The USC men’s team placed second with the meet coming down to the final event of the two-day competition and the women’s team placed third at the Big Ten Indoor Track & Field Championships being held at the Indiana Farm Bureau Fall Creek Pavilion in Indianapolis, Ind. today (March 1). The men’s team had apparently won the meet by placing second in the men’s 4x400m relay, but a protest was lodged and USC’s relay was disqualified, leaving the Trojans with 99.5 points, 6.5 points behind Oregon. The USC men would have earned 8 points for their original finish in the relay. The women’s team placed third, scoring all 76 of its points during the final day.
Both the USC men and women won four events, with Johnny Brackins Jr. setting the men’s 60m hurdles meet record, Dajaz DeFrand setting the women’s 60m championships record and the women’s 4x400m relay closing the meet with another Big Ten Indoor Championships record.
“I am very proud of how both the men’s and women’s team performed,” said USC Director of Track & Field and Cross-Country Quincy Watts. “On the women’s side, we set a lot of personal bests. I’m really excited about how Dajaz DeFrand is now second in the NCAA 60m and had a personal-best in the 200m. Christine Mallard had a 200m best, Madison Whyte had a PR and Jassani Carter is so consistent. Our women’s 200-meter group was lights out. Ashley Erasmus had a PR and finished sixth in the shot put and she wants more which is good for her. She has a bright future. Temi Ojora is still competing at a high level, and I am excited for her senior year.
“The men came in and had an opportunity to win and we ended up second. We are going to keep our heads up. We disagree with the decision, but we will keep our heads up as we move on to the NCAAs. We did a lot of great things and showed great effort. Nikolaos Polychroniou really stepped up for the team competing in the weight throw for the first time in a few years and earning us two points which were not expected. Brady Palen and Elias Gerald did a wonderful job in the high jump. Our 400m runners were great and our 60m group of JC Stevenson, Travis Williams, Taylor Banks and Edward Nketia did a great job with all of them scoring. Our assistant coaches did a great job of preparing them to compete. I give the assistant coaches a lot of credit for the success we had here.”
Final Day for the Men:
Men’s high jumpers Brady Palen and Elias Gerald got the day started for the Trojans and they placed second and tied for fourth respectively. The graduate transfer Palen placed second and tied his personal-best indoor clearance of 7-3.25 (2.22m). He was strategic throughout the competition by passing at 6-11.75 and 7-2.25 and ended up tying his personal-best clearance and moving to tied for ninth on the NCAA descending order list. Junior Elias Gerald, who also has jumped 7-3.25 this season, tied for fourth today with a best jump of 7-1.00 (2.16m). Gerald and Palen are now tied for fourth on USC’s all-time list and the pair earned the Trojans 12.5 points in the team competition.
Junior JC Stevenson then won the men’s 60m dash title with a time of 6.56, leading a Trojan assault in the event. Senior Travis Williams was second (6.59), graduate transfer Taylor Banks was fourth (6.67) and sophomore transfer Edward Nketia was fifth (6.68). The quartet earned the men’s team 27 points and move the team into the lead in the conference battle.
Junior William Jones (45.90) won the men’s 400m title following a disqualification of Jake Palermo of Penn State who appeared to beat him by 0.003 at the line. Palermo was later disqualified, and Jones became a Big Ten champion. Sophomore Jacob Andrews (46.20) finished third and graduate student Johnnie Blockburger placed seventh (47.34). USC’s men’s 400m runners earned the Trojans 18 points in the team competition.
Senior Johnny Brackins Jr. won the men’s 60m hurdles competition with a time of 7.49, breaking his Big Ten Championships record set yesterday. He earned the Trojan men 10 more points. Yesterday, he earned USC 10 points with his long jump title.
Junior transfer Garrett Kaalund and Blockburger took second and third respectively in the men’s 200m final to earn the Trojans 14 points. Kaalund tied his indoor PR of 20.67 which he also ran yesterday and Blockburger had a time of 20.81. The Trojans took the lead back over Oregon 99.5 to 97, with the 3000m and 4x400m relay remaining. Oregon would earn nine points in the men’s 3000m race, so USC would enter the 4x400m relay 6.5 points behind the Ducks.
After the first three men’s 4x400m relay heats, Oregon was in eighth place, meaning USC would need to win or place second to clinch the Big Ten Indoor team title. The Trojans held the All-American sprinter Blockburger out of the competition, meaning the Trojans ran a team of Jones, Andrews, sophomore Nathan Cumberbatch and Kaalund. The USC quartet finished second overall with a time of 3:05.13 to apparently clinch the men’s team title, but then a protest was lodged. Around 20 minutes later, USC and Penn State were disqualified from the race, meaning USC would end up placing second in the team race.
Final Day for the Women:
Junior Yemi John earned the Trojan women their first eight points of the meet when she placed second in the women’s 400m final with a season-best time of 51.76. She finished 0.02 seconds behind the winner Savannah Sutherland of Michigan.
Junior transfer Dajaz DeFrand then won the women’s 60m dash title with a PR and meet-record time of 7.10. She had set both of those yesterday in the first round with a time of 7.15. DeFrand bettered her fourth place standing on USC’s all-time list and moved to second on the NCAA descending order list entering this weekend. Freshman Brianna Selby was fourth (7.30), junior Jassani Carter was fifth (7.31 -7.307) and freshman Olivia Pace was sixth (7.31 – 7.308). The four Trojans earned USC 22 points in the women’s team competition.
DeFrand became a two-time Big Ten champion by winning the women’s 200m with a PR of 22.62, which moved her to second on USC’s all-time list in the event. Her time also moves her to fourth on the NCAA descending order list entering this weekend. Sophomore Madison Whyte took third with a time of 22.76, Carter was fifth and tied her PR with a time of 22.92 and junior Christine M. Mallard was sixth with a PR of 23.00. USC’s women earned 23 points in the event and vaulted up to third place in the team competition.
Freshman Ashley Erasmus placed sixth in the women’s shot put with a mark of 57-0.75 (17.39) with bettered her USC freshman indoor record and moved her from third to second on USC’s all-time list. Erasmus was the only freshman in the final and she earned the USC women’s team three more points.
Graduate student Temi Ojora won the women’s triple jump title with a best jump of 44-0.00 (13.41m). She jumped that in the first round and never trailed in the event. She earned the USC women’s team 10 more points.
The women’s 4x400m relay team of John, Mallard, Carter and Whyte closed out the meet in style by running a season-best and meet-record time of 3:29.97. The relay team earned USC’s women its final 10 points of the meet.
Trojans earning All-Big Ten First Team honors for the women were Jassani Carter, Dajaz DeFrand, Yemi John, Christine M. Mallard, Temi Ojora and Madison Whyte. Trojan men earning All-Big Ten First Team honors were Johnny Brackins Jr., William Jones and JC Stevenson. Brianna Selby was named to the Women’s All-Big Ten Freshman team
USC will next be in action at the 2025 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships to be held at the Virginia Beach Sports Center in Virginia Beach, Va. from March 14-15.