Friday, February 28
Indianapolis, Ind.
TBA
USC
vs
Big Ten Indoor Championships
Players Mentioned
Sprints
/ Track & Field
Sprints
/ Track & Field
Sprints
/ Track & Field
Jumps/Hurdles
/ Track & Field
Sprints
/ Track & Field
Sprints
/ Track & Field
Sprints
/ Track & Field
Sprints
/ Track & Field
Sprints
/ Track & Field
Jumps/Multis
/ Track & Field
Sprints
/ Track & Field
Sprints
/ Track & Field
Sprints
/ Track & FieldSprints
/ Track & Field
Jumps
/ Track & Field
Sprints
/ Track & Field
Sprints
/ Track & Field
Photo by: Cassandra Yra
Brackins Jr. Wins & Stevenson 3rd in LJ, Polychroniou 7th In WT At Big Ten Indoor Championships
February 28, 2025 | Track & Field
Brackins Jr. and DeFrand set Big Ten Indoor Championship records
Johnny Brackins Jr. won the men's long jump and 19 Trojans advanced to event finals tomorrow during the first day of the Big Ten Indoor Track & Field Championships being held at the Indiana Farm Bureau Fall Creek Pavilion in Indianapolis, Ind. today (Feb. 28). Brackins Jr. also set the Big Ten Indoor Championships 60m hurdles record and Dajaz DeFrand set the women's 60m dash meet record during the first day of the meet.
After the first day of competition, the USC men's team is in sixth place with 18 points after 5 of 18 events have been scored. The women's team has yet to score with 6 of 18 events being completed..
After the first day of competition, the USC men's team is in sixth place with 18 points after 5 of 18 events have been scored. The women's team has yet to score with 6 of 18 events being completed..
- Senior Johnny Brackins Jr. won the men's long jump title, USC's first individual indoor track and field title as a member of the Big Ten, with a season-best jump of 26-2.75 (7.99m) in the third round. He then went to compete in the 60m hurdles, fouled in his fourth attempt and passed in the fifth and sixth rounds. Brackins Jr. moves to fourth on the NCAA descending order list, entering this weekend's action. Junior JC Stevenson placed third in the event with a best jump of 25-2.50 (7.68m). He sat in 16th place entering the third round and need to come up big to advance to the final three rounds, and he did, jumping the 25-2.50 and advancing to the finals in second place behind his teammate Brackins Jr. He remained in second until the final round. Stevenson is the NCAA leader with a jump of 26-9.75 (8.17m). Brackins Jr. (10) and Stevenson (6) earned USC's men's team its first 16 points of the meet.
- Senior Nikolaos Polychroniou competed indoors for the first time since 2022 and placed seventh in the men's weight throw with a personal-best mark of 69-2.50 (21.09m). He bettered his fourth-place standing on USC's all-time weight throw list and had four marks farther than his previous best throw in the event of 64-10.50 set in 2022. Polychroniou earned the Trojans two more points in the team competition.
- Brackins Jr. set the Big Ten Indoor Championships record in the 60m hurdles with a time of 7.53 and advanced first to the finals at 11:50 a.m. PT tomorrow. Brackins Jr. broke the previous record of 7.61 set by Oladapo Akinmoladun of Nebraska in 2016. Brackins Jr. leads all NCAA runners with a time of 7.43 in the 60m hurdles.
- USC qualified all three of its men's 400m runners to an eight-man final at 10:40 a.m. PT tomorrow. Junior William Jones won his heat with the fastest qualifying time of 45.97, sophomore Jacob Andrews was second in the same heat with the second-fastest qualifying time of 46.06 and Johnnie Blockburger won his heat with the fifth-fastest time of 46.47.
- Junior Yemi John won her heat with a season-best time of 51.88 and was second overall among the qualifiers to the women's 400m final at 10:50 a.m. PT tomorrow. John's time moved her into seventh place on the NCAA descending order list in the 400m, entering this weekend's action.
- The USC men's team had four runners advance to the men's 60m final at 11:00 a.m. PT tomorrow. Stevenson had the fastest-qualifying time of 6.62. Third among the qualifiers was senior Travis Williams at 6.63 (6.623), fourth was graduate transfer Taylor Banks at 6.63 (6.27) and sophomore Edward Nketia was sixth at 6.66. Stevenson and Banks won their heats, Williams and Nketia were second in their heats.
- The women's team also qualified four athletes to a 60m final which will be run at 11:10 a.m. PT tomorrow. All four advancing Trojans won their heats to automatically advance. Junior Dajaz DeFrand had a PR and set the Big Ten Meet record with a time of 7.15, to finish first among the qualifiers. The previous Big Ten Indoor Championships record was 7.18 set by Amira Young of Minnesota in 2023. DeFrand is now tied for fourth on the NCAA descending order list entering this week's action and moves from fifth to fourth on USC's all-time list. Freshman Brianna Selby was third among the qualifiers with a season-best time of 7.24, junior Jassani Carter was fifth with a time of 7.29 and freshman Olivia Pace was eighth with a time of 7.31. Selby and Pace were the only two freshmen to advance to the final.
- Graduate student Johnnie Blockburger and junior transfer Garrett Kaalund advanced to the men's 200m final which will be run at 12:30 p.m. tomorrow. Blockburger had a time of 20.64 to advance third and Kaalund an indoor PR of 20.67 to advance fifth. Kaalund moved into ninth place on USC's all-time indoor 200m list and to 14th on the NCAA descending order list.
- Four Trojans advanced to tomorrow's women's 200m final at 12:40 p.m. with personal-best or season-best times. Sophomore Madison Whyte ran a PR of 22.73 to qualify second and move from sixth to third on USC's all-time list. Carter ran a slight PR of 22.92 to advance fourth and move from tied for eighth to eighth on USC's all-time list. DeFrand had a season-best time of 22.99 to qualify fifth and junior Christine M. Mallard had a PR of 23.08 to qualify sixth to the final. Whyte moved to fifth on the NCAA descending order list, Carter moved to 12th and DeFrand to 13th, entering this week's action.
- Falyn Lott placed ninth in the women's pentathlon with a personal-best 3,897 points, breaking her USC freshman record in the event and bettering her fourth-place standing on USC's all-time list. Lott had three PRs in her five events today. Lott took 10th in the pentathlon 60m hurdles with a PR of 8.64 (987 points), then placed sixth in the pentathlon high jump with a clearance of 5-7.00/1.70m (855 points), then was 22nd in the pentathlon shot put with a PR of 31-10.00/9.70m (510 points), was third in the pentathlon long jump with a leap of 19-8.25/6.00m (850 points) and finally was 14th in the 800m race with an indoor PR of 2:29.80 (695 points). Lott finished 44 points outside of scoring at her first Big Ten Indoor Championships.
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