USC Men’s Track & Field Ties For 12th At NCAA Championships As Relays Shine

USC's 4x100m relay team won the national title with a school record and the 4x400m relay took second with the second-fastest time in USC history during the final day of action at the 2022 NCAA Men's Track & Field Outdoor Championships held at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore. today (June 10).  Tade Ojora placed eighth in the 110m hurdles and the men's team scored 20 points to finish tied for 12th in the team competition.  USC has now finished within the top 12 in the team scoring in 15 of the last 17 seasons.

• USC's men's 4x100m relay team of Kasaun James, Brendon Stewart, Ashton Allen and Johnnie Blockburger got the finals off to a great start for the Trojans by winning the event title with a school-record time of 38.49.  It was USC's 10th NCAA title in the event, but first since 1980.  It was also the first time USC had scored in the event since 2015 when a team of BeeJay Lee, Andre De Grasse, Just'N Thymes and Adoree' Jackson finished fourth.  The Trojans picked up 10 points in the team competition and the runners became first-team All-Americans. 

 "We were thinking why not us?" said Stewart. "No one really expected us to win. Everybody was ranked ahead of us. We trusted our training, we trusted each other, we ran for Davonte (Burnett who was injured at Pac-12s), we came here ready to go to war."

• USC closed the meet with another outstanding relay performance, taking second in the 4x400m relay with the second-fastest time in school history of 2:59.98. USC inserted senior Zach Shinnick into the rotation, going with a lineup of Nicholas Ramey, Shinnick, Blockburger and James.  Shinnick was also on the fastest relay in USC history of 2:59.00 with Ricky Morgan, Rai Benjamin and Michael Norman, which at the time was the collegiate record.  Florida broke that earlier in the season with a time of 2:58.53 and won today with a time of 2:58.88 to set the meet record. The Trojans scored eight points in the event and all of the runners earned first-team All-America honors.  USC placed fourth in the event at the 2021 NCAA Championships and Ramey was the only returner from that group.

"Amazing!" said James.  "I remember watching Zach and the rest of the USC alumni race on TV and never thought I'd have the opportunity to run in a great Nationals 4x4 with him, so it was a great moment by me."

"I remember watching at home," added Blockburger about running with Shinnick.  "I think I was a freshman.  I was thinking, man, they have all those guys on that team, they set the collegiate record.  I want to be on that team.  I was lucky enough to run with him one last time."

• Tade Ojora placed eighth in the men's 110m hurdles with a time of 13.58 (+0.0) to earn the Trojans a point in the team competition.  He also became USC's first back-to-back outdoor All-American in the event since Kai Kelley in 2007 and 2008.
• Earnest Sears III tied for 10th in the men's high jump with a best clearance of 7-0.50 (2.15m).  Sears III entered the competition at the opening height of 6-10.75 (2.10m) and cleared that in his first attempt.  It took him two attempts to get over 7-0.50, then he passed at 7-1.75 (2.18m).  He then missed all three attempts at 7-3.00 (2.21m). 

USC's other team point was scored by Trey Knight who placed eighth in the hammer throw on Wednesday.

Tomorrow will be the final day of the 2022 NCAA Women's Outdoor Track & Field Championships. Jasmine Jones will be competing in the 100m hurdles for the Trojans.
 
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