Track and field College sports Southern California Trojans Johnnie Blockburger Garrett Kalund William Jones Texas Virginia Beach Sports Peyton Bair Isabella Whittaker Elena Kulichenko Arkansas Ryan Whiting
# USC wins first NCAA Men's Indoor Track and Field championship in 53 years

March 16th, 2025 03:07 AM

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VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP) — Southern California clinched the 2025 Division I men's indoor track and field title in the final event on Saturday night at the Virginia Beach Sports Center.

It was a chaotic final event, the 4x400 relay. Texas A&M was disqualified for flagrantly impeding Arkansas, which campaigned to have the race re-run but was denied. USC's team of William Jones, Garrett Kalund, Jacob Andrews and Johnnie Blockburger placed fourth in 3 minutes, 4.76 seconds to earn five points, giving the Trojans their first indoor title in 53 years.

Oregon clinched the women championship with two events remaining with 55 team points. The Ducks earned their first team title since 2017. Jadyn Mays placed second in both the 60 and 200 meters, Aaliyah McCormick placed second in the 60 hurdles, Wilma Nielsen won the mile with teammate Silan Ayyildiz fourth and the pair joined Ella Clayton and Ella Nelson to place second in the distance medley relay and Jaida Ross was second in the shot put.

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Georgia won the 4x400 event with a time of 3:03.44, ahead of Texas Tech (3:03.77) and Arizona State (3:03.88).

Peyton Bair of Mississippi State won the men's heptathlon with a final score of 6013 points and posting personal-best finishes in the 60 meters, shot put and long jump. He led all competitors after Day 1 and added a pair of fourth-place finishes in the 60-meter hurdles and the 1000 meters and finished seventh in the pole vault on Day 2 to earn the win.

Tyus Wilson of Nebraska cleared 2.20 meters on his final attempt to win the men's high jump title. Seven men attempted to clear that height. Wilson went on to clear 2.25 meters on his second attempt and 2.28 on his third. He attempted to clear a personal-best 2.31 but missed on all three attempts.

Tarik Robinson-0'Hagan won his third straight NCAA shot put title, putting up his winning throw of 20.49 meters on his first attempt and posting three marks beyond 20 meters. Robinson-0'Hagan is the first man to win three consecutive shot put titles across seasons since Arizona State's Ryan Whiting swept the event in 2009 and 2010.

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Isabella Whittaker posted a time of 49.24 seconds in the first heat of the women's 400 meters, the second fastest time ever run in the women's indoor 400m to set an NCAA record.

Axelina Johansson of Nebraska captured the women's shot put title as the only competitor to post a throw beyond 19 meters. The senior had throws of 19.06 and 19.07 before posting 19.28 meters on her final attempt.

Texas Tech's Temitope Adeshina and Georgia's Elena Kulichenko opted to share the women's high jump title. Both cleared 1.94 meters on their second attempt and neither cleared 1.97 meters in three attempts. Rather than a jump off, they decided to share the first-place finish. For Kulichenko it was her second-straight high jump title where she was a co-champion.

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