WALNUT, CALIFORNIA, April 16–18 — Great sprinting marked the women’s side of the Mt. SAC Relays, as in the men’s meet. Short and long speedsters posted meet and school records, in addition to all-time collegiate marks.
Just like the men, the women’s 400 held center stage, but before USC’s Madison Whyte took flight, she had a 4 x 100 to contend with.
Starting in lane 5, a Trojan team consisting of Christine Mallard, Mia Brahe-Pedersen, Whyte and Brianna Selby made the 4×1 look like child’s play with their flawless passing.
At the gun, with cross-town rival UCLA on their inside in 4 and perennial powerhouse Arkansas in 6, Mallard quickly made up the stagger on the Razorbacks and caught up halfway to Stanford in 7 before handing off to Brahe-Pedersen.
By the time Brahe-Pedersen reached Whyte, Southern Cal had made up the stagger on the entire field. When Whyte exchanged with Selby, the Trojans had built a 20-plus-meter gap over the Bruins.
At the end, the 42.12 time made USC the =3 all-time school and matched the No. 7 all-time collegiate performance. UCLA finished 2nd, 1.55 back in 43.67, while Arkansas DNFed after dropping the stick at the second exchange.
A confident Whyte explained the team’s success, saying “We already knew what we were going to do. We just had to execute and we did it. We’re just up from here.”
About 45 minutes later, Whyte would find herself lined up against a handful of formidable 400m contenders. Starting in lane 5, she had a formidable Arkansas duo to chase on her outside. Kaylyn Brown — a Paris ’24 gold & silver (mixed) relay medalist — occupied the blocks in lane 6 and senior Sanaria Butler started in 8, with Paris 400H silver medalist Anna Cockrell in 7.
At the gun, Brown shot out of the blocks and had made up the stagger on Cockrell and Butler before reaching the 200 in 23.2, with Whyte next at 23.3.
Whyte ran a strong turn, while Brown was beginning to falter, and at 300 established a 2-meter lead over Brown and Butler. Butler would overtake Brown, but had no chance of catching Whyte, who finished in 49.64. The No. 2 mark in the NCAA this season, it made junior Whyte the No. 10 all-time performer and broke Kendall Ellis’ 49.99 school record from 2018.
Butler also broke 50, finishing 2nd with 49.86, while Brown hung on for 3rd with her 50.30.
Cockrell finished with a PR 51.49 in 5th. After nearly two years, she had, at last, lowered her flat lap best below her 51.87 hurdles time from Paris.
Other sprint action saw Tamari Davis take the 100 in 11.11 into a -1.6 wind over Selby (11.14) and Jenna Prandini (11.29), who came back later to win the 200 in a windy 22.43 (3.3).
In the 800, former Razorback Shafiqua Maloney went out quickly in 56.65 and hung on to best current Razorback Sanu Jallow 1:59.54–1:59.70. Sammy Watson ran 2:00.53 for 3rd.
On the field Hana Moll raised her own Collegiate outdoor pole vault best to 15-9 (4.80), while Texas State’s Elísabet Rut Rúnarsdóttir threw the hammer a PR 239-1 (72.89) to make herself the No. 9 performer in NCAA history.
In the heptathlon, Lithuania’s defending champion Beatričė Juškevičiūtė scored a PR 6323, 219 points ahead of runner-up Erin Marsh (6104). Washington soph Sofia Cosculluela took the NCAA lead with her 6093 PR for 3rd.
MT. SAC WOMEN’S RESULTS
100: I(1.4)–1. **Mia Brahe-Pedersen (USC) 11.19. III(-1.6)–1. Tamari Davis (adidas) 11.11w; 2. **Brianna Selby (USC) 11.14w.
200(3.3): 1. Jenna Prandini (On) 22.43w; 2. Deajah Stevens (unat) 22.55w; 3. Christine Mallard (USC) 22.62w.
400: 1. *Madison Whyte (USC) 49.64 PR (out AL) (10, x C);
2. Sanaria Butler (Ar) 49.86 PR (10, x AmC);
3. *Kaylyn Brown (Ar) 50.30; 4. Rachel Joseph (IaSt) 50.98.
