USC Ready For Pac-12 T&F Championships In Boulder This Weekend
The Trojan track and field team will be competing at the 2024 Pac-12 Track & Field Championships being hosted by Colorado at Potts Field in Boulder, Colo. from May 10-12.
TROJANS AT THE PAC-12 CHAMPIONSHIPS -- The USC men's and women's teams both placed second at the 2023 Pac-12 Track & Field Championships held in Walnut, Calif. The USC women's team has now finished in the top four in 31 of the 36 seasons of the women's meet and has won the title four times. The USC men have now posted a top three finish in 11 of the last 14 Pac-12 Championship meets. USC's men have won the conference title 16 times, the last time during the 2006 season. USC's men have scored at least 99 points in 23 of the last 27 meets. Both the USC men's (277) and the USC women's teams (164) lead the conference in all-time event titles at the Pac-12 Championships. Johnny Brackins Jr. was named the 2023 Pac-12 Male Athlete of the Meet as he accounted for 22.0 points (win in LJ and 4x100, 2nd in 110m H, 3rd in 4x400m).
400 METERS TO TROJAN GLORY -- USC's William Jones won the 2023 Pac-12 men's 400m title by edging out teammate Johnnie Blockburger, who had won the previous two titles. Jan'Taijah Jones won the 2023 women's 400m title, her second consecutive conference 400m title and the sixth in-a-row by a Trojan woman. Jan'Taijah Jones is seeking to become the third conference woman to win three consecutive Pac-12 400m titles (Keshia Baker and Phyllis Francis). USC's Kendall Ellis holds the women's 400m meet record with a time of 49.99 set in 2018.
TRACKING THE TROJANS ON TELEVISION -- The 2024 Pac-12 T&F Championships will be carried on the Pac-12 Network live on Sunday, May 12, starting at noon. Coverage on May 10 will be the women's javelin at 10 a.m., the men's javelin at 1 p.m. and the men's and women's 10K races beginning at 4:50 p.m. Coverage in select areas on Saturday, May 11 will be the men's hammer throw at 12:30 p.m. and the men's and women's steeplechases beginning at 4:20 p.m.
RETURNING PAC-12 CHAMPIONS -- USC has five competing athletes on its current roster which are defending individual event or relay champions from the 2023 Pac-12 Championships held at Mt. SAC: Johnnie Blockburger (M-4x100m), Johnny Brackins Jr. (M-LJ, M-4x100m), Elias Gerald (M-HJ), Yemi John (W-4x400m), Jan'Taijah Jones (W-400m, W-4x400m)), William Jones (M-400m).
THE GREEK HAMMER - Junior hammer thrower Nikolaos Polychroniou from Athens, Greece, had a PR of 246-10 (75.24m) to win the USC-UCLA Dual Meet hammer throw competition on April 27. His throw moved him from sixth to third on USC's all-time list and he currently ranks fourth in the country. Polychroniou took second in the hammer throw at the 2023 Pac-12 Championships and went on to finish fifth at the NCAA Championships to earn All-America honors.
JONES CLEARING ALL HURDLES - 2022 Pac-12 100m hurdles champion and 2022 NCAA 100m hurdles runner-up Jasmine Jones is back in action after battling injuries since then. She was able to run the first three 400m hurdles races of her career last season, before having to shut it down for the season. This winter, Jones captured the NCAA 60m hurdles title with a school-record time of 7.77. She was unable to complete her first outdoor race, the 100m hurdles at the Florida Relays on March 30. She did not see action again until running the 400m hurdles at the USC-UCLA Dual Meet on April 28, winning with a time of 56.24, the ninth-fastest time by a collegian this season. She then ran a 100m hurdles race at the Oxy Invitational on May 4 and posted a time of 12.86 (-0.4) which ranks 10th nationally. She now is one of two collegiate women to rank in the top 10 in both events this season.
OJORA SOARING TO NEW HEIGHTS - USC senior jumper Temi Ojora currently ranks second among NCAA athletes with a slightly wind-aided triple jump best of 45-4.25/13.82m (+2.2w). She also has a wind-legal best this season of 44-11.50/13.70. She has won all four of her TJ competitions this season. Ojora also cleared a career-best 5-10.75 (1.80m) in the high jump and has a long jump best this season of 20-7.75/6.29m (+1.4). She won all three events at the annual USC-UCLA Dual Meet on April 28 to lead USC to victory, its 10th consecutive over the Bruins.
