Indoor Track & Field: The Oregon Women repeat while Texas A&M takes the Men's title
USC's men's 4x400m relay team set the collegiate record and IAAF world indoor record, the women's 4x400m relay had a dominating win, Randall Cunningham won the men's high jump, Eric Sloan won the men's triple jump and Deanna Hill won the women's 200m dash during a spectacular final day of action at the Clemson Tiger Paw Invitational in Clemson, S.C. today (Feb. 10).
- USC closed out the meet with the men's 4x400m relay team of Zach Shinnick, Rai Benjamin, Ricky Morgan Jr. and Michael Norman shattering the school and facility record and setting the NCAA indoor record and IAAF ratified world record with a time of 3:01.98. Their time was also just .02 seconds shy of the USA indoor record of 3:01.96 set in 2006, which was not a ratified time and not recognized by the IAAF. The amazing thing is that the second-place team Florida (3:02.23) also broke the previous collegiate record and third-place Texas A&M was less than a second behind.
- USC's women's 4x400m relay team of Kyra Constantine, Anna Cockrell, Deanna Hill and Kendall Ellis also won, dominating the field with a 4.5 second victory. USC had a time of 3:27.56, which was just .53 off their collegiate record and the fifth-fastest time ever by a collegiate quartet. Their time also set the facility record.
- Cunningham cruised to victory in the men's high jump, being perfect up until 7-5/2.26m and then clearing that in his second attempt to win the meet. He missed his three attempts at 7-6/2.29m which would have been an indoor PR. Earnest Sears finished 15th with a clearance at 6-8.75/2.05m.
- Sloan had a winning triple jump of 53-3/16.23m which came in his fifth attempt and took him from third to the lead. His jump also set the facility record. Dominic Smallwood placed fifth with a PR of 51-1.50/15.58m and also jumped 51-0.75/15.56 in his final attempt.
- Hill won the women's 200m dash with a facility record time of 22.82, while Kendall Ellisplaced third with a time of 22.99, which also broke the previous facility record. TeeTee Terry placed seventh with a PR of 23.19, which moved her from seventh to tied for fifth on USC's all-time list. Angie Annelus has a PR of 23.39 to finish 10th and moved to eighth on USC's all-time list. Ky Westbrook had a time of 23.99 to finish 19th.
- Rai Benjamin, in his first individual race as a Trojan, had a time of 20.97 to place fourth in the men's 200m dash. He was third among the college runners and moves into a fifth-place tie on USC's all-time men's indoor 200m list.
- Robert Ford took fourth in the men's 800m race with a season-best time of 1:49.16. Alex Rohani placed 27th with a time of 1:56.58.
WHAT A FINISH!
— NCAA Track & Field (@NCAATrackField) February 10, 2018
In the men's 4x400 @USC_Track_Field runs a WORLD RECORD 3:01.98 with the @GatorsTF chomping at their heels with a 3:02.23 finish. pic.twitter.com/8XCjSI6Ps9
