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Preview: 10 Collegiate/Pro Storylines To Follow At 65th Mt. SAC RelaysPublished by
Kerley Returns To 400; USC Sprinters Continue Upward Trajectory; Guttormsen Faces Top Rivals In Pole Vault; Moll Twins Headline Women's Vault
By Keenan Gray of DyeStat
DyeStat archive file photos
The 65th annual Mt. SAC Relays are welcoming another year of elite competition, taking place April 16-19 at Hilmer Lodge Stadium in Walnut, Calif.
Here are 10 storylines in the collegiate and professional competition to follow at this year’s meet.
Saminu Brings Speed To Cali
South Florida's Abdul-Rasheed Saminu, the NCAA and world leader in the 100, regardless of wind-reading, is bringing his talents to Southern California to showcase his world-class speed.
Saminu began his outdoor campaign with a 9.87 run (+2.2) in 100 at the Pepsi Florida Relays, annihilating his competition by over a half-a-second. This weekend, he will contest in both the 100 and 200 races.
Arkansas’ Jordan Anthony, NCAA indoor 60 champion, and Minnesota’s Devin Augustine are other noteworthy entries in the invitational section of the 100, aiming to challenge the nation's top sprinter.
Kerley In The 200
If there's one person who can give South Florida's Saminu some problems in the 200, it's Fred Kerley.
The Paris Olympics bronze medalist for the 100 is expected to contest in his second 200 of the outdoor scene, following a 20.39 run in Kingston, Jamaica, in the first installment of the Grand Slam Track series. He finished fourth overall in the "Short Sprints" division, earning $25,000.
Kerley owns a personal best of 19.76. His most recent sub-20 second run came last fall in Switzerland, clocking 19.81 at the Zurich Diamond League.
Madison Whyte To Lead USC Sprints
The Texas A&M 44 Farms Team Invitational served the USC women well this past weekend with a handful of NCAA top 10 times. That’s expected to be on display at this year’s Mt. SAC Relays.
Madison Whyte, who ran an NCAA-leading and world-leading time of 22.32 from the Texas A&M meet, is expected to contest in the 4x100 relay.
NCAA 60 meter indoor champion Dajaz Defrand, indoor All-American Jassani Carter and freshman Brianna Selby are all listed in the 100 meter but might also just race in a relay. All three are ranked in the top 10 in the NCAA in the 100.
Carter is also entered in the 200, where she ranks 10th in the NCAA, with indoor All-American teammates Samirah Moody and Christine Mallard.
Testing the Trojans in both races will be two-time Olympian Jenna Prandini of Puma (100/200), USATF indoor 60 meter champion Celera Barnes of adidas (100), Jade Brown of Arizona (100, NCAA#6), Jamaican Briana Williams of Nike (100), Lynna Jackson of adidas (200) and Destiny Smith-Barnett of Double Pillar Athletics (200).
NCAA Indoor Champions Headline Elite Pole Vault Contests
Both men’s and women’s NCAA indoor pole vault champions, along with last year’s Mt SAC women’s elite champion, will be boots on the ground for this year’s elite pole vault contests.
Duke’s Simen Guttormsen returns to the runway for the first time since claiming his first NCAA title in Virginia Beach, where he cleared an indoor personal best 5.71 meters (18-8.75) for the win. Guttormsen competed for Norway at the Paris Olympics.
Washington’s Scott Toney and Arkansas State’s Bradley Jelmert, NCAA#1 and 2, respectively, are entered in the men’s competition.
Washington’s twins Amanda and Hana Moll will be vaulting for the second time this outdoor season. Amanda, NCAA indoor champion, finished second to sister Hana, NCAA indoor runner-up, in their outdoor season debuts at the Stanford Invitational. Hana won with a clearance of 4.47m (14-8); Amanda cleared 4.37m (14-4) for second.
Hana won last year’s Mt. SAC title, clearing 4.60m (15-1).
The Moll’s former Washington teammate Nastassja Campbell, third last year, UCLA’s Ka’Leila Abrille, fifth last year, and South Dakota’s Anna Willis round out the top competitors on the women’s side.
Raevyn Rogers, Keni Harrison Seek Return To National Team
Since joining Joanna Hayes’ training group this past indoor season, Raevyn Rogers has yet to race the 800 meters. That changes on Saturday.
The two-time World outdoor finalist and Tokyo Olympian will race her first 800 since the U.S. Olympic Trials finals when she finished seventh overall. It was also the last time she ran in a Union Athletics Club kit before moving to Los Angeles last fall to begin training with Hayes’ group, which includes 400 hurdlers Rai Benjamin and Jasmine Jones.
The last time Rogers competed at Mt. SAC was back in 2023 when she ran in the open 400, finishing seventh overall in 52.59. The last time she ran an 800 at Mt. SAC was back in 2017 competing for Oregon. She won the invitational race in 1:59.10, which still ranks No. 3 all-time on the NCAA outdoor list.
Rogers began her 2025 season with a personal best in the 600 in 1:25.75 at the Rafer Johnson-Jackie Joyner-Kersee Invitational on April 5 at Drake Stadium at UCLA.
