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While Marqise Lee was the second best freshman at the NCAA Track and Field Championships Lee finished 17th overall and failed to make the cut.
USC did continue to make news in Des Moines...
DES MOINES, IA - Jenny Ozorai and Marissa Minderler earned All-America honors in the women's hammer throw and Aaron Brown in the 200m and the men's 4x400m relay which had the eigth-fastest time in USC history advanced to NCAA finals during the second day of action (June 7) at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships at historic Drake Stadium in Des Moines, Ia. After two days, USC's women's team has scored seven points and stands in 15th place, while the men's team looks to begin its scoring tomorrow.
The Trojans began the day by gaining two All-Americans in the women's hammer throw as the sophomore Ozorai placed fourth and the redshirt senior Minderler eighth. Redshirt senior Jade Niemeyer placed 21st in the competition.
The 400m is today...
The final event on the day for USC was the men's 4x400m semifinals and the Trojans elected to run a team of senior Joey Hughes, redshirt senior Bryshon Nellum, senior Duane Walker and junior Reggie Wyatt. USC chose to rest 400m finalist Josh Mance who will be running in tomorrow's open 400m finals. Hughes gave the Trojans a slight lead after the first lap and Nellum built it up some on the second leg. Walker then held the field back and gave Wyatt the baton in first. It became a two-team race with Florida and their exceptional 400m runner Tony McQuay who has the fastest open 400m time this season by a collegian passed Wyatt with about 200m to go and held him off down the stretch with USC finishing second and automatically advance to Saturday's final with a time of 3:03.21 to Florida's 3:02.24. The unoffical splits were 44.7 for Hughes, 45.5 for Nellum, 46.5 for Walker and 46.5 for Wyatt. USC's time of 3:03.21 was the eighth-fastest in school history and the eighth-fastest of the qualifiers.
USC has their work cut out for them in going up against Florida.