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University of Oregon men, University of Southern California women secure team titles on final day of Big Ten Championships

The University of Oregon men's team and the University of Southern California women's team clinched the team titles on the final day of the 2025 Big Ten Outdoor Track and Field Championships.. Photo by Rian Yamasaki.

By Owen Murray, TrackTownUSA

Results

Some of the wins were dominant. Others were decided by a single thousandth of a second.

They all counted the same on Sunday at Hayward Field. The final day of the 2025 Big Ten Outdoor Track and Field Championships wrapped with team titles for the University of Oregon men and University of Southern California women, but they got there in starkly different ways.

The Oregon men’s win was of the dominant type: by the time Simeon Birnbaum sealed their team win with a 5000m victory, the Ducks led by 29 points — a 110-point total they wouldn’t surrender. Oregon grabbed its first conference men’s outdoor track and field title of its Big Ten era — and the university’s eighth conference title overall.

Oregon head coach Jerry Schumacher and sophomore Aiden Smith speak to the media after winning the men's team title. Photo by Rian Yamasaki.

“Our goal was just to stay in the fight,” Oregon head coach Jerry Schumacher said. “You never know what’s going to happen.”

Before the Championships, Schumacher made it clear that he knew Oregon wasn’t favored on paper. On Sunday, he confirmed: the races aren’t run on paper.

The women’s battle, though, was mostly of the close-run variation. Oregon led USC by just one point before the 4x400m final — the last event. A 4x400m Trojan relay win there pushed them to the top of the pile in the Big Ten, ahead of the Ducks, who finished second. It’s the USC women’s first Big Ten track and field title since joining the conference.

Earlier in the day, Illinois junior Viktor Morozov opened the triple jump with a 15.63m (51 - 3 ½) effort, which eventually won the competition following an equipment disqualification, while Ducks senior Safin Wills was just .03m behind in second place. Morozov, who didn’t improve on his first mark, said that he’s got even more in the tank.

“I opened up decently — it was a confident mark,” Morozov said. “I felt that it should’ve become better as the competition went on, but I just couldn’t find my rhythm.”

University of Washington pole vaulter Amanda Moll came in with victory on her mind, too. She left with the new Big Ten women’s outdoor record.

“I think today, I was a little excited and a little nervous,” Moll said. “It was definitely a competition — I had quite a few third-attempt clearances, which is part of the sport…they’re not fun, because they’re very nerve wracking, but in the end they’re worth it.”

Moll’s final mark, 4.78m (15 - 8 ¼), was her third third-attempt clearance of the day — she was one of four athletes on the podium to jump a new personal-best height. 

The University of Minnesota’s 4x100m relay set Sunday’s first meet record — a 38.54-second race that bested the USC group over the final 100 meters. Gophers anchor Devin Augustine passed his Trojan counterpart, and broke the Big Ten Championship record in the process.

“The goal was to break the meet record,” Minnesota sprinter Kion Benjamin said. “Hayward Field is a beautiful facility, so we had one job — that was to come home with the gold medal. We did exactly what we came here to do.”

The USC women set the day’s second meet record, though, in the next race. The Trojan women’s 4x100m group ran a 43.00-second race just ahead of SoCal neighbors UCLA — a vital set of points in the long run.

University of Washington senior Sophie O’Sullivan took the women’s 1500m crown with a stunning final 200m that saw her pull away from Oregon’s Şilan Ayyildiz. O’Sullivan ran a 58.41-second final lap, and finished in 4:11.66. Ayyildiz and her Oregon teammate, Mia Barnett, grabbed 14 points for the Ducks, finishing side-by-side in second and third place.

The University of Wisconsin’s wins weren’t to be ignored: Giovanni Wearing ran a season-best 13.46-second time in the men’s 110m hurdles. Wearing, who finished second at last year’s Big Ten Outdoor Championships, went one better in Eugene.

“Oh my gosh,” Wearing said. “I didn’t even know I won (when I crossed the line). I knew I was in the top three…I saw that I won, and I started screaming. I can’t hide it. I was happy.”

