11 Current And Graduated Trojans Advance To Semifinals At U.S. Olympic T&F Team Trials

Johnnie Blockburger and William Jones in the men's 400m, Jan'Taijah Jones and Madison Whyte in the women's 400m and Jassani Carter in the women's 100m all advanced to event semifinals during the first day of the 2024 U.S. Olympic Track & Field Team Trials held at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore. today (June 21). All 11 current and graduated Trojans who competed today advanced to the next round at the Olympic Trials.

Senior Johnnie Blockburger and sophomore William Jones, along with Michael Norman (USC, 2018), advanced to the men's 400m semifinal on Sunday at 6:35 p.m. Blockburger won his 400m prelims heat with a time of 45.08, Jones placed fifth in his heat with a time of 45.50 and Norman won his heat with a time of 45.31. All three runners automatically advanced to the semifinal. Blockburger was fifth, Norman 12^th and Jones 17^th on time among the qualifiers.
Senior Jan'Taijah Jones and freshman Madison Whyte earned their way to the women's 400m semifinal on Saturday at 7:15 p.m. and will be joined in the event by graduated Trojans Kendall Ellis (USC, 2018) and Bailey Lear (USC, 2023). Jones placed fourth in her heat with a time of 51.59, Whyte was fourth in her heat with a time of 51.85, Ellis was third in her heat with a time of 51.22 and Lear was second in her heat with a time of 51.12. Among the qualifiers by time for the semifinal, Lear was ninth, Ellis was 12^th, Jones 17^th and Whyte 20^th.
Sophomore Jassani Carter advanced to the women's 100m semifinal tomorrow with a time of 11.21 (+0.3). She was fifth in her heat and 25^th overall on time among the advancing runners. Graduated Trojans also advancing to Saturday's women's 100m semifinal at 5:58 p.m. were Celera Barnes (USC, 2022) with a time of 11.06 (+0.4), TeeTee Terry (USC, 2021) with a time of 11.07 (+0.8), and Caisja Chandler (USC, 2023) with a time of 11.20 (+3.1w). Chandler was seventh in her heat, but grabbed the second of three nonautomatic qualifying spots on time. On time, Barnes was 10^th, Terry was 12^th and Chandler 23^rd among the advancing runners.

Current and graduated Trojans in action tomorrow at the U.S. Olympic Track & Field Team Trials include Celera Barnes (W-100m semis), Johnny Brackins Jr. (M-LJ 1^st Round), Jassani Carter (W-100m semis), Caisja Chandler (W-100m semis), Kendall Ellis (W-400m semis), Jan'Taijah Jones (W-400m semis), Bailey Lear (W-400m semis), JC Stevenson (M-LJ 1^st Round), TeeTee Terry (100m semis), Max Thomas (M-100m prelim) and Madison Whyte (W-400m semis)

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Players Mentioned

Johnnie Blockburger

Johnny Brackins Jr.

Jassani Carter

Caisja Chandler

Jan'Taijah Jones

William Jones

Bailey Lear

JC Stevenson

Max Thomas

Madison Whyte