EUGENE, Ore. — The USC men’s track and field team completed a rare double championship on Friday, with an assist from South Florida.
South Florida ran a brilliant 4×400-meter relay to close the NCAA men’s outdoor track and field championships, leaving USC and Texas A&M tied for the team title.
The Trojans, who also won the indoor title earlier this year, hadn’t won an outdoor title in 49 years. USC and Texas A&M both finished with 41 points on Friday, one ahead of Arkansas, with the Trojans becoming just the third team ever to win the indoor and outdoor national championships in the same year.
The team result came after a late surge by the USF anchor to edge Texas A&M in the final race, winning in 3 minutes, 42 seconds. Arkansas was third with the Trojans a disappointing eighth to earn just one team point. The Aggies earned eight points in the relay – a win would have been worth 10 points – and the Razorbacks got six.
Arkansas protested after the race that a USF runner hindered a Razorback, but the protest was denied. If successful, Texas A&M would have won the title and Arkansas and USC would have tied for second.
USC, which scored all of its points in seven events on Friday, won its first outdoor track and field title since 1976 and now has 27 outdoor titles, more than double the next program. USC also became the first Big Ten program to win the outdoor team title since Minnesota in 1948.
The Trojans won the team title without winning any individual events, just like they did for the indoor title earlier this year. The indoor meet also required waiting for the results of an unsuccessful Arkansas protest in the 4×400 relay before USC could celebrate.
“It is just an awesome feeling for the program, the University, the USC community, all of our fans and these student-athletes. They worked their butts off,” USC director of track & field Quincy Watts said. “I am just so proud of them.”
The Trojans’ march to the title began with sophomore Racquil Broderick breaking his school discus record with a throw of 207 feet, 8 inches to place fourth, securing USC’s first five points of the two-day meet. Broderick, who placed second as a freshman, earned first-team All-America honors for the second time.
The 4×100 relay team of senior Travis Williams, junior Max Thomas, graduate transfer Taylor Banks and junior transfer Garrett Kaalund placed second with a time of 38.46 seconds. The second-fastest time in program history was worth another eight points in the team competition.
Thomas then used a strong finish to place second in the 100 with a time of 10.10 (+0.7), out-leaning the third-place finisher by 0.001 seconds. Thomas gave USC its best finish in the event since Andre DeGrasse won the NCAA title in 2015.
Junior William Jones took second in the 400 with a time of 45.53 for another eight points that gave USC a meet best 29 points after 14 of the 21 events. Jones’ effort was the best finish by a Trojan since Michael Norman won the title in 2018 in a record-setting 43.61.
Senior Johnny Brackins Jr. placed seventh in the 400 hurdles with a time of 50.15 for two more points. After 18 events, USC had 31 points and was two behind Texas A&M for the lead.
Kaalund then placed third in the 200 at 19.96 and Thomas took sixth at 20.23, adding nine points that moved the Trojans into first place with 40 points, five ahead of Auburn, six ahead of Arkansas and seven ahead of the Aggies with the 5,000 and the 4×400 relay remaining.
Kaalund’s finish was USC’s best showing in the 200 since DeGrasse won the title in 2015.
USC ran a 4×400 team of junior Jacob Andrews, Thomas, junior Jaelen Knox and Jones, and they did just enough to secure a share of the team title, finishing eighth with a time of 3:03.18 despite a couple of balky exchanges.
“It is a journey and throughout the journey you are going to have hurdles and adversity,” Watts said. “We had some adversity when one of our top runners (Kaalund) was having some issues with his hamstring (leaving him unavailable for the 4×400). I gathered everybody that was here with the men’s team and we surrounded Garrett while he was on the training table. We let him know we were going to win the team title for him. We wanted to look him in the eye and let him know we had his back. Garrett has been there for us all year. Just a tremendous team with tremendous character as human beings.”
In other notable performances for USC, graduate transfer Jaren Holmes placed 11th in the triple jump with a top mark of 51-8¼ (+0.6), good enough for second-team All-America honors in the event.
Junior Elias Gerald placed 12th in the high jump with a best clearance of 7-0½, also earning second-team All-America honors.
The women’s title will be decided Saturday at Hayward Field on the Oregon campus.
Sam Whitmarsh of Texas A&M, runner-up a year ago, beat indoor champion Matthew Erickson of Oregon to capture the 800 in 1:45.86, the second-fastest in school history.
Jordan Anthony of Arkansas, the NCAA champion in the indoor 60, added an outdoor title, winning the 100 in 10.07 from Lane 9.
Ja’Kobe Tharp, who won the 60 hurdles at the indoor championships for Auburn, added the 110 hurdles title to his resume with a personal-best time of 13.05. Tharp ran the fifth-fastest time in NCAA history, only 0.07 off of Grant Holloway’s record.
Auburn also won the 400 relay in a time of 38.33.
Samujel Ogazi of Alabama raced to a dominant win in the 400 with a time of 44.84, more than six-tenths faster than the runner-up. The sophomore, who made the Olympic final in Paris, became the first Nigerian athlete to win the 400 NCAA title in 26 years.
James Corrigan of BYU, a 2024 Olympian, won the 3,000 steeplechase in 8:16.41, grabbing the lead at the last water jump. His time is the fourth fastest in college history.
Nathan Green of Washington, the 2023 champion, won the 1,500 meters in 3:47.26 with the top 11 finishing within 0.68 of Green.
Brian Masau on Oklahoma State added the outdoor title in the 5,000 to the indoor title he won earlier this year, finishing in 13:20.59.
Ezekiel Nathaniel of Baylor lowered his Nigerian record to 47.49 in the 400 hurdles, the second-fastest time in the world this year.
Carli Makarawu of Kentucky took the 400 in 19.84 seconds, a Zimbabwe national record, edging countryman Makanakaishe Charamba of Auburn, who ran 19.92.
Oklahoma’s Ralford Mullings, who returned to the championship for the second time in his career, took the discus title by launching a meet-record and person-best 227 feet, 4 inches.
Brandon Green Jr. and Floyd Whitaker gave Oklahoma a 1-2 finish in the triple jump with Green soaring 55-2 to win by more than a foot. Green led from the first jump and had it wrapped up after five rounds and then had his best leap to end it.
Arvesta Troupe of Mississippi cleared 7-5¼ to win the high jump.
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