USC Men In Lead After First Day Of 2024 NCAA Outdoor T&F Championships

Track & Field | June 05, 2024

JC Stevenson won and Johnny Brackins Jr. took fourth in the men’s long jump and Nikolaos Polychroniou placed fifth in the men’s hammer throw to lead the Trojans during the first day of the 2024 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships held at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore. today (June 5).  The USC men have the NCAA Championships’ lead with 19 points scored through six of the meet’s 21 events. 

To advance to a Friday final in a running event, an individual or relay would need to finish in the top two of its heat or have one of the three next best times out of the three semifinal heats.  USC also had two individuals and two relays advance to event finals on Friday.

• The sophomore Stevenson won the men’s long jump title with a PR leap of 26-11.75/8.22 (+0.8) in his final attempt.  His jump moved him into a third-place tie on USC’s all-time list with Larry Doubley (1977), who was the last Trojan to win the event at the NCAA Championships, which was with that jump.  Stevenson advanced to the finals in seventh place.  Junior Johnny Brackins Jr. took fourth place in the event with a best jump of 26-4.25/8.03m (+0.1) which came in the first round.  Stevenson became the fourth Trojan to win the NCAA outdoor long jump title (Al Olson, Randy Williams, Doubley and Stevenson) and he and Doubley have the longest jumps ever by a Trojan in the finals.  Stevenson and Brackins Jr. became long jump All-Americans and earned USC 15 points in the team competition.
• The junior Polychoniou got the day started for the Trojans and became a two-time hammer throw All-American as he placed fifth in the event with a best mark of 243-4 (74.18m).  Polychroniou opened with a mark of 229-5 and then had a throw of 221-6 and sat in the 10^th position on his final throw of the prelims, needing to improve to advance.  He then uncorked a throw of 237-9 (72.46m) to move into sixth and into the finals.  His best throw of the day came in the fourth round to move into fourth place, and he ended up finishing fifth overall.  Polychroniou also placed fifth last season and his mark today of 243-4 was the best by a Trojan at the NCAA Championships since Conor McCullough won the title with a throw of 252-4 in 2015.  In fact, Polychroniou’s throw was the best at the NCAAs by a Trojan outside of…