EUGENE, OREGON, May 16–18 — Despite the fact that they had scored just 9 points in the first two days of the first edition of the Big 10 Outdoor Championships since the conference grew to 18 schools, everyone knew the USC women and their elite sprinters would have a huge final day. The question was whether it would be enough to catch and pass other elite teams with a wider range of strong events that had already scored more and would add to their totals as well on Sunday.
The answer turned out to be a resounding “YES!” Led by 200/400 champ Madison Whyte, who also anchored the 4×4, the women of Troy took the lead after the 200, spotted Oregon 15 points in the penultimate 5000, then clinched the title (121 points) with their final 3:30.16 triumph.
You knew USC would rack up the points in the three sprints – but 80(!) in the 100, 200 and 400? Plus 10 more each in the 4×1 and 4×4? That’s 100 points, folks, which would have beaten everyone else’s tallies for the entire meet, save for the Ducks.
The Trojans’ dash dominance was one of the biggest storylines in Eugene, along with Amanda Moll’s outdoor collegiate best and outdoor world-leading 15-8¼ (4.78) in the pole vault — the top individual performance of the meet — and the all-around excellence of a host Oregon squad that won six individual events in hopes of completing a sweep with the men at Hayward.
As it was, the newest four schools in the conference — USC, Oregon, UCLA and Washington — placed 1-2-3-6 in the team scoring.
Whyte, the Trojan soph from Virginia, won both of her prelims, but did not lead either on the clock, leaving room for doubt. But she edged teammate Yemi John in the 400 final with a solid 51.40 — for a day with temperatures in the 50s.
At half the distance, Whyte led a 1-2-3-4 Trojan finish with 22.66, as teammates Samirah Moody, Dajaz Defrand and Jassani Carter followed — with thousandths of a second separating their matching 22.79s. To put an exclamation point on their dominance, those 2-3-4 marks were nearly a half-second ahead of 5th place.
Meanwhile, it was Moody at the front of a 1-2-3-5-7 placement in the 100, as Defrand, Carter, Brianna Selby and Olivia Pace followed. Earlier, that leading trio plus Christine Mallard authored a meet record 43.00 4×1 triumph, well clear of UCLA.
“The women just competed at another level,” said USC head coach Quincy Watts. He was quick to give a lot of credit to his staff in preparing the team. “We have great, great coaches and they do a great job of training these young ladies and the men. Particularly on the women’s side, they had them ready and they seized the moment.”
The Ducks were everywhere, all weekend long, trying to pull out the sweep. It started the first two days with senior Annika Williams in the heptathlon (5914 points) and frosh Diana Cherotich in the 10,000 (meet record 32:00.48).
Then they scored more than 80 points Sunday with distance victories by Klaudia Kazimierska in the 800 (2:02.92) and Şilan Ayyıldız in the 5000 (meet record 15:37.11), plus a dominant 12.86 100H win by Aaliyah McCormick and a 1-2 triple jump finish led by Ryann Porter at 44-5½ (13.55).
Ayyıldız’s triumph came after a tough runner-up finish in the 1500 to Washington’s Sophie O’Sullivan and when she rallied after teammate Cherotich faded in the final 600. The Ducks led by a point, 112-111, but the Trojans had their final card to play in the relay.
The singular moment off the track came when Amanda Moll eyed the pole vault bar at 15-8¼ for a third time. It had been quite a day for the Washington soph as she had already needed three attempts at two earlier bars, including her opening height of 14-½ (4.28). As she had done twice before, Moll got over on her final try for the highest-ever collegiate vault outdoors.
She then had the bar raised to the absolute CR height of 16-1¾ (4.92) — which also would have surpassed her absolute world lead — but on her fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth jumps of the day, it was finally too much. Twin sister Hana had cleared 15-¼ (4.58) on her third try but couldn’t quite join Amanda over the next bar.
Afterward, the victorious sibling said that she would have preferred not having to make third-attempt clearances, but that “making them count,” was the key in a surprising competition. “I didn’t really expect this to happen today,” Moll added with regard to making and attempting high bars in 50-degree weather. “But it can happen on any day, as long as it’s not really bad.”
BIG 10 WOMEN’S RESULTS
Teams: 1. USC 121; 2. Oregon 113; 3. UCLA 84; 4. Nebraska 73; 5. Illinois 71; 6. Washington 64; 7. Minnesota 59; 8. Iowa 47; 9. Michigan 46; 10. Penn State 30; 11. Wisconsin 25; 12. Michigan State 21; 13. Ohio State 20; 14. Rutgers 13; 16. Indiana 12; 16. Purdue 11; 17. Maryland 9.
