USC, Texas A&M share NCAA track & field title after USF rallies to win 1,600 relay
EUGENE, Ore. — South Florida ran a brilliant 1,600-meter relay to close the NCAA men's outdoor track and field championships Friday night, leaving Southern California and Texas A&M tied for the team title.
The Trojans, who won the indoor title earlier this year but hadn't won an outdoor title in 49 years, and the Aggies, both finished with 41 points, one ahead of Arkansas.
That came after a late surge by the USF anchor to edge Texas A&M in the final race, winning in 3 minutes, 42 seconds. Arkansas was third with the Trojans a disappointing eighth to earn just one team point. The Aggies earned eight points in the relay — a win would have been worth 10 points — and the Razorbacks got six.
Arkansas protested after the race that a USF runner hindered a Razorback but the protest was denied. If successful, Texas A&M would have won the title and Arkansas and USC would have tied for second.
The women's title will be decided Saturday at Hayward Field on the Oregon campus.
Sam Whitmarsh of Texas A&M, runner-up a year ago, beat indoor champion Matthew Erickson of Oregon to capture the 800 in 1:45.86, the second-fastest in school history.
Jordan Anthony of Arkansas, the NCAA champion in the indoor 60, added an outdoor title, winning the 100 in 10.07 from Lane 9.
Ja'Kobe Tharp, who won the 60r hurdles at the indoor championships for Auburn, added the 110 hurdle title to his resume with a personal-best time of 13.05. Tharp ran the fifth-fastest time in NCAA history, only 0.07 off of Grant Holloway's record.
Auburn also won the 400 relay in a time of 38.33.
Samujel Ogazi of Alabama raced to a dominant win in the 400 with a time of 44.84, more than six-tenths faster than the runner-up. The sophomore, who made the Olympic finals in Paris, became the first Nigerian athlete to win the 400 NCAA title in 26 years.
James Corrigan of BYU, a 2024 Olympian, won the 3,000 steeplechase in 8:16.41, grabbing the lead at the last water jump. His time is the fourth fastest in college history.
Nathan Green of Washington, the 2023 champion, won the 1,500 meters in 3:47.26 with the top 11 finishing within 0.68 of Green.
Brian Masau on Oklahoma State added the outdoor title in the 5,000 to the indoor title he won earlier this year, finishing in 13:20.59.
Ezekiel Nathaniel of Baylor lowered his Nigerian record to 47.49 in the 400 hurdles, the second-fastest time in the world this year.
Carli Makarawu of Kentucky took the 400 in 19.84 seconds, a Zimbabwe national record, edging countryman Makanakaishe Charamba of Auburn, who ran 19.92.
Oklahoma's Ralford Mullings, who returned to the championship for the second time in his career, took the discus title by launching a meet-record and person-best 227 feet, 4 inches.
Brandon Green Jr. and Floyd Whitaker gave Oklahoma a 1-2 finish in the triple jump with Green soaring 55-2 to win by more than a foot. Green led from the first jump and had it wrapped up after five rounds and then had his best leap to end it.
Arvesta Troupe of Mississippi cleared 7-5 1/4 to win the high jump.
___
AP college sports: https://apnews.com/hub/college-sports
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Washington Post
10 minutes ago
- Washington Post
Oakmont remained pristine despite the rain at the US Open. Outside the ropes, it was squishier
OAKMONT, Pa. — There's no water at Oakmont, even when it pours. While the venerable and now nearly tree-less course carved out of the western Pennsylvania hills held up fine despite steady overnight rains ahead of Saturday's third round, things were a little squishier, a little soggier, a little dicier outside the ropes.
