University Southern California Trojans
Wednesday, May 22
Fayetteville, Ark.
All Day
USC
vs
NCAA West Preliminary Rounds
Players Mentioned
Hurdles
/ Track & Field
Sprints
/ Track & Field
Jumps/Hurdles
/ Track & Field
Sprints
/ Track & Field
Hurdles
/ Track & Field
Throws
/ Track & Field
Throws
/ Track & Field
Jumps
/ Track & Field
Sprints
/ Track & Field
Sprints
/ Track & Field
Photo by: Travis Ellison
Four Trojan Men Advance To NCAA T&F Championships During Strong First Day At Regional
May 22, 2024 | Track & Field
Eight USC athletes also advance to NCAA quarterfinals Friday
Johnny Brackins Jr. and JC Stevenson in the long jump, Leif Nelson in the javelin throw and Nikolaos Polychroniou in the hammer throw all qualified to the NCAA Track & Field Championships during the first day of the 2024 NCAA West Preliminary Rounds held at John McDonnell Field in Fayetteville, Ark. today (May 22). Athletes competing in field events today had to finish in the top 12 to advance to the NCAA Championships to be held June 5-8 in Eugene, Ore. For the track events, an athlete had to finish in the top three of his heat or have one of the next six best times to advance to Friday's NCAA quarterfinals in their event. On Friday, they will need to finish in the top 12 of their events to advance to the NCAA Championships.Â
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- Johnny Brackins Jr. had a long jump personal best of 26-9.00/8.15m (+0.5) to place first and advance to the NCAA Championships in the event. His jump moved him from sixth to fourth on USC's all-time list, set the facility record and is the NCAA wind-legal leader this season. Also advancing to the NCAA Championships in the event is JC Stevenson who had a best jump of 25-5.25/7.76m (-0.5).  He only took two jumps and advanced eighth out of the regional.
- Leif Nelson got things started for the Trojans by qualifying in the javelin throw to nationals on his opening throw of 239-6 (73.01m) which ended up being fifth. He also had throws of 230-1 and 227-0, both of which would also have advanced him to the NCAA Championships. His opening throw was just five inches short of his personal-best throw of 239-11, set earlier this season.
- The men's hammer throw was originally rescheduled to 9 a.m. CT today, due to weather concerns, but this morning the weather had arrived, so the event was pushed back to the end of the day, moving from 9 a.m. to 10:15 p.m. CT. Nikolaos Polychroniou did not make his first attempt until nearly 1:30 a.m. CT and opened with a mark of 233-4 (71.12m) which immediately moved him into second. He finished with a best throw of 233-10 (71.28m) to finish second and advance to the NCAA Championships in Eugene.
- Brackins Jr. and Di'Niko Bates ran in the fifth heat of the men's 110m hurdles and both advanced to Friday's NCAA quarterfinal. Brackins Jr. tied his personal best of 13.51 (+1.8) to take third in the fastest qualifying heat and Bates had a PR of 13.53 (+1.8) to place fourth in the same heat and grab the first nonautomatic qualifying spot. Brackins Jr. was 11th and Bates 12th overall on time.
- Both Max Thomas and Travis Williams cruised to the NCAA quarterfinals in the 100m dash, both placing second in their heats to automatically advance. Thomas had a time of 10.28 (-0.6) and Williams a time of 10.30 (-0.3) to advance to the quarterfinals with the 12th and 14th-fastest times respectively.
- Thomas came back later to win his 200m heat with a time of 20.61 (+0.5) to automatically advance to the quarterfinal in the event to be held Friday. Thomas' time was ninth overall among the qualifiers.
- Johnnie Blockburger won his 400m heat and had the fastest qualifying time to Friday's event quarterfinal with a time of 45.15. He automatically advanced as did William Jones, who placed third in his heat and sixth overall with a time of 45.38.
- Tamaal Myers had a time of 51.48 in the 400m hurdles to claim the final spot advancing to the quarterfinal on Friday. He finished fourth in his heat and had the sixth-fastest and final nonautomatic qualifying time.
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