Following an indoor season marked by impressive individual performances but a disappointing team result, the Trojan track team kicked off its outdoor season last weekend at the Ron and Sharlene Allice Trojan Invitational, the first home meet of the season hosted at USC’s own Allyson Felix Field.

Across two days of competition, Trojan athletes won 18 events, split equally among the men’s and women’s teams, along with numerous podium finishes. The women’s team had at least one member place in every single event they competed in, and the men fell just one short of the same.

Although USC faces more difficult competition ahead at the Mt. SAC Relays and the Big Ten Indoor Championships, last weekend’s meet was an encouraging start for women’s and men’s squads, who placed 20th and 30th, respectively, at the NCAA Indoor National Championships two weeks ago.

Women’s relay team sets NCAA lead

In the meet’s opening event, the women’s squad set an NCAA-leading time for this season in the 4×100-meter relay. Sophomore sprinters Olivia Pace, Mia Brahe-Pedersen and Brianna Selby, as well as junior sprinter Madison Whyte, crushed their competition, running a time of 42.90 seconds, which marks the second-fastest time recorded in the world this season.

Pace and Selby completed impressive doubles in the 200 meters shortly after, finishing third and fourth, respectively, in the event. Sophomore sprinter Rachael Uvieghara finished narrowly ahead of her teammates in the same race, placing second with a final time of 23.22 seconds.

In the 100-meters, Trojans claimed three of the top four spots again. Senior sprinter Christine Mallard led the way for the squad, running 11.38 seconds en route to a gold medal. Uvieghara and Pace both raced again in the 100-meters, earning second and fourth places, respectively.

Freshman sprinter Madison Mosby opened her outdoor career with a 400-meter win in a time of 52.92 seconds.

Graduate sprinter Asjah Atkinson and freshman sprinter Anisa Bowen-Fontenot rounded out the phenomenal sprint performance for USC by winning gold and bronze, respectively, in the 100-meter hurdles.

In the middle-distance events, freshman distance runner Oluwatosin Awoleye took home first in the 1500-meters in 4:21.16. Senior Jacqueline Duarte doubled in the 1500-meters and 800-meters, placing third in the 1500-meters and earning silver in the 800-meters.

A 4×400-meter squad of Mallard, Brahe-Pedersen, Mosby and senior sprinter Takiya Cenci earned gold in the meet’s final event, marking six wins for the Trojans in the running events.

In the jumping events, senior jumper Jada Foreman added another title to the Trojan’s tally in triple jump, recording a mark of 13.14 meters.

Senior jumper Lauren Reed stood out as well with a second-place and a third-place finish in triple jump and long jump, respectively. In long jump, Reed finished narrowly behind her teammate and silver-medalist junior jumper Alyssa Hope.

The success in the running and jumping events continued into the throwing events, where sophomore thrower Ashley Erasmus finished first in shot put and second in discus.

Junior thrower Jenna Gallaway brought home the women’s ninth event win in the hammer throw, earning a mark of 59.34 meters.

Men’s team impresses across all events

Just like the women’s team, the men’s squad recorded wins and podium finishes across all disciplines. Overall, the men’s squad earned three podium sweeps in the 200-meter, 1500-meter and discus final.

In the 200-meter, freshman sprinter Jack Stadlman led the way, running 20.99 seconds and securing a gold medal. Junior sprinter Edward Nketia finished a one-hundredth of a second behind Stadlam and senior sprinter Jaelen Knox finished close behind in 21.19, to complete the sweep.

In the 1500-meter, sophomore distance runner Chase McCallum broke the 4-minute barrier, with a time of 3:59.56. Graduate distance runner Alfredo Reina Corona followed with a 4:02.39 and sophomore distance runner Gabriel Castillo rounded out the group with a 4:09.49 final time.

Junior thrower Racquil Broderick convincingly won the discus final with a throw of 62.87 meters. Senior thrower Vincent Ugwoke and freshman thrower Mico Lampinen finished in second and third place, respectively.

Lampinen doubled back in the hammer throw and won that event with a throw of 64.24 meters. Senior thrower Matteo Mitchell was close behind, throwing a distance of 63.49 meters and winning a silver medal.

In the jumping events, senior jumper Elias Gerald jumped 2.16 meters in the high jump and went home with a win and freshman jumper Jackson Norris earned bronze in the long jump, recording a mark of 7.26 meters.

Junior sprinter Jacob Andrews and junior sprinter Nickolas Miller took first and third place, respectively, in the 400-meters. Andrews cruised to the win with a time of 46.47 seconds.

Junior hurdler Yougendy Mauricette added another title for the Trojans in the 400-meter hurdles, running 50.22 seconds.

The Trojan running squad continued its success in the 4×100-meter and 4×400-meter relays, managing to secure gold in both. Miller, Knox, Andrews and Stadlman made up the champion 4×100-meter group. In the 4×400-meters, Mauricette subbed in for Miller, but the rest of the squad remained the same.

With both of those relay wins under their belt, Stadlman and Andrews each secured their third event titles of the meet.

The Trojan track team will be back in action on Friday and Saturday at the Battle of the Bayou in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.