Associated Press
17 minutes ago
- Associated Press
Oakmont remained pristine despite the rain at the US Open. Outside the ropes, it was squishier
OAKMONT, Pa. (AP) — There's no water at Oakmont, even when it pours. While the venerable and now nearly tree-less course carved out of the western Pennsylvania hills held up fine despite steady overnight rains ahead of Saturday's third round, things were a little squishier, a little soggier, a little dicier outside the ropes. Standing alongside the 11th tee box — one of the lowest points on the property — Katie Fulcher looked down at her black-and-white Nike dunks and shrugged. The 28-year-old had slipped them on before leaving the Airbnb she was sharing with some friends. Now, with her shoes not quite as white as they were when she walked through the gates on Saturday morning, she shrugged. 'Fashion over function, I guess,' she said with a laugh, noting she had a newer and cleaner pair of the same shoes back home in Columbus, Ohio. 'To be honest, it's not as bad as I thought it was going to be.' For most of the day, she was right. The sun even poked out for a while in the mid-afternoon, though a brief shower passed overhead not long after the final pairing of second-round leader Sam Burns and J.J. Spaun teed off. If you just looked inside the ropes, it was almost impossible to tell that a line of storms rolled through Friday evening, forcing play in the second round to be suspended for the handful of groups left out on the course. There was no standing water to be found when the third round began under cloudy skies at 9 a.m. on Saturday. All the rain seemed to do was slow down Oakmont's quicksilver greens a touch, a welcome development for the 67 players who survived the cut. Still, with the forecast calling for the potential of more storms on Saturday, the USGA offered full refunds to anyone who'd bought a ticket but was concerned about the weather. There were also a few problem areas that were roped off. The right side of the fairway on the short uphill par-4 17th was closed. So was a crosswalk at the 16th hole. Over on the front nine, most of which sits on the other side of the Pennsylvania Turnpike, crosswalks were closed on both the fourth and fifth holes, forcing a longer walk around, though hardly a dealbreaker for the thousands who made their way across the footbridge that connects the course. 'If they were playing, we were going to be here,' said Jackson Moore as he stood near the 12th green. Moore's waterproof black boots had a few flecks of mud on them, though Moore joked he wasn't sure how much of that mud was actually new. It helped that the weather came six days into tournament week, when most of the spectator areas had already been trampled down pretty firmly. Things were wet, but that didn't stop one woman from wearing wedge shoes as she stood behind the 13th tee. Jim Bender and his wife, Susan, both rocked sandals while their 3-year-old son Jimmy had a pair of velcro sneakers on as they stood on mulch a few feet off the 10th green. 'We knew we had wipes in the car, so we were like, 'So what if our feet get dirty?'' Jim Bender said. Caitlin Jennings had black riding boots pulled over her white pants as she watched the pairing of amateur Justin Hastings and Jordan Smith putt out on the par-5 12th. Her boyfriend, Mike Clark, had on golf spikes. Most, however, just wore sneakers of some kind. And whatever issues they had didn't seem to have anything to do with their footing or their footwear. Nancy Ring, 51, stood looking at signage adjacent to the 10th green wondering how to get to the fan village. Not too far away, John Thomas and his brother Jeremy were trying to negotiate their way down the hill from the clubhouse to the first green. 'Here we go with the moguls again,' John, 56, said as he gingerly picked his way over the small mounds that line the space between the first and ninth fairways. Thomas, at least, had the good sense to put on what he called 'the oldest pair of shoes I have.' 'I mean, it rained and we're going to a place where there's dirt,' he said with a laugh. 'The math wasn't hard.' ___ AP golf:
Forbes
22 minutes ago
- Forbes
FOX Believes IndyCar Is Ready For Prime Time At Gateway Sunday Night
Scott McLaughlin (3) leads the field into Turn 3 during the 2024 Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at ... More World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway. (Photo by Michael Allio/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) It's a new age for the NTT IndyCar Series as FOX Sports will put the high-speed racing series in prime time on a Sunday night in the June 15 Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at World Wide Technology Raceway. Instead of Homer Simpson, FOX viewers will get Will Power. Instead of Family Guy, it's Graham Rahal. Viewers of The Snake will see Alex Palou zig-zagging his way through traffic at the 1.25-mile short oval. It's the first time an IndyCar race will be televised in prime time by a major network since NBC televised the Genesys 500 at Texas Motor Speedway on June 6, 2020. The circumstances were much different, however. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic that shut down most of the world, that was the first race of the 2020 IndyCar Series season. The previous races on the schedule were canceled for health reasons. The race at Texas in 2020 was contested without spectators, so the only way to watch was on NBC. On Sunday night, June 15, the prime-time race is by design. It's another indication that FOX Sports is an aggressive and active partner of IndyCar and want to feature this exciting form of racing at a time of day when no other motorsport is racing. Formula One's Canadian Grand Prix starts at 1 p.m. Eastern Time on ABC. The first-ever NASCAR Cup Series race in Mexico is scheduled for 3 p.m. Eastern Time from Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City. It's a 15-turn, 2.42-mile layout in North America's most populous city as 9,209,942 live in Mexico City compared to New York City's population of 8,335,898. Yes, folks, Mexico is located in North America, not Central America or South America for the geographically challenged. The NASCAR Cup Series race will be televised on Amazon Prime. That sets up the finale of the day, the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 – IndyCar's first short oval race of the season. The FOX telecast is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET. IndyCar drivers are anxious to prove they are ready for Prime Time. 'Freaking awesome,' Arrow McLaren star Pato O'Ward of Monterrey, Mexico told me. 'Oval races in IndyCar are better when they're at night. I can't think of a better day to do it. 