Track & Field | April 04, 2019

The No. 1 USC women's team and the No. 34 men's team will be at the Jim Click Shootout in Tucson, Ariz. on April 6. The teams expected to be competing at the meet are Arizona, Minnesota, Purdue, Oklahoma State, TCU and USC.  The Trojans did not compete last weekend.

TRAVELING TROJANS - USC men scheduled to make the trip to Tucson, Ariz. this weekend are: Eric Allen Jr., Alex Barnum, Nathan Bultman, Earvin da Silva, Michael Gonzalez, Noah Green, Nicolaus Jakowec, Isaiah Jewett, Matthew Katnik, Talin Lewis, Mitch Libby, Marquis Morris, Matthew Myrtue, Omotade Ojora, Ayden Owens, Daniel Robinson, Cameron Samuel, Earnest Sears III, Brendon Stewart and Sam VanDorpe.  Trojan women making the trip are: Angie Annelus, Breanna Bernard-Joseph, Chloe Berry, Alyssa Brewer, Chanel Brissett, Kyra Constantine, Karlee Freeman, Dior Hall, Alexa Harmon-Thomas, Margaux Jones, Bailey Lear, Isabella Marten, Joy McArthur, Mecca McGlaston, Kaelin Roberts, Jemima Russell, TeeTee Terry, Lanae-Tava Thomas and Kamryn Weber.

USC WINS 14 EVENTS AT POWER 5 TRAILBLAZER CHALLENGE - During the two days of action (March 22-23) at the Power 5 Challenge in Miami, Fla., USC athletes won 14 of the 26 events in which it competed.  Winning events were for the men: Matthew Katnik (shot put), Isaiah Jewett (400m), Omotade Ojora (110m hurdles), Cameron Samuel (400m hurdles), Earnest Sears III (high jump), Sam VanDorpe (800m) and the 4x400m relay.  Women winning events were: Alyssa Brewer (800m), Chanel Brissett (100m hurdles), Bailey Lear (400m), Isabella Marten (triple jump), Kaelin Roberts (200m), TeeTee Terry (100m) and Lanae-Tava Thomas (LJ).

TOP 10 TROJANS - USC's women have seven marks that currently rank in the top 10 nationally, while the men's team has four.  In addition, USC's women's 4x100m relay leads the country.  

USC WOMEN 2ND, MEN 17TH AT NCAA INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS - Chanel Brissett in the 60m hurdles, Kaelin Roberts in the 400m and TeeTee Terry in the 60m all won titles to help lead the USC women's team to a second-place finish, while Earnest Sears III placed fourth in the men's high jump to help lead the Trojan men's team to a 17th place finish at the 2019 NCAA Indoor T&F Championships being held at the Birmingham CrossPlex in Birmingham, Ala. on March 8-9.  USC's women scored 51 points and the men's team scored 12 points in the two-day event.  The USC women's three individual titles in the 17 events were more than any other school and only two other teams had two individual champions.  The second-place finish for the women's team tied for its best finish ever at the NCAA Indoor Championships (T-2nd in 1986).  

WELCOME BACK -  The 2019 USC men's roster features four athletes which have competed for USC before, but not during the 2018 outdoor season.  Two-time NCAA high jump champion Randall Cunningham (2016 outdoors & 2018 indoors) returns from a broken left leg.  Cunningham injured himself on his final attempt at the 2018 NCAA Indoor Championships after winning the title with his PR clearance of 7-6 (2.29m) which had tied the school indoor record.  Hurdler Marquis Morris returns after missing last season with a fractured right clavicle suffered in a fall at the 2018 Trojan Invitational on March 17.  Morris ranks 10th on USC's all-time 110m hurdles list with a time of 13.56.  Matthew Katnik used the 2018 season as a redshirt year.  He has an outdoor shot put PR of 62-9.50/19.14m) which ranks ninth on USC's all-time list.  He competed indoors this season and finished seventh in the shot put with a mark of 64-7.25/19.69m at the NCAA Indoor Championships.  Nicolaus Jakowec took two years off from the track and field team and returned during the indoor season to set the school indoor 3000m record with a time of 8:09.77.  In addition, junior Jaydon Logan transfered to USC from Cerritos College last year, but was injured and redshirted.  He has a best 400m hurldes time of 52.89.

BRISSETT & ROBERTS ON BOWERMAN POST-INDOOR WATCH LIST - USC sophomores Chanel Brissett and Kaelin Roberts were named to the 10-woman Post-Indoor Watch List for the Bowerman.

JEWETT MAKES AN IMMEDIATE IMPACT -  Junior transfer Isaiah Jewett from UC Irvine proved during the indoor season that he is going to be a key member of the Trojan team.  Jewett did not compete for UC Irvine last season and thus is eligible immediately.  He won the 2017 Big West 800m title and has an 800m PR of 1:47.43.  During the 2019 indoor season he set the USC 800m record with a time of 1:46.91 at the Texas Tech Classic on Jan. 26.  He then claimed the conference 800m crown with a time of 1:47.20 at the MPSF Championships.  He earned 2019 indoor All-America honors by placing seventh in the 800m with a time of 1:48.47 at the NCAA Indoor Championships.  Jewett won the 400m at the Power 5 Trailblazer Challenge with a PR of 46.29 which ranks ninth nationally.

MARTEN LEAPS INTO USC'S TOP 10 -  Redshirt senior transfer Isabella Marten, in her first outdoor meet as a Trojan, won the women's triple jump at the Trojan Invitational on March 16 with a leap of 42-6.75/12.97 (-0.7).  That jump moved her into eighth place on USC's all-time women's triple jump list.  She then won the TJ at the Power 5 Trailblazer Challenge with a wind-aided jump of 42-11.50/6.09 (+2.3w) which ranks 17th nationally. Marten also competed indoors and places second at the MPSF Championships with a leap of 41-10.50/12.76m.  Marten, from Stuttgart, Germany, began her career at SMU in 2015, then spent two seasons competing for California (2016 & 2018).  She has a PR of 43-8.00 (13.31m) and place seventh in the triple jump  at the 2016 NCAA Championships to earn All-America honors.

KATNIK USED HIS TIME WELL -  Redshirt junior sat out the 2018 season, but has already left his mark on the 2019 campaign by winning the shot put at the Power 5 Trailblazer Challenge with a PR and then-NCAA-leading throw of 64-6.50 (19.67m).  That throw moved him to fifth on USC's all-time list and is the farthest shot put by a Trojan since Noah Bryant set the school record with a mark of 67-5.50 in 2007. He also won the shot put in his first outdoor meet back, the Trojan Invitational on March 16, with a then-PR and nation-leading throw of 63-10.25 (19.46m).  His shot put mark also moved him for ninth to seventh on USC's all-time list.  Katnik earned 2019 Indoor All-America honors by placing seventh at the NCAA Indoor Championships with a throw of 64-7.25 (19.69m).  He currently ranks fifth in the country in the shot put.

NEXT MEET: TRITON INVITATIONAL - USC will be at the Triton Invitational in San Diego, Calif. on April 12-13.