USC
NCAA West Regional
USC Has A Strong Second Day At NCAA Preliminary Rounds
May 27, 2011 | Track & Field
May 27, 2011
Nine Trojans advanced to the NCAA Championships and seven more to tomorrow's NCAA quarterfinals on Day 2 of the NCAA Track & Field Preliminary Rounds held at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore. today (May 27) before 6,614 fans.
The first event on the day was a five-hour marathon women's hammer throw competition which may have featured 20 weather changes due to the fact that the weather went from sunny and cool to dark and rainy about every 15 minutes through the first half of the day. Trojan freshman Jenny Ozorai and redshirt junior Marissa Minderler were undaunted and easily advanced to the NCAA Championships. Both women pretty much punched their ticket to the NCAAs on their first throw, Ozorai going 203-5 and Minderler 195-4, both which would have held up had they not had anymore clean throws. However, Ozorai had a best throw of 203-6 (62.03m) in her third attempt to finish fifth and Minderler a best mark of 199-9 (60.90m) in her final attempt to finish sixth.
Senior Trey Henderson was the final Trojan to compete and he also took care of business with his first throw of the final flight in the men's hammer, posting a mark of 218-4 (66.56m) to take over the lead. He was passed by Chris Cralle of Sam Houston State who went 218-9 in his second attempt. Henderson then threw 214-3 and 205-1 in his second and third attempts before shutting it down for the day. After the competition's six rounds, Henderson's best mark was good for second place and a trip to Des Moines, Ia. and the NCAA Championships.
USC also had two 400m runners advance to the NCAA Championships at freshman Josh Mance and junior Joey Hughes qualified about a half second apart as they both finished in the top three in the second heat. Mance won the heat with a PR of 45.47 which is just .10 seconds off the USC freshman record of 45.37 set by Bill Green at the 1980 NCAA Championships. Mance also moved into ninth place on USC's all-time top 10 in the event. Hughes, who is in sixth place on the USC 400m list with a time of 45.05, placed third in the heat with a time of 46.16. Mance had the top qualifying time and Hughes the eighth-fastest.
The freshmen sprinters were next to go to battle with a trip to the NCAA Championships on the line, as Jessica Davis and Loudia Laarman competed in the women' 100m quarterfinals and Aaron Brown in the men's quarters. The top three finishers in each heat plus the next three best times would advance to nationals. Davis won her heat with a time of 11.45 to automatically advance. Laarman was in the same heat and placed fifth with a time of 11.75, so she would have to await the results of the final two heats to see if her time would be good enough to advance. After the final two races were run she ended up in 15th place, .08 seconds out of the final qualifying time. Davis and Laarman were two of only five freshmen to advance to West Regional finals.
Brown then ran in the final men's 100m heat and placed fourth with a time of 10.55, but his time was good enough to advance and actually tied for 9th (10.541) in the quarterfinals. Among the runners he beat out to advance to the NCAA Championships was Washington's James Alaka, the Pac-10 100m champion who placed 13th.
Junior Dalilah Muhammad advanced to the NCAA Championships in the 400m IH for the third time in three collegiate seasons by taking third in her quarterfinal heat with a time of 57.93. She placed third as a freshman and ninth as a sophomore in the event at the NCAA Championships.
Sophomore Reggie Wyatt joined her shortly after, securing his ticket to Des Moines by placing second in his 400m IH heat with a time of 49.94, good for fourth among qualifiers. Last season Wyatt earned All-America status in the 400m IH by placing eighth at the NCAA Championships.
The first Trojans running on the track today were sprint hurdlers Nia Ali, Lauren Blackburn, Brendan Ames and Oscar Spurlock. The top three from each heat and the next six best times would advance to tomorrow's quarterfinals with a trip to Des Moines in the balance. The women were first and the redshirt senior Ali and freshman Blackburn took care of business by winning their heats to advance. Ali posted the fastest time on the day, a wind-aided 12.82, and Blackburn had the 10th-best time in the prelims of 13.56.
The men followed suit as the seniors Ames and Spurlock both won their heats to advance to the quarterfinals. Ames had a wind-aided time of 13.57 which was the second-fastest time in the first round and Spurlock had a time of 13.73, good for fourth overall.
The first round of the women's 200m dash was also successful for USC as all three runners, freshmen Davis and Jenna Puterbaugh and junior Aareon Payne, advanced to tomorrow's quarterfinals. The top three from each heat and the next six best times would advance and the Trojan trio took all the guesswork out of it. Payne won the first heat with a time of 23.50 and Puterbaugh took third in the same heat with a time of 23.93 to automatically advance. Davis followed suit in the second heat, winning with a time of 23.45. Davis had the fifth, Payne the seventh and Puterbaugh the 16th-fastest qualifying times.
The men's high jump proved tough for all of the competitors today as only six cleared seven-feet and only seven more made it over the bar at 6-11. USC sophomore Tyler Ruiz and freshman Viktor Fajoyomi both bowed out of the competition at 6-9 after clearing the bar at 6-7 (2.01m).
Sophomore Alitta Boyd fouled in her first attempt in the women's triple jump, then had a legal leap of 39-7.75 (12.08m) which put her in 23rd place. She needed a big jump in her third attempt to get into the top 16 contestants to earn three more jumps, but had a foul and did not advance.
Trojans scheduled to compete tomorrow with a berth at the NCAA Championships on the line are: Nia Ali (100m HH, high jump), Brendan Ames (110m HH), Lauren Blackburn (100m HH), Tony Burnett (triple jump), Jessica Davis (200m), Viktor Fajoyomi (triple jump), Aareon Payne (200m), Jenna Puterbaugh (200m), Blake Shaw (1500m), Oscar Spurlock (110m HH), the women's 4x100m relay and the men's 4x400m relay.
Players Mentioned
