Track and field competes in championships
For the first time since 2009, both the men’s and women’s track and field teams had top 10 finishes at the NCAA Track and Field Championships held in Eugene, Oregon, from June 10-13. The men’s team took fifth place and the women’s finished in seventh.
The men’s team saw success in both racing events and field events. Senior Conor McCullough destroyed the competition in the hammer throw, defeating his closest competitor by almost 17 feet. The senior earned All-American honors for his performance.
Debatably the most impressive Trojan performance of the weekend went to junior Andre De Grasse, who swept the 100m and 200m for the first time since Olympic medalist Walter Dix did it in 2007 for Florida State University.
De Grasse set a personal best with a time of 9.75. The run was spectacular and tied none other than Olympian Tyson Gay for the fastest time run at Hayward Field. De Grasse also won by a margin of .13 seconds, which is the largest margin since 2010.
De Grasse’s performance was not done there, though, as he moved on to the 200m. Becoming only the 21st person to ever win both races in the same season, he did so in historic fashion. De Grasse ran a 19.58 in the 200m which is not only the fastest time ever run by a collegiate athlete, it set the field record and is also the fastest any-conditions time for the year in the world.
In the relay event, De Grasse served as the second leg on the 4×100 relay that also featured senior BeeJay Lee, junior Just’N Thymes, and freshman Adoree’ Jackson. The team finished in fourth with a time of 38.75, the second-fastest time in school history.
Jackson, who competed in the long jump, is the first football player to also score in two events at the T&F championships since 2000.
De Grasse scored 21.5 points for the Trojans, the most by any athlete in 2015, and was the first USC athlete to lead the championship scoring since 1978. He earned 10 points each for his wins in the 100m and 200m and an additional 1.5 points for his role in the relay.
“It was just an unbelievable feeling,” De Grasse said in a press release. “I never thought that I could run that fast, but I just have to believe in myself, and now that I’ve run that fast, it’s changed my whole perspective on running.”
On the women’s side of the action, the relays were strong. The 4x100m relay team started the day with the team of freshman Dior Hall, freshman Ky Westbrook, junior Alexis Faulknor and freshman Deanna Hill. The team placed third with a time of 43.27, the second fastest time on the year for the quartet.
The final event, the 4x400m relay, vaulted the team from ninth overall in the competition to their finishing position of seventh. The women placed second in the race with a time of 3:29:97.
Tera Novy placed fourth in the discus throw for the women for the best finish in the event ever by a USC athlete.
With their two top-10 finishes, the track and field teams were able to place 24 athletes on the first-team All-American list in addition to eight second-team honorees, and four Trojans earning honorable mention. Ten members of the men’s team earned first-team honors and 14 members of the women’s, the second-highest total among the women’s teams. All-American status is based on the results at the NCAA Championships with the top eight finishers in an event earning first team status, 9-16 place earning second, and 17-24 earning honorable mention.