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USC's Trey Knight Wins Hammer Throw Title At Pac-12 Track & Field Championships; Three Others Score

by usctrojans.com
May 14, 2022

Trey Knight won the men's hammer throw title with teammates Nikolaos Polychroniou and Christian Johnson taking sixth and eighth respectively, Temi Ojora took third in the women's long jump and Jalyn Jackson placed fifth in the men's long jump competition during the second day of the 2022 Pac-12 Track & Field Championships held at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore. today (May 14).  In addition, 14 Trojan athletes advanced to finals tomorrow.

  • The day began for the Trojans with the men's hammer throw competition and Trey Knight, Nikolaos Polychroniou and Christian Johnson got things off to a great start for USC.  Knight won the hammer throw title with a PR of 235-7 (71.81m), which bettered his seventh-place standing on USC's all-time list.  He really won the event with his first throw of 231-7 which was better than the second-place finisher, while also adding marks of 234-4 and 220-6.  He became the 16th Trojan to win the men's hammer throw at the conference meet, with Trojan Nathan Bultman capturing the title last season.  Polychroniou had his four best throws as a collegian with a best mark of 217-11 (66.42m) earning him a sixth-place finish.  Johnson reached the finals in ninth and improved on his fourth attempt to 210-10 (64.26m) to grab eighth place.  Together the Trojan trio earned USC's men's team its first 14 points of the meet.  Knight's mark also moved him from sixth to fourth on the NCAA descending order list.
  • Temi Ojora placed third in the women's long jump with a best jump of 20-1.00/6.12m (+1.7).  That jump came in her final attempt and tied her with the person in third, but Ojora had the better second-best jump.  She earned the USC women six points in the team competition.
  • Jalyn Jackson took fifth in the men's long jump with a best leap of 24-3.75/7.41 (+0.2).  He earned the USC men's team four more points.
  • Jasmine Jones and Jalaysiya Smith both qualified on time to the women's 100m hurdles final tomorrow.  Jones was third in the first heat and fifth overall with a time of 13.23 (+1.2).  Smith was fourth in the second heat and seventh overall with a time of 13.44 (+1.4).
  • Tade Ojora won his men's 110m hurdles heat and advanced third overall to the final tomorrow with a time of 13.95 (+1.4).
  • All three of USC's women's 400m runners advanced to tomorrow's final.  Jan'Taijah Ford was first winning her heat and posting the fastest qualifying-time of the day of 52.38.  Bailey Lear then won the second heat with a time of 52.73 and Kimberly Harris was third in the same heat with a season-best time of 53.77 to advance to the final.  Lear had the third-fastest and Harris the seventh-fastest qualifying times.
  • Johnnie Blockburger and Nicholas Ramey both automatically advanced to the men's 400m final tomorrow by finishing 1-2 respectively in the first heat.  Blockburger had a time of 46.80 to qualify sixth and Ramey a time of 47.13 to qualify ninth overall.
  • Both Sam VanDorpe and Bobby Poynter automatically advanced to the men's 800m final by taking second in their heats.  VanDorpe had a time of 1:49.92 to qualify fifth overall on time and Poynter had the ninth-best qualifying time of 1:50.84.
  • Celera Barnes advanced to the women's 100m final tomorrow by posting the fastest time of the day of 11.16 (+1.3).
  • The Trojans ended the action on Saturday with Davonte Burnett, Brendon Stewart and Ashton Allen advancing to the men's 100m dash final tomorrow.  Burnett won his heat with a time of 10.22 (+1.7) and qualified second on time.  Brendon Stewart was second in his heat with a time of 10.29 (+0.9) to automatically advance.  His time was fourth overall.  Allen had a time of 10.42 (0.9) to place third in his heat and finish eighth overall.

After two days of competition, the USC men have 18 points and are tied for sixth and the women's team has 10 points and are in 11th place.

USC will have 23 athletes (12 men, 11 women) competing in 27 individual event finals tomorrow during the last day of the 2022 Pac-12 Track & Field Championships.  USC will also have the chance to score in both the men's and women's 4x100m and 4x400m relays. 

Trojans expected to be in action in individual events on Sunday are:  Ashton Allen (M-100, M-200m), Celera Barnes (W-100m), Johnnie Blockburger (M-200m, M-400m), Breanna Bernard-Joseph (W-400m H), Davonte Burnett (M-100m, M-200m), Jan'Taijah Ford (W-400m), Karlee Freeman (W-DT), Kimberly Harris (W-400m), Jalyn Jackson (M-TJ), Kasaun James (M-200m), Jasmine Jones (W-100m H), Bailey Lear (W-400m), Summer Mosley (W-DT), Tade Ojora (M-110m H), Temi Ojora (W-TJ), Bobby Poynter (M-800m), Nicholas Ramey (M-400m), Earnest Sears III (M-HJ), Maci Simmons (W-400m H), Jalaysiya Smith (W-100m H), Brendon Stewart (M-100m), Sam VanDorpe (M-800m), Dallas Wise (M-HJ, M-TJ). 

Action begins at 11 a.m. with the women's discus throw.  The event will be available to watch on the Pac-12 Now App and at Pac-12.com.  The Pac-12 Network live coverage of the action will begin at 1:00 p.m. 
 
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