The USC men’s and women’s track and field teams, both currently ranked No. 2 in the nation, will head to Hilmer Lodge Stadium in Walnut, California, on Friday to compete at the Mt. San Antonio College Relays. The iconic annual track and field event has been hosted since 1959.

The traveling team features standout sprinters, throwers and jumpers who have already broken records and posted top national marks this season. A month ago, the USC men’s team made history with their first indoor track & field championship title in 53 years.
On the women’s side, freshman Falyn Lott already completed her first college heptathlon Wednesday at Mt. SAC but unfortunately had to drop out of the 200m competition due to a sore hip flexor. Before withdrawing, she was ranked fifth in the women’s elite “B” group with 2,385 points, good for the top score.

She ran 14.20 in the 100m hurdles, cleared a season-best 5-7.75 in the high jump and set a personal record of 34-2 in the shot put. Overall, Lott’s personal best score in the event is 5,058.
Lott hasn’t been the only superstar for the USC women this season. The Trojans also have a leading force in sophomore Madison Whyte, now one of the NCAA’s most explosive sprinters. In the last competition at the Texas A&M 44 Farms Team Invitational, Whyte led a 1-2-3 sweep in the women’s 200m, winning in a world-leading and NCAA-best time of 22.32, as well as claiming victory in the 400m with 50.91, tying her personal best.

She anchored USC’s 4x400m relay team, which won in 3:29.61 — the second-fastest in the Big Ten all season and sixth in the nation. These standout performances make Whyte a key athlete to watch this weekend.

Freshman Ashley Erasmus is another athlete to watch, after she broke the USC women’s shot put record with a throw of 58-5.75 (17.82m) at the Trojan Invitational on March 22. Her mark ranks eighth in the NCAA this season.

She is unbeaten in all four shot put events, and she now leads the Big Ten. Erasmus also set a personal best in discus with a throw of 176-11 (53.92m), putting her in a seventh-place tie on USC’s all-time discus list.

Sophomore Reese Garland, who was just recently named Big Ten Women’s Field Athlete of the Week after placing second at the Battle at the Beach, is red-hot coming into the weekend. She won the women’s discus at the Triton Invitational with a personal best of 181-11 (55.46m), the second-best mark in the Big Ten this season.

On the men’s side, sophomore Racquil Broderick recently broke the USC men’s discus record — last set in 1967 — with his season-best score of 207-0 (63.09m) at the Trojan Invitational last month. He later threw 206-4 (62.90m) at another meet, which also would have surpassed the 1967 record.

The dynamic duo of junior JC Stevenson and senior Johnny Brackins Jr. is also ready to take on the challenge. Stevenson placed sixth in both the 60m dash and long jump at the NCAA Indoor Championships semifinals. His 60m time also happened to be a new USC record with a time of 6.46 seconds. His indoor long jump distance currently leads the country at 26 feet 9.75 inches.

Brackins Jr. placed fourth in the 60m hurdles and 8th in the long jump at the NCAA Indoor Championships. Earlier in the indoor season, he set the USC record in the 60m with a time of 7.43 seconds. At the same time, he also earned third place at the USATF Indoor Championships, a national competition beyond the NCAA.

USC is in strong form heading into Mt. SAC and hopes to carry its momentum into another high-stakes weekend. With the USC-UCLA Dual Meet and NCAA postseason on the horizon, the road ahead for the Trojans will only get more exciting.