Polychroniou Takes Second In Hammer Throw, Garland Eighth In Shot Put At Pac-12 T&F Championships

Track & Field | May 11, 2024

Nikolaos Polychroniou placed second in the men’s hammer throw and Reese Garland eighth in the women’s shot put during the second day of the Pac-12 Track & Field Championships at Potts Field in Boulder, Colo. today (May 11).  After eight of 21 events completed at the 2024 Pac-12 Championships, the USC men’s team has 29 points and is in third place and the women’s team has scored 14 points, good for eighth place. 

USC has 12 men and 14 women who have advanced to event finals after the first two days of competition.  In addition, both the men’s and women’s teams have 4x100m and 4x400m relay entries, as well as three men and four women who will compete in field events on the final day of the championships.  The men will have 17 scoring opportunities on the final day, while the women will have 20 chances to score points.

• The Trojans began the day with Nikolaos Polychroniou earning his second consecutive second-place finish in the men’s hammer throw for USC with a mark of 244-8 (74.58m).  His mark would have won at the previous 26 Pac-12 Championships, as the last champion with a father throw was Balazs Kiss of USC who won with a throw of 254-1 (77.46) in 1996.  Today’s winner Rowan Hamilton of California had a winning throw of 251-1 (76.53). Polychroniou earned USC eight points in the team competition.
• Reese Garland earned the USC women’s team a point by launching a PR of 48-4.50 (14.74m) in her final attempt in the women’s shot put to take eighth. After the ninth-place thrower jumped into seventh on her final attempt, Garland responded with her personal-best throw to grab the final scoring position.
• Jasmine Jones led a trio of Trojan women advancing to tomorrow’s 100m hurdles final.  Jones won her heat and was second overall among the qualifiers with a time of 12.94 (-1.3).  Jalaysiya Smith qualified fourth to the final with a time of 13.22 (+1.6) and Simone Ballard fifth with a time of 13.23 (+1.6).  Nonah Waldron was called for a false start in heat two.
• Di’Niko Bates (2^nd) and Johnny Brackins Jr. (3^rd) both advanced to the men’s 110m hurdles final tomorrow.  Bates was second in his heat with a PR of 13.70 (+0.1) and Brackins Jr. won his heat with a…