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Texas A&M, USC share 2025 men’s NCAA title after team race comes down to 4x400m relay

The men’s teams from the University of Southern California and Texas A&M University were named co-champions after each scored 41 points at the 2025 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Hayward Field. Photos by Rian Yamasaki.

By Owen Murray, TrackTown USA

Results | Broadcast Information

The Texas A&M Aggies and USC Trojans split the 2025 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field National Championship men’s team title after it came down to the 4x400m relay at Hayward Field on June 13. A&M finished second in the relay, while USC finished eighth — just enough for each to reach 41 points.

“You do this because you love it,” A&M head coach Pat Henry said. “There’s not a lot of fanfare, you know? Workouts are tough. Training is tough, and there’s only a few days in the year that you get to do it — and there’s a few days of the year that are the most important. Everything’s a rehearsal, except for this one. This is the dance.”

University of Auburn made an early charge at the team title with wins in the 4x100m relay and the 110m hurdles to go with points in the 100m and 200m.

Auburn sophomore Ja’Kobe Tharp. Photo by Rian Yamasaki.

The Tigers won the 4x100m relay for the second-straight year; in 2024, they also ran a season-best time. This year, they posted a SB 38.33-second race — five-hundredths of a second faster than in 2024. Auburn also scored points in the 100m (fourth and seventh place), and 200m (second).

Ja’Kobe Tharp (SO - Auburn) ran a personal-best 13.05 in the 110m hurdles to add 10 more points to the Tigers’ total. Tharp outdueled a PR from Zachary Extine (JR - Arizona) to capture his individual national title.

“After all these races where I ran 13.1, or 13.2, I knew I had way more in my legs,” Tharp said. “I’m just glad I was able to come out here and handle it.”

University of Arkansas, powered by Jordan Anthony’s (SO - Arkansas) 15-point haul across the 100m and 200m races, six points in both the 4x100m relay and 4x400m relay and 7-point total from both Rivaldo Marshall (SR - third place) and Tyrice Taylor (JR - eighth), put itself in the conversation.

“I’m out there on an island by myself,” Anthony, who started in lane 9, said. “It’s an F-U mentality. I don’t care what happened in the (preliminary race on) Wednesday. I didn’t have to do anything spectacular.”

Southern California, though, added points in the 4x100m relay (second place), 100m (second), 400m (second), 400m hurdles (seventh), 200m (third) and 4x400m relay (eighth) to surge into the team lead without winning an individual event.

USC head coach Quincy Watts. Photo by Rian Yamasaki.

The Trojans’ cadre of sprinters earned 41 day-two points, including Max Thomas’ (JR - USC) 10.10-second 100m finish, which was only .03 seconds behind winner Anthony, William Jones’ (JR - USC) 45.63-second 400m race and Racquil Broderick’s 63.31m, fourth-place hammer personal-best. The one point their 4x400m relay team earned with an eighth-place finish gave USC a share in the title.

“It’s just great to be in these kinds of battles,” USC head coach Quincy Watts said. “You go in one way, and you’re thinking that you have this many points and you’re in a good space, but you always, as a coach, in the back of your mind say, ‘I’ve got to be prepared for the unexpected.’ We were.”

A late win for Texas A&M in the 800m and second-place finishes in the 400m hurdles and 4x400m races, though, thrust the Aggies into a tie with the Trojans in the team race. Sam Whitmarsh left the field behind on the final stretch of the 800m to win in 1:45.86, and exploded into emotion as he crossed the line.

“We knew all of those guys could run,” Whitmarsh said. “They really didn’t give me any option except to go through the line in 23 or 22 seconds. I had to drop in and wait for an opportunity. Coach told me just to find my spot and go through.”

Ja’Qualon Scott (SR - Texas A&M) ran a DI #2, personal-best 48.29-second 400m hurdles in a race where the top three athletes all ran PB times (Baylor’s Nathaniel Ezekiel ran the new DI #1 time) — Bryce McCray (SR - Texas A&M) finished sixth with a personal-best time. The Aggies also scored points in the 400m final (SR - Auhmad Robinson, seventh place) and won the men’s pole vault (JR - Aleksandr Solovev) on Wednesday.

“Everybody has to have a good day on the same day — and when you don’t have a good day, you have to help the next person try to have a good day. It’s got to be a team.”
— Texas A&M head coach Pat Henry

“It’s the same speech, basically, that I’ve given for 52 years,” Henry said. “It’s that everybody has to have a good day on the same day — and when you don’t have a good day, you have to help the next person try to have a good day. It’s got to be a team.”

Elsewhere, Ralford Mullings (JR - Oklahoma) tossed a meet-record discus on his third attempt — 67.70m (222-01) before the Paris Olympian secured his first-ever NCAA title final throw with a personal-best 69.31m (227-04) season-best attempt. Mullings, who spent a year at both Arizona State and Arkansas before competing unattached in 2024 and transferring to Oklahoma, surpassed the previous meet record on three of his six throws.

“At this point in my career, it’s just about staying calm,” Mullings, whose only foul came on his first attempt, said. “It’s about keeping my heart rate low and staying calm, because it can really get to you if you shank the first throw.”

World record-holder Mykolas Alekna (JR - Cal) fouled on four of his six attempts, but still earned second place with a 66.77m (219-00) throw. Three other athletes in the top five set new personal-best marks.

“I’m immensely grateful to have Mykolas as a competitor,” Mullings said. “He’s paved the way for a different type of throwing that I appreciate.”

Nathan Green (SR - Washington) was the second-straight Husky to win the outdoor 1500m title — his former teammate Joe Waskom outkicked Oregon’s Elliott Cook at last year’s edition, and Green said he and Waskom had been chatting about the feeling before the meet.

“They’re like my older brothers,” Green said of Waskom and former teammate Luke Houser. “They were my rocks, and to not have them with me kind of sucked, but I’m glad I could show those two that everything they told me throughout the years didn’t go in one ear and out the other.”

James Corrigan (JR - BYU) was one of two athletes to run a meet-record time in the 3000m steeplechase final. Corrigan, a Paris Olympian, won the final in 8:16.41 just ahead of Geoffrey Kirwa (FR - Louisville), who ran 8:17.12.

“My coach’s words were echoing in my mind today,” Corrigan said. “They said to stay clear of the barrier and be very intentional. I found myself, more than trying to go insane over the last 300m, just be calm and controlled and give enough.”

Carli Makarawu (JR - Kentucky) won the 200m race from lane 9 — he said that he called his parents before the race and they told him “Just to run as fast as I can. I’m outside, and I’m not seeing anybody, so I should just run for my life.”

Competition finishes tomorrow with the conclusion of the women’s heptathlon and women’s team competition. The heptathlon begins at 3:30 pm, while the women’s field events start at 12:30 pm and women’s track kicks off at 6:02 pm.

DAY THREE PHOTO GALLERY

Photos by Rian Yamaski, TrackTown USA

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