100(0.6): 1. Samirah Moody (USC) 11.13; 2. *Dajaz Defrand (USC) 11.18; 3. *Jassani Carter (USC) 11.18.
200(0.9): 1. **Madison Whyte (USC) 22.66; 2. Moody 22.79; 3. Defrand 22.79; 4. Carter 22.79.
400: 1. Whyte 51.40; 2. *Yemi John’ (USC-USC) 51.54.
800: 1. Klaudia Kazimierska’ (Or-Pol) 2:02.92; 2. ***Veronica Hargrave (In) 2:04.67; 3. Emma Kelley (Wi) 2:04.71.
1500: 1. Sophie O’Sullivan (Wa) 4:11.66; 2. *Şilan Ayyıldız’ (Or-Tur) 4:13.35; 3. Mia Barnett (Or) 4:13.40; 4. Amina Maatoug’ (Wa-Neth) 4:14.93.
St: 1. Katelyn Stewart-Barnett’ (MiSt-Can) 9:42.78; 2. Maggie Liebich (Wa) 9:48.84; 3. ***Isabelle Schmitz (Mn) 9:57.56.
5000: 1. Ayyıldız’ 15:37.11; 2. Maatoug’ 15:37.55; 3. *Florence Caron’ (PennSt-Can) 15:40.76.
10,000: 1. ***Diana Cherotich’ (Or-Ken) 32:00.48; 2. Caron’ 32:32.55; 3. Sophia Toti (PennSt) 32:58.91.
100H(-0.1): 1. *Aaliyah McCormick (Or) 12.86; 2. Yanla Ndjip-Nyemeck’ (UCLA-Bel) 13.04; 3. **Nonah Waldron (USC) 13.05.
400H: 1. Savannah Sutherland’ (Mi-Can) 55.37; 2. **Sidney Green (Mi) 57.47; 3. Sonia Virk (UCLA) 57.59.
4 x 100: I–1. Illinois 43.98. II–1. USC 43.00 (Moody, Defrand, Mallard, Carter); 2. UCLA 43.62; 3. Ohio State 43.84.
4 x 400: 1. USC 3:30.16 (Mallard, John’, Cenci, Whyte); 2. Iowa 3:31.54; 3. Michigan 3:32.47; 4. UCLA 3:32.95.
Field Events
HJ: 1. Jenna Rogers (Nb) 6-½ (1.84); 2. Rose Yeboah’ (Il-Gha) 6-½.
PV: 1. **Amanda Moll (Wa) 15-8¼ (4.78) (x, 5 C);
2. **Hana Moll (Wa) 15-¼ (4.58); 3. Chloe Timberg (Rut) 14-4½ (4.38).
LJ: 1. Tacoria Humphrey (Il) 21-7½ (6.59); 2. Sydney Johnson (UCLA) 20-7¼ (6.28); 3. **Sophia Beckmon (Il) 20-2½ (6.16).
TJ: 1. Ryann Porter (Or) 44-5½ (13.55); 2. ***Cassandra Atkins (Or) 43-11¼ (13.39); 3. **Daniela Wamokpego’ (Ia-Fra) 43-10 (13.36); 4. **Diarra Sow’ (Mn-Ita) 43-6½ (13.27).
SP: 1. Abria Smith (Il) 58-10¾ (17.95); 2. **Elizabeth Tapper (Mi) 57-11 (17.65); 3. ***Ashley Erasmus’ (USC-SA) 57-9 (17.60); 4. Kalynn Meyer (Nb) 57-2¼ (17.43).
DT: 1. Meyer 191-3 (58.29); 2. **Anthonett Nabwe’ (Mn-Mn) 181-7 (55.36).
HT: 1. **Anthonett Nabwe’ (Mn-Mn) 229-2 (69.85); 2. *Phethisang Makhethe’ (Il-SA) 225-3 (68.66); 3. Chloe Lindeman (Wi) 222-9 (67.89).
JT: 1. Maddie Harris (Nb) 191-6 (58.38); 2. Jana van Schalkwyk’ (UCLA-SA) 184-6 (56.24); 3. *Elizabeth Korczak’ (Ia-GB) 181-3 (55.25).
Hept: 1. Annika Williams (Or) 5914; 2. ***Lucie Kienast’ (Il-Ger) 5851; 3. Sydney Johnson (UCLA) 5820; 4. ***Melissa Wullschleger’ (Il-Swi) 5749; 5. ***Pauline Bikembo’ (Ia-Fra) 5722.
