USC Women Earn 10 Individual & A Relay Berths To NCAA T&F Championships During Final Day Of West Prelims

The USC women's track and field team qualified 10 women in individual events and the 4x400m relay to the 2024 NCAA T&F Championships during the final day of the 2024 NCAA West Preliminary Rounds held at John McDonnell Field in Fayetteville, Ark. today (May 25).  A track athlete needed to finish in the top 3 of her heat or have one of the next three best times in an event today to advance and a field athlete had to finish in the top 12 of an event to advance to the 2024 NCAA Track & Field Championships to be held in Eugene, Ore. from June 5-8. 

• Temi Ojora placed second in the triple jump with a school-record leap of 45-7.25/13.90 (+2.0) to automatically advance to the NCAA Championships in the event.  Her jump in the second round came after a first-round foul and broke the previous USC record of 45-5.25/13.85 set by Wendy Brown in 1988.  Ojora also jumped 45-7.00/13.89 (+4.1w) in her last attempt. Lauren Reed finished 29th (42-2.25w) and Jada Foreman finished 40th (41-2.25w).
• Jasmine Jones and Jalaysiya Smith both advanced to the NCAA Championships in the 100m hurdles by posting wind-aided PRs.  Jones had a time of 12.58 (+3.1w) to take second in her heat and second overall among the qualifiers.  Smith had a time of 12.75 (+2.5w) to finish third in her heat and fifth overall among the qualifiers advancing to nationals. Nonah Waldron fell, but got up to finish 22nd.
• Jassani Carter posted a PR of 11.09 (+1.2) to place third in her 100m quarterfinal heat to automatically advance to the NCAA Championships in the event.  Her time moved her to tied for seventh on USC's all-time list with Natasha Mayer and was 10th among the qualifiers today.  Christine Mallard took sixth in the same heat with a PR of 11.22 (+1.2), the only heat run with a legal wind-reading.  Mallard finished 18th overall.  Samirah Moody did not line up after stumbling in the 4x100m relay to start the day.
• Jan'Taijah Jones and Yemi John both ran in the third and final 400m quarterfinal and both advanced to the NCAA Championships in the event.  Jones had a time of 51.11 to place second and automatically advance, while John had a time of 51.60 to finish fourth and secure the second nonautomatically qualifier.  Jones posted the eighth and John the 11th-fastest times of the day.
• Jasmine Jones then came back to qualify automatically to the NCAA Championships in the 400m hurdles, as did Rae-Anne Serville.  Jones won her quarterfinal heat with a time of 55.45 to finish second overall and Serville took third in her heat with a PR of 56.88, eighth overall.  Serville also moved from ninth to eighth on USC's all-time 400m hurdles list.
• Jassani Carter came back to win her 200m quarterfinal heat with a time of 22.54 (+3.4w) to automatically advance to the NCAA Championships in the event.  Madison Whyte finished fourth in her heat with a time of 22.59 (+2.3w) and grabbed the first qualifying spot on time.  Carter was fifth and Whyte eighth on time among the advancing runners.  Christine Mallard was in good position down the stretch in Carter's heat, but pulled up and had to jog across with a time of 26.69 to finish 24th.
• The 4x400m relay team of Yemi John, Madison Whyte, Jasmine Jones and Jan'Taijah Jones closed out the meet by placing third in its heat and third overall with a season-best time of 3:27.28.  They automatically advance to the NCAA Championships in the event and moved to seventh on USC's all-time relay list.
• Also competing today but not advancing were the women's 4x100m relay (DNF, trip and bad exchange from third to anchor leg), Reese Garland in the discus throw (39th – 167-0) and Leah Disher in the 800m (20th – 2:06.93.

Qualified Trojans will next compete at the 2024 NCAA Track & Field Championships to be held at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore. from June 5-8. 
 
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