'Just the commitment that FOX Sports has put in this year. They've done so much already, and you can definitely see that they're in here for the long haul and they wanted to see us succeed.' FOX is doing more than televising an IndyCar race at night. FOX is giving IndyCar is most-watched night of the week from an entertainment standpoint featuring some of the most iconic TV shows in the past 25 seasons. 'They picked a good race to do it,' driver David Malukas told me. 'I always think the racing at St. Louis is incredible, especially towards the end of the race. It's just nonstop action until the end, so I just know that no matter what time, prime time, they're going to be watching their shows, and they're going to say, 'Oh, what's this IndyCar? What's going on?' 'And whatever time of that race they're going to be watching, and think, 'Well, this is cool, I want to be a part of this.'' IndyCar Series drivers are confident they can live up to the promise and potential with an entertaining race. 'Honestly, I think it only gets better in the night,' Conor Daly told me Friday at the track. 'I love this track. I think it produces a great product, and we just got to go out there and make it happen. 'Hopefully the weather cooperates, and we can put on a great show for these fans and the Sunday Night primetime FOX audience.' This year's telecast of the 109th Indianapolis 500 drew the largest TV audience in 17 years as 7.01 million viewers tuned into FOX's first-ever Indy 500. The audience peaked at 8.5 million from 4:15 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. ET to watch the dramatic conclusion of the race. That was a 46 percent increase over last year's rating, the final Indy 500 on NBC. Scott Dixon after winning the NTT IndyCar Series Bommarito Automotive Group 500 on August 27, 2023, ... More at World Wide Technology Raceway. (Photo by Michael Allio/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) 'The 500 was definitely a good jolt in the arm that everybody needed,' Scott Dixon told me. 'Hopefully they can continue that success, throughout. 'I guess we'll have to see how the Sunday night races really go for TV. For us, racing under the lights is definitely perfect. The IndyCars were a lot of fun, and what better place to do it than St. Louis?' Dixon is a two-time winner at the 1.25-mile Gateway oval. Power drove to victory here in 2018, the same year he won his only Indy 500. To see a tremendous jump in the Indy 500 rating is great news for IndyCar momentum. 'It was amazing,' Team Penske's Will Power told me. 'I knew it was going to be a big rating. I just knew. 'The sold-out crowd at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, all the promotion FOX had done, and IndyCar had done, we're lucky, man. 'I'm glad we have FOX as a partner and it's looking better than ever.' Another Team Penske driver, Scott McLaughlin, is one of the top drivers at Gateway and finished second in the 2024 Bommarito Automotive Group 500. He hopes to be one of the main stars in the battle for the checkered flag on the FOX prime time telecast. 'That's huge news, huge news,' McLaughlin told me. 'Any time you can get an oval at night too, I think the cars look spectacular. 'I'm super, super excited for everyone involved. Look, we just got to thank Fox. They're a great broadcast partner that I want to see the best for our ratings. We just come out of a massive ratings hit at Indy where we surpassed the Daytona 500. There's only one way out from here and I'm really proud to be a part of IndyCar right now with FOX.' McLaughlin had mixed views on the massive ratings increase for this year's Indy 500. It was great for the series and the race, but McLaughlin crashed on the Pace Lap and never turned a lap in this year's Indy 500. 'You could say 8.5 million people saw me make a massive mistake,' McLaughlin quipped. 'I'm not joking. 'Outside of that, it's an amazing number. Our race events and our sponsorships and everything is targeted on audience and targeted on who we're attracting. I just, the amount of people that I've seen at races this year, every attendance figure for every track that we've gone to is high, and more than it was last year. So, we're going to the moon, and that's what I'm really excited about.' Being featured in prime time is very important to IndyCar's key stakeholders and partners, including the two engine manufacturers at Chevrolet and Honda. Jim Campbell is Vice President, Performance Vehicles and Motorsports for General Motors. To see the GM products showcased in front of a bigger audience is important for the manufacturer that invests so much effort and resources to the NTT IndyCar Series. General Motors Vice President of Performance Vehicles and Motorsports Jim Campbell. (Photo by David ... More Becker/NASCAR via Getty Images) 'To have a prime spot like that on Sunday night, it's absolutely amazing,' Campbell told me. 'By the way, years and years ago, I used to live in St. Louis. I went to school there. I love that area. That track is so much action on that track. So, to have FOX create a prime spot on Sunday evening is absolutely incredible. 'We love it.' Campbell believes a prime-time race in the second race after the 109thIndianapolis 500 can continue the momentum for the series, which helps create more awareness for Chevrolet and its products. 'It's huge,' he said. Certainly, we look at every race weekend. How do we compete on the track? But then we look at how was the event. exposed to fans around the world, and FOX Sports did an amazing job. 'And it didn't happen in one day, it was a result of an immense amount of planning, great storylines, great coverage, and also the excitement on the track. It's just a combination. 'It was really, in some ways, a team effort between FOX Sports and the IndyCar. as well as all the race teams. It's so exciting to see that kind of momentum and TV ratings. And then also, which is a little bit harder to read, is all the social media activity was immense. All that together creates energy and focus and enthusiasm for IndyCar racing. 'Of course, we love it. The racing on the tracks, wheel-to-wheel, the competition's so intense, and they delivered a massive win on the ratings.' FOX has given IndyCar a massive platform to expose its product to a mainstream audience. It's up to IndyCar to deliver with a showstopping product. 'We can only hope,' Daly said. 'That's the goal. Sunday night. Prime Time. It reminds me of Sunday Night Football. Everyone watches Sunday Night Football. So, we love to see it. 'I love it for FOX. Love it for IndyCar and hopefully all of our partners as well.' FOX Sports Camera (Photo by Maria Lysaker/UFL/Getty Images)