Rogers will race Duke’s Lauren Tolbert and Iowa’s Alli Bookin-Nosbisch, NCAA#5 and 8, respectively, Academy of Art’s Lina Hanich, NCAA D2 #2, Canadian Addy Townsend, representing New Balance, American Sammy Watson and NCAA indoor mile finalist and former LSU runner Lorena Rangel Batres, who won a Mexican national title for the 800 last summer.
Meanwhile, Keni Harrison ran 12.39 in the U.S. Olympic Trials final of the women's 100 hurdles, and it left her short of making the Paris team.
A tough pill to swallow, but just goes to show how good the Americans are in the hurdles.
That's in the past now for Harrison; she's already looking ahead to Tokyo this coming fall.
The five-time U.S. champion will make her season debut in the 100 hurdles just several months after last competing in them in Zagreb, Croatia, in September when she finished the year running 12.76.
UTEP's Marissa Simpson, USC's Nonah Waldron and UCLA's Yanla Ndjip-Nyemeck are just some of the other notable names looking to push Harrison in her first hurdle race of the year. Simpson is sixth in the NCAA this season with a 12.85 run from the Sun City Classic on April 11.
Athing Mu-Nikolayev Stepping Up In Distance
Newly wed Tokyo Games gold medalist Athing Mu-Nikolayev is a curious entry in the women's 5,000 meters.
Whether it is merely workout or a serious exploration of a new event remains to be seen, but Mu-Nikolayev has raced since that fateful day on June 24, 2025 where she took a spill in the women's 800 meters at the Olympic Trials at Hayward Field in Eugene. That prevented one of the world's best young talents from advancing to Paris.
The 5,000 meters may just be a palate cleanser for the LA-based Mu-Nikolayev, who is coached by Bobby Kersee but the fact that she is entered this weekend is a good sign that she's back and committed to the season.
Paralympic Gold Medalists Ready To Shine
Para-athletes have plenty to look forward to in 2025.
Not just because they bring in gold medals they won at the Paris Paralympics, but it's the beginning of a new era of para-athletics.
With the recent announcement of the U.S. Para National Championships combining with the USATF Outdoor Championships this summer, para-athletes are anxious to get the year started and show the country, and the world, what they are made of on of the United States' biggest stages in track and field.
Both Roderick Townsend and Noah Malone are just some of the notable para-athletes competing this weekend at Mt. SAC.
Townsend, the reigning three-time Paralympic gold medalist in T47 high jump, will go against a great men's field, featuring USC's Elias Gerald and Texas State's Aiden Hayes.
Malone, the T12 100 gold medalist from Paris, will tackle both the 100 and 200 in the ambulatory category.
Camryn Rogers Introduction Includes 'Olympic Champion'
For the first time in her career, Camryn Rogers will go into her next competition as an Olympic champion.
The Richmond, B.C., native will contest in her first hammer competition since winning gold at the Paris games last summer, becoming the first Canadian woman in 96 years to claim gold at the Olympics.
Rogers has won two consecutive hammer titles at the past Mt. SAC Relays, including winning the 2023 competition with a meet record 77.84m (255-4). In 2024, she 76.30m (250-4) for the win. Rogers will take on an elite group of collegians, featuring six competitors ranked top-20 in the NCAA this season.
Her alma mater, California, will feature Valentina Savva (NCAA#2) and Giavonna Meeks (NCAA#7). Texas State duo Elisabet Rut Runardottir (NCAA#10) and Lara Roberts (NCAA#16) are another duo to watch.
In the men's competition, six of the top-15 collegians will go against each other, including Cal State Northridge's Trey Knight (NCAA#2), Harvard's Kenneth Ikeji (NCAA#6), Cal Poly's Travis Martin (NCAA#8) and Duke's Christian Toro (NCAA#9).
Minnesota Leaps To Front Of Pack
The Golden Gophers have been one of the surprising teams so far during this outdoor season in part to being ranked No. 3 in the USTFCCCA Men's Outdoor Rating Index.
Why? Because of their horizontal jumpers.
Charles Godfred and Hakeem Ford are both ranked top-two in the country in their respective events, with Godfred ranked first in the long jump for NCAA Division 1 athletes and Ford ranked second for the triple jump.
Godfred's jump of 8.01m (26-3.5) at the South Florida Alumni Invitational on March 21 is 11 centimeters ahead of the next best competitor in Saturday's field, UCLA's Allan Hunter, who is fourth in the NCAA this season.
However, the defending NCAA outdoor long jump champion, USC's JC Stevenson, is set to take over in his season debut.
Ford, who jumped 16.54m (54-3.25) at the Pepsi Florida Relays, will go head-to-head with USC's Jaren Holmes, fifth in the NCAA, who's jumped 16.18m (53-1) this season.
Multi Talents On Display
Heptathletes and decathletes take center-stage Wednesday and Thursday to begin the busy weekend at Mt. SAC.
Lithuanian Beatrice Juskeviciute is the