USC Advances 11 Athletes To Sunday Finals During Day 1 Of Big Ten T&F Championships

Friday, May 16

Eugene, Ore.

TBA

USC

Big Ten Championships

Photo by: Travis Ellison

USC Advances 11 Athletes To Sunday Finals During Day 1 Of Big Ten T&F Championships

May 16, 2025 | Track & Field

Brackins Jr. in 400m hurdles and Moody in the 200m post fastest times among qualifiers

Seniors Johnny Brackins Jr. in the men's 400m hurdles and Samirah Moody in women's 200m dash both posted the fastest times among qualifiers to the final in their event to lead the Trojans during the first day of the Big Ten Outdoor Track & Field Championships being held at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore. today (May 16). In all, 11 Trojans advanced to event finals on Sunday, including four each in the men's and women's 200m finals.

Senior Johnny Brackins Jr. and sophomore Yougendy Mauricette both won their 400m hurdles prelims heats to automatically advance to the event final on Sunday. Brackins Jr. ran a personal-best time of 50.00 to win his heat and Mauricette a time of 50.37 to win the third heat. They advance with the two fastest qualifying times.
Sophomore Nonah Waldron took second in her women's 400m hurdles prelim heat to automatically advance to Sunday's final. Waldron had a time of 59.16 to finish fifth among the qualifiers.
The USC men's 200m sprinters grabbed four lanes in the nine-lane final on Sunday. Junior transfer Garrett Kaalund won his heat and was second among the qualifiers with a time of 20.16 (-0.1). Junior Max Thomas won his heat and was fourth among the qualifiers with a time of 20.45 (+0.8). Freshman Jazonte Levan qualified seventh to the final with a PR of 20.51 (+0.9) and sophomore transfer Edward Nketia qualified eighth to the final with a PR of 20.65 (+0.8).
The women's 200m sprinters followed suit, qualifying four runners for Sunday's final, posting the top three and the fifth-fastest qualifying times. First overall was senior Samirah Moody with a time of 22.73 (+1.0), second overall was sophomore Madison Whyte with a time of 22.90 (+1.0) and third overall was junior transfer Dajaz DeFrand who had a time of 22.92 (+0.1). All three of those runners won their heat. Junior Jassani Carter finished second to DeFrand in the third heat and fifth overall with a time of 22.98 (+0.1).
Freshman Falyn Lott is in 13^th place in the heptathlon with 3185 points after four events. Lott opened the day by posting a season-best time of 14.06 (-0.5) in the heptathlon 100m hurdles, to earn 970 points. She was ninth after the first event, 82 points behind the leader.
Lott then placed seventh in the heptathlon high jump with a best clearance of 5-5.25 (1.66m) to earn 806 points. She had 1776 points through two events, good for eighth place.
Lott then had fouls on her first two shop put attempts, so needed to land a legal mark or get a zero in the event. On her final attempt, Lott had a clean throw of 33-10 (10.31m) to finish 18^th in the event. She earned 550 points in the shot put and had 2326 points through the first three heptathlon events, good for 11^th place.
Lott closed her day by placing 13^th in the heptathlon 200m with a time of 25.31 (+0.7). She earned 859 points in the event and sits in 13^th place with three events to go.

The USC track and field team will be back in action tomorrow at the Big Ten Outdoor Track & Field Championships beginning at 10 a.m. with Falyn Lott competing in the heptathlon long jump competition.

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