Wednesday, June 5
Eugene, Ore.
All Day
USC
vs
NCAA Championships
Players Mentioned
Sprints
/ Track & Field
Sprints
/ Track & Field
Jumps/Hurdles
/ Track & Field
Sprints
/ Track & Field
Throws
/ Track & Field
Throws
/ Track & Field
Distances
/ Track & Field
Jumps
/ Track & Field
Sprints
/ Track & Field
Sprints
/ Track & Field
Photo by: John McGillen/USC Athletics
USC Men In Lead After First Day Of 2024 NCAA Outdoor T&F Championships
June 05, 2024 | Track & Field
Stevenson wins the NCAA long jump title; Brackins Jr. & Polychroniou also score for Trojans
JC Stevenson won and Johnny Brackins Jr. took fourth in the men's long jump and Nikolaos Polychroniou placed fifth in the men's hammer throw to lead the Trojans during the first day of the 2024 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships held at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore. today (June 5). The USC men have the NCAA Championships' lead with 19 points scored through six of the meet's 21 events.
To advance to a Friday final in a running event, an individual or relay would need to finish in the top two of its heat or have one of the three next best times out of the three semifinal heats. USC also had two individuals and two relays advance to event finals on Friday.
To advance to a Friday final in a running event, an individual or relay would need to finish in the top two of its heat or have one of the three next best times out of the three semifinal heats. USC also had two individuals and two relays advance to event finals on Friday.
- The sophomore Stevenson won the men's long jump title with a PR leap of 26-11.75/8.22 (+0.8) in his final attempt. His jump moved him into a third-place tie on USC's all-time list with Larry Doubley (1977), who was the last Trojan to win the event at the NCAA Championships, which was with that jump. Stevenson advanced to the finals in seventh place. Junior Johnny Brackins Jr. took fourth place in the event with a best jump of 26-4.25/8.03m (+0.1) which came in the first round. Stevenson became the fourth Trojan to win the NCAA outdoor long jump title (Al Olson, Randy Williams, Doubley and Stevenson) and he and Doubley have the longest jumps ever by a Trojan in the finals. Stevenson and Brackins Jr. became long jump All-Americans and earned USC 15 points in the team competition.
- The junior Polychoniou got the day started for the Trojans and became a two-time hammer throw All-American as he placed fifth in the event with a best mark of 243-4 (74.18m). Polychroniou opened with a mark of 229-5 and then had a throw of 221-6 and sat in the 10th position on his final throw of the prelims, needing to improve to advance. He then uncorked a throw of 237-9 (72.46m) to move into sixth and into the finals. His best throw of the day came in the fourth round to move into fourth place, and he ended up finishing fifth overall. Polychroniou also placed fifth last season and his mark today of 243-4 was the best by a Trojan at the NCAA Championships since Conor McCullough won the title with a throw of 252-4 in 2015. In fact, Polychroniou's throw was the best at the NCAAs by a Trojan outside of McCullough's winning throw in 2015 and Balazs Kiss' four consecutive titles in 1993-96. Polychroniou earned the USC men's team its first four points of the championships.
- The men's 4x100m relay team of junior Travis Williams, sophomore Max Thomas, freshman Jacob Andrews and senior Johnnie Blockburger got the running portion of the meet started by posting a season-best time of 38.54, to place second in its heat and fourth overall. USC's team automatically advances to the 4x100m relay final on Friday at 6:02 p.m. The quartet's time of 38.54 moved them from seventh to second on USC's all-time list.
- Brackins Jr. ran a PR of 13.37 (+0.2) to place second in his 110m hurdles semifinal heat to automatically advance to Friday's final which will be at 6:42 p.m. He edged the third-place finisher in the heat by 0.005 seconds to grab the automatic qualifying spot and finished fourth overall among the qualifiers. Brackins Jr. moved from tied for eighth to sixth on USC's all-time 110m hurdles list.
- Blockburger won his 400m semifinal heat with a time of 45.11 to automatically advance to Friday's final, which is scheduled for 7:02 p.m. Blockburger's time was third among the qualifiers. Blockburger has advanced to his first NCAA 400m final.
- The Trojans' 4x400m relay team closed out the day's action by placing second in the final heat with a season-best time of 3:02.29 to automatically advance to the final on Friday, scheduled for 8:21 p.m. The Trojans finished fifth among the qualifiers. USC's team of sophomore William Jones, Andrews, sophomore Darius Rainey and Blockburger ran the seventh-fastest time in school history.
- Senior Leif Nelson finished 10th in the men's javelin throw with his best throw of 232-10 (70.98m). He did not improve in his final two attempts and placed 10th overall to earn second-team All-America honors. One thrower in his flight passed him on his final attempt, to knock him out of advancing to the final.
- Thomas had a time of 10.36 (+0.3) to place seventh in his NCAA 100m semifinal heat and finished 21st overall to earn All-America honorable mention honors in the event. He also earned All-America honorable mention honors in the 200m, as he had a time of 20.88 (+0.0) to place 22nd in the event.
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