SULLIVAN IS BEING HEARD -- Graduate transfer Marne Sullivan has had an impressive first season at USC. She set the USC indoor 800m record with a time of 2:04.19 and has run the eighth-fastest outdoor 800m race of 2:04.59. She was born deaf and received a cochlear implant at the age of 3 and 1/2. She has said she always felt to be a step behind her peer due to the time she had to spend in speech therapy, attending multiple audiologist appointments and working with learning specialists. She learned to cope and fit in well with her familiar environment, but really felt out of place when she went off to Boston College and had to interact with new people and an unfamiliar environment. She realized there was a lack of understanding and decided to use her situation to be a leader for deaf awareness and began using her platform as an athlete to share her story and educate others.Through social media she has helped become an inspiration to others with hearing and other disabilities. She founded and was the head of the non-visible/visible disability sub-committee through Eagles for Equality, a DEI student-athlete organization on the BC campus.She has continued her efforts at USC by partnering with brands for Deaf Awareness month and more. In March, Sullivan was named the CalHope Courage Award winner which recognizes two student-athletes at California colleges and universities monthly for overcoming the stress, anxiety, and mental trauma associated with personal hardships and adversity
BRODERICK MAKING AN IMMEDIATE IMPACT -- Freshman Racqul Broderick set the USC freshman discus throw record in his very first meet with a throw of 204-6 (62.34m) to win the Beach Opener on March 2. His throw also moved him to second on USC's all-time list, a foot and a half behind the school record of 206-0 (62.78m) set by Gary Carlsen in 1967. Broderick has won four of the five discus throw competitions he has entered this season
STEVENSON POSTS USC TOP 5 INDOOR AND OUTDOOR LONG JUMP MARKS -- Sophomroe JC Stevenson has posted the fifth-farthest long jump ever indoors and outdoors by a Trojan this season. His indoor jump was 26-1.00 (7.95m) to win at the Spokane Sports Showcase on Jan. 12 and his best outdoor jump went for 26-5.00 (8.05m) to win at the Mt. SAC Relays on April 20.
BRACKINS JR IS A TRIPLE THREAT -- Junior Johnny Brackins Jr. has been making a name for himself this season as a jumper, hurdler and sprinter. During the indoor season, Brackins Jr. set the USC indoor record in the long jump with a leap of 27-0.00 (8.23m), breaking Detmer Haaf's school record of 26-11.25 (8.21m) which had stood since 1990. Brackins Jr. also had a time of 7.55 in the 60m hurdles to move into second on USC's all-time list and placed second in the event at the NCAA Indoor Championships with a time of 7.57. During the outdoor season he has run 13.51 in the 110m hurdles which is just outside of the USC all-time top 10. He also ran the 400m hurdles for the first time at the USC-UCLA Dual Meet on April 28 and in his second race ran 50.84 at the Oxy Invitational on May 4, which ranks tied for 30th nationally. Brackins Jr. also ran the second leg on USC's 4x400m relay which won at the USC-UCLA Dual Meet with a season-best time of 3:05.26.
TOP 30 TROJANS -- The following athletes currently are ranked in the top 30 among NCAA events entering this week's action:
Men: 200m - Blockburger (6), Thomas (T-16); 400m - Blockburger (T-3), 110m H - Brackins Jr (10); 400m H - Brackins Jr. (T30), 4x100m - (5), 4x400m - (18); LJ - Stevenson (2); TJ - Champ (15); DT - Broderick (5); HT - Polychroniou (4); JT - Nelson (18).
Women: 100m - Carter (20); 200m - Carter (25); 400m - Jones (T-13), John (16), Whyte (18); 100m H - J.Jones (10), Smith (28); 400m H - J.Jones (9), Serville (27); 4x100m (10); 4x400m - (15); HJ - Ojora (T-22); TJ - Ojora (2); JT - Zabarino (24).
YOU MIGHT NEED A PROGRAM -- USC added 30 new athletes to its track and field program since the end of the 2023 season. In fact, 39.0 percent of the roster is new from last season with 19 of the 43 women and 11 of the 34 men on the rosters competing in their first seasons as a Trojan.
NEXT MEET -- USC's next meet will be the NCAA West Preliminary Rounds to be held at John McDonnell Field in Fayetteville, Ark. from May 22-25.