800: 1. Shafiqua Maloney’ (StV) 1:59.54; 2. Sanu Jallow-Lockhart’ (Ar-Gam) 1:59.70; 3. Sammy Watson (unat) 2:00.53.
1500: 1. Carmen Alder’ (BYU-Ecu) 4:08.77.
St: 1. Stevie Lawrence’ (GB) 9:55.91.
100H(-0.9): 1. Danae Dyer (HurdM) 12.76; 2. Keni Harrison (adidas) 12.88; 3. Aaliyah McCormick (Or) 12.96.
400H: I–1. Tess Stapleton (Stan) 56.82 PR. III–1. *Saira Prince (Ar) 55.86; 2. **Emiliia Tangara’ (WTxAM-Rus) 56.50; 3. ***Morgan Herbst (Ar) 56.78; 4. Abbey Glynn (unat) 57.02.
4 x 100: I–1. USC 42.12 (WL, AL) (=7 C) (=#3 school) (Mallard, Brahe-Pedersen, Whyte, Selby);
2. UCLA 43.67; 3. Arizona 44.03.
4 x 400: 1. Arkansas 3:29.24; 2. Haystack 3:30.82; 3. UCLA 3:31.74; 4. Arkansas B 3:33.04.
HJ: I–1. *Temitope Adeshina’ (TxT-Ngr) 6-4¾ (1.95); 2. Marguerite Lorenzo’ (Can) 6-2 (1.88) PR; 3. tie, **Maria Arboleda Angulo’ (Ar-Col) & Vashti Cunningham (Nike) 6-0 (1.83).
PV: 1. *Hana Moll (Wa) 15-9 (4.80) out PR (missed 16-1¾/4.92); 2. Ali Sahaida (Cal) 14-11 (4.55) out PR; 3. **Anna Willis (SD) 14-11 out PR; 4. Paige Sommers (UCLA) 14-7¼ (4.45).
LJ: I–1. *Ida Breigan’ (UTSA-Nor) 21-¾ (6.42); 2. *Sydnie Vanek (Az) 21-½w (6.41) (20-10¾/6.37). II–1. Alyssa Jones (Stan) 21-8w (6.60) (21-3¼/6.48).
TJ: 1. Washington 44-0w (13.41); 2. Riley Ammenhauser (Ok) 43-2½w (13.17); 3. Victoria Josse’ (Fra) 42-11¾w (13.10).
SP: 1. **Ashley Erasmus’ (USC-SA) 58-8¾ (17.90).
DT: 1. Julia Tunks’ (Can) 208-7 (63.58) NR; 2. Lagi Tausaga (Nike) 204-5 (62.31); 3. Ines Lopez’ (AzSt-Spa) 191-2 (58.27); 4. Summer Mosley (CSUN) 188-4 (57.40) PR;
5. *Reese Garland (USC) 186-4 (56.80) PR; 6. Erasmus’ 180-6 (55.03); 7. **Emma Sralla’ (Stan-Swe) 176-5 (53.79).
HT: 1. *Elísabet Rut Rúnarsdóttir’ (TxSt-Ice) 239-1 NR (72.89) (9, x C);
2. Amber Simpson’ (GB) 225-4 (68.68); 3. *Lara Roberts’ (TxSt-Aus) 218-8 (66.64); 4. Stamatia Scarvelis’ (Gre) 217-1 (66.16).
JT: 1. *Lilly Urban’ (Nv-Ger) 185-8 (56.60); 2. Jada Green (unat) 177-9 (54.18); 3. *Ashley Schroeder (Wa) 174-7 (53.23).
Hept (4/15-16): 1. Beatričė Juškevičiūtė’ (Lit) 6323 PR (WL, CL) (13.35, 5-6/1.68, 49-2¼/14.99, 24.04, 20-5¾/6.24, 149-1/45.44, 2:15.35);
2. Erin Marsh (VSA) 6104; 3. **Sofia Cosculluela’ (Wa-Spa) 6093; 4. Lexie Keller (VSA) 6072; 5. Avery Rhoads (VSA) 6019; 6. Lauren Taubert (unat) 5972; 7. Annie Molenhouse (OkSt) 5913.