The Oregon women put more first-place points on the board on Sunday with Aaliyah McCormick’s 100m hurdle win: she ran a season-best 12.86-second time to better her best-in-qualifying 12.94 time.

“What really motivated me was Hayward Magic.”

- Oregon juinor Aaliyah McCormick following her win in the women’s 100m hurdles

“I just walk in there knowing that these ladies will definitely have me compete,” McCormick said. “I love competition in general — just going in there, what really motivated me was Hayward Magic, and knowing that these people around me are really fast and will push me to go faster.”

The men’s 800m race came down to just a thousandth of a second — Penn State junior Allon Clay ran 1:47.921 seconds to hold off a late charge from Oregon senior (and 2025 NCAA Indoor 800m champion) Matthew Erickson, who finished in 1:47.922.

“I was just relieved…my plan was to just front-run and run away,” Clay said. “I was skeptical whether I won, when I crossed the line — they were with me, and I was just waiting for the results.”

The Ducks still put up their points, though — Erickson earned eight points despite missing out on the event title.

“I thought I had it,” Erickson said. “I thought about diving at the line, too, but it was one of those split-second decisions, and I just decided to put my shoulder out. It wasn’t quite enough to get it.”

Klaudia Kazimierska didn’t want it to be that close — so she didn’t let it be. Oregon’s Paris Olympian ran a 2:02.92 800m race — including a 4.26-second negative split on her second lap — to cross the finish line without another athlete in the picture. She watched herself win on the video board, and that confidence comes from where she’s already been.

“I think it’s just experience,” Kazimierska said. “I’m believing in myself, trusting myself…I’ve raced so many times, and this is like any other meet. It’s about putting the same mindset into championship racing as in any other race.”

Just before Kazimierska and teammate Ella Nelson (who finished fifth overall) secured their points in that race, the Ducks grabbed the top two slots in the women’s triple jump, too; senior Ryann Porter and freshman Cassandra Atkins both set new personal-best marks with their final jumps to score 18 combined points. Schumacher called it “maybe his favorite event” of the day.

“That was so exciting, for both of us to get personal-bests,” Porter said. “That was so special for us — we knew we needed some more points on the women’s side, so I feel like that’s really helping the team.”

📺 Big Ten Network

Sprints, though, held the answer for USC. It scored 59 combined points across the women’s 100m and 200m races to swing into first place on the weekend — the Trojans placed first, second, third, fifth and seventh in the 100m race and first, second, third and fourth in the 200m race.

“Honestly, I think it was just believing in myself,” USC’s Madison Whyte said. “My coaches and my family — they all believe in me. It was just a matter of getting on the track and doing what they know I can do.”

Simeon Birnbaum was one of the dominant winners on the day — made even sweeter when his meet-record 5k secured the Ducks’ men’s team title. The Oregon sophomore flew across the finish line with violent emotion — his trademark sunglasses flew off his face with the first fist-pump. 

“It was just an in-the-moment thing,” said Birnbaum, who finished in 13:31.87 while whipping up the crowd down the home stretch. “I had some gears left, so I thought, ‘I’m going to have fun.’ You might as well have fun and let the emotions take over every once in a while.”

A women’s 5,000m race that saw 10,000m winner Diana Cherotovich fade over the last lap — only for Ayyildiz, her Oregon teammate, to surge into an unassailable lead — set the stage for the final women’s 4x400m showdown.

The Ducks had 112 points — the Trojans had 111 before the relay. After 20 races, it was decided by one.

The Oregon women climbed from fourth place on the penultimate lap of its heat into second by the finish — but the Trojans took the track next and left no doubt: a 51.89-second anchor leg meant that they secured maximum points from the event.

Collegiate teams will return to Hayward Field on June 11-14, for the 2025 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships.

📺 Big Ten Network

DAY THREE PHOTO GALLERY

Photos by Rian Yamasaki

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