time of 21.60.
• Breanna Bernard-Joseph and Maci Simmons then closed the first day of action for the Trojans by both qualifying for the 400m hurdles final on Sunday.  Bernard-Joseph had a time of 60.85 to take second in her heat to automatically advance, qualifying fourth to the final.  Simmons had a time of 61.02 to take third in her heat and grab the top non-automatic qualifying spot, advancing seventh to the final.

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