Seven jumpers from the USC track team competed at the DeLoss Dodds Invitational in Manhattan, Kansas, on Friday and Saturday, with four athletes placing in the top six of their respective events.

On the first day of the meet, the men’s jump squad competed in the high jump and the long jump. Freshman Jackson Norris continued his strong start to the season in the long jump, posting a career-best distance of 7.40 meters to finish sixth overall.

Norris has bested himself at every meet this year: He opened his season with a jump of 7.27 meters at the Spokane Showcase then improved to 7.31 meters at last weekend’s Stan Scott Invite. If Norris continues his steady progression, he could play an important role for the team during the upcoming championship season.

In the high jump, senior Elias Gerald posted a jump of 2.14 meters, tying his performance at the Spokane Showcase opener and placing ninth in a highly competitive field.

Gerald peaked at the right time last season, posting his strongest indoor results in February and March. With repeat national title hopes in mind, the team will look for a similar upward trajectory from Gerald again as the postseason approaches.

The women’s jumper squad, made up of five athletes, impressed in the long jump, with junior Alyssa Hope and sophomore Avery Lewis taking first and second place, respectively.

In her first competition of the season, Hope recorded an indoor personal best of 6.11 meters. Hope’s mark was followed closely by Lewis, who jumped 5.96 meters. The next athlete — Kansas’ Richelle Stanley — finished with a jump of 5.69 meters, demonstrating the dominance of the top two Trojan athletes.

In the women’s triple jump, three more USC athletes competed: seniors Lauren Reed and Jada Foreman, as well as junior Jada Gatlin. Reed jumped 12.54 meters — an indoor personal best — and placed sixth in the event.

Foreman and Gatlin weren’t far behind, placing eighth and ninth on jumps of 12.28 and 12.05 meters, respectively. Gatlin’s performance earned her an indoor personal best, making her the fourth Trojan to record one at the weekend’s meet.

Although the jump squad represents only a small subset of the track team, its impact has historically been outsized. At last year’s NCAA indoor championships, the men’s squad relied heavily on points from the high jump and long jump to secure the national title

Gerald and then-senior Brady Palen tied for fifth place in the high jump, while then-junior JC Stevenson and then-senior Johnny Brackins added sixth and eighth-place finishes, respectively, in the long jump. Together, these jumpers scored 10 points for the men’s team, enough to put USC over the edge and beat Georgia, 39-33, for the national championship.

In contrast, the women’s squad had just one athlete qualify and compete in the jumping events, putting them at a disadvantage compared to the rest of the field. If the women want to improve upon last season’s third-place finish, any points scored by jumpers will certainly aid that effort.

With both Palen and Brackins now graduated, the men’s squad will look to Gerald and Norris to pick up points in the jumps, as the team attempts to secure back-to-back national titles.

The full men’s and women’s squads will be back on the track Friday at the New Mexico Collegiate Classic, hosted in Albuquerque, New Mexico.