USC Heads To 2018 NCAA T&F Championships In Oregon

The USC track and field team will compete at the 2018 NCAA T&F Championships hosted by Oregon at historic Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore. from June 6-9. The top 24 athletes, 12 in each event from both the East & West Preliminary Rounds, have advanced to the championships. USC's women enter the meet ranked No. 2 and the men's team enters ranked No. 11. At least one Trojan man or woman has won an individual NCAA outdoor title in 20 of the last 26 championships.

USC BRINGS 22 ATHLETES TO THE NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS - USC has 9 men and 13 women who will be competing in 28 events at the 2018 NCAA T&F Championships, which includes three relay teams. Men: Benjamin (400m H), Brock (100m), Ford (800m), Morgan (400m), Norman (400m), Ponzio (SP), Samuel (400m H), Sears (HJ), Shinnick (4x400m). Women: Annelus (100m, 200m), Brissett (100m H), Cockrell (100m H, 400m H), Constantine (400m), Ellis (400m), Hall (100m H), Hill (100m, 200m), Lopes (Heptathlon, HJ), McGlaston (100m H), Richards (LJ), Robinson (400m H), Roberts (4x400m), Terry (100m, 200m).

WHERE TO WATCH THE MEET - The entire 2018 NCAA Track & Field Championships will be televised on one of the ESPN network platforms. The coverage on June 6 will begin at 12:20 p.m. on ESPN3 and at 4:30 p.m. on ESPN2; on June 7 beginning at 9:50 a.m. on ESPN3 and at 4:00 p.m. on ESPN2; on June 8 beginning at 12:20 p.m. on ESPN3 and at 5:30 p.m. on ESPN; and on June 9 beginning at 2:50 p.m. on ESPN3 and 3:30 p.m. on ESPN. All times are PT. For the fourth year in a row, the men's and women's meets will be contested on alternate days with the men's semifinals on June 6, the women's semifinals on June 7, the men's finals on June 8 and the women's finals on June 9. All field events are completed the day they start.

USC AT THE NCAA T&F CHAMPIONSHIPS - The USC men's track and field team has won 26 NCAA outdoor titles, more than double the next-best program Arkansas, which has won 12. USC won a record 9-straight titles from 1935-43. USC also has the most individual men's titles with 117. The Trojan women's team won its only team title in 2001. Last season at the NCAA Championships, USC's women placed third and the men tied for 20th. USC's men have placed in the top 10 in 16 of the last 23 seasons. USC's women have finished in the top 10 in 14 of the last 23 seasons. USC's third-place finish last season was its highest since the 2006 season. USC's women have scored 120 points in the first four seasons with Caryl Smith Gilbert as the Director of Track & Field, its most points in a three-year stretch since scoring a total of 158 points from 2001-04.

           Most Men's NCAA Outdoor T&F Titles
          1.)   USC                26
           2.)   Arkansas       12
           3.)   UCLA       8
           4.)   Oregon       7

REGIONAL RECAP - The USC women's team advanced 12 athletes in 17 events, plus both relays out of the NCAA West Prelims held in Sacramento, Calif. on May 24-26. Along the way, TeeTee Terry set the USC freshman record in the 200m (22.74), three Trojans qualified for the NCAA semifinals in the 100m and 200m and four in the 100m hurdles. The USC men's team advanced eight athletes in eight events, plus the 4x400m relay. Rai Benjamin set the school record in the 400m hurldes and the 4x400m relay team posted the third-fastest time in school history.

FOUR TROJANS EARN PAC-12 HONORS - USC picked up four of the eight 2018 Pac-12 season honors on May 18: Kendall Ellis (Women's Track Athlete of the Year), Michael Norman (Men's Track Athlete of the Year), TeeTee Terry (Women's Freshman of the Year) and Caryl Smith Gilbert (Women's Head Coach of the Year).

THERE IS NO NORMAL WITH NORMAN - USC sophomore sprinter Michael Norman has run in just 11 outdoor meets as a Trojan, yet each time he does it is something special. He began his outdoor college career at the 2017 USC-UCLA Dual Meet and won the 400m dash with a then-USC freshman record. He then won the 2017 Pac-12 400m title with a time of 45.15, defeating the two-time defending champion on his own track. Norman then placed fourth in the NCAA 400m final with a new freshman record-time of 44.88 and the fifth-fastest time ever by a Trojan in the NCAA final. On April 7 this season, in his second outdoor 200m race, Norman ran a PR of 20.06 (-1.4), the fourth-fastest time in school history. He lowered his freshman 400m record to 44.60 with a third place finish at the 2017 USA T&F Championships. He opened up in the 400m in 2018 at the Mt. SAC Relays and won the invitational race with a PR and then NCAA-leading time of 44.53. Norman won both the 200m (19.84w) and 400m (44.40) at the Pac-12 Championships, becoming the third male to ever pull off the 200m-400m double at the conference meet, joining Trojans Bryshon Nellum (2013) and Jerome Davis (1999). At the West Regional, he ran a 43.06 split in the 4x400m, the second-fastest time ever recorded. Norman competed during the 2018 indoor season and won the NCAA 400m title while setting the world indoor record and was part of the the relay which had the fastest 4x400m time in history.

THE BOWERMAN WATCH LIST - Kendall Ellis, Rai Benjamin and Michael Norman have been named to the Post-Conference Championships Watch List for the Bowerman by the USTFCCCA. The Bowerman is awarded annually at the end of the track and field season to the most outstanding track and field athlete.

RETURNING ALL-AMERICANS - USC has six first-team All-Americans from the 2017 NCAA Track & Field Championships which are here in Eugene, Ore. again. Those athletes and the events in which they scored in last season are: Anna Cockrell (2nd - 400m H, 8th - 100m H), Kendall Ellis (3rd - 4x400m, 2nd - 4x400m), Dior Hall (7th - 100m H), Deanna Hill (6th - 200m, 2nd - 4x400m), Michael Norman (4th - 400m) and Nick Ponzio (6th - Shot Put).

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Players Mentioned

Rai Benjamin

Anna Cockrell

Kendall Ellis

Dior Hall

Deanna Hill

Michael Norman

Nick Ponzio