UCLA and USC compete in men’s 100m (Amanda Scurlock/L.A. Sentinel)
The USC women and the UCLA men were victorious in the rivalry dual track meet on Sunday. The Women of Troy defeated the Bruins 88 to 75 while the UCLA men defeated the Trojans 88-70.
USC was dominant in the sprints, winning both the men’s and women’s 4x100m relays, and taking the top three spots in the men’s and women’s 100m and 200m.
For USC freshman sprinter Jassani Carter, running anchor for the 4x100m relay is an opportunity to develop her skills.
“Caisja Chandler, she’s the best curve runner I’ve ever seen in my life. Then we got our second leg, Samirah Moody is the queen of execution,” Carter said. “Then we have our third leg [Kimberly Harris] … she’s always gonna have that positive energy.”
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The Women of Troy also won the 4x400m, but both men’s 4x400m relay teams were disqualified due to unsportsmanlike conduct. The Trojans also won the women’s 100m hurdles and 400m hurdles along with the men’s 110m hurdles.
USC sophomore Johnny Brackins competes in long jump (Amanda Scurlock/L.A. Sentinel)
Trojan sophomore Johnny Brackins finished second in the 110m hurdles, he also competed in the long jump and ran anchor for the 4x400m. A lesson he learned was to “focus on execution.”
“I think stuff moved so fast today that I had to tune out of the fact that it’s moving so fast and focus event by event and execute well,” Brackins said.
UCLA shined in distance running events, winning the men’s and women’s 3000m Steeplechase and 800m while taking the top three spots in the men’s and women’s 3000m events and the women’s 1500m.
USC senior Bobby Poynter won the men’s 1500m, he was the lone Trojan in the event.
“I just wanted to be in the race and do all I could to at least just be in the top three positions to get some points for the meet,” Poynter said. “This is the type of stuff we do in practice, whether it’s positional moves and just overall fitness needed to run the event.”
The Bruins also dominated in field events as they made up all the competitors for men’s and women’s pole vault. UCLA took the top spots in men’s and women’s javelin, discus, and shot put along with winning women’s hammer throw.
USC won the women’s 4x100m with a 43.13s time (Amanda Scurlock/L.A. Sentinel)
UCLA senior Natalie Ramirez came in first place in shot put and second in discus. She achieved personal bests of 16.95m in shot put and 54.43m in discus.
“This is probably the best day of my life,” Ramirez said. “I’m just so proud of all the work that we put in and my teammates came out too and did amazing.”
Bruins sophomore Aiden Elbetter and freshman Michael Pinckney came in first and second respectively for discus and shot put. Pinckney made a personal best of 56.96m which helped him come in second. He also competed in hammer throw.
“The rivalry meet, it definitely helps because it brings suspense and it brings a lot of energy,” Pinckney said. “I think it definitely is a very good meet to start off the championship season because it almost brings that championship feel like we’re in it to win it.”
USC won the men’s and women’s high jump and long jump along with women’s triple jump.
