Massive 1st day for USC track and field sees several Trojans advance to Big Ten finals

Taking place in Eugene, Oregon, at the Big Ten Championships, USC is looking to secure team wins on the men's and women's sides of this year's event. It starts with putting on a good enough performance during the early stages of the weekend to ensure passage through to the final events during the later parts where the winners are ultimately determined.

A lot of schools are often happy to see one of their athletes make it through and qualify for the final event. For USC, it appears they are going for sweeps, as has often been the case throughout the year during the regular season for this year's track and field squads.

Starting with the women's 200m sprint, four Trojans qualified on Friday for the event final. Jassani Carter, Dajaz Defrand, Madison Whyte, and Samirah Moody finished in four of the top five spots. With a five-hundredths of a second gap between Defrand and UCLA's Taylor Snaer, who came in fourth during the first round, the Trojans could very well go 1-2-3 on Sunday.

The men's 200m race saw similar success. There will also be four Trojans in the final heat. Garrett Kaalund finished four-hundredths of a second behind Purdue's Cameron Miller for second place. Max Thomas came in fourth. Jazonte Levan and Eddie Nketia rounded out the qualifiers with a seventh- and eighth-place finish. A good performance on Sunday, and they too could push for a sweep.

In the women's 400m hurdles, Nonah Waldron came in fifth to qualify for the final event race on Sunday. Johnny Brackins came in first during the men's 400m hurdles, with teammate Yougendy Mauricette not too far behind.

Setting up BIG weekend for USC

11 Trojans are advancing past the opening day in their events, with Saturday featuring a full slate of events as well. The team's social media page showed the day's winners and qualifiers smiling and proud of their BIG accomplishments from Friday.

The events are only getting started in Eugene, but a landslide of wins is in the forecast for both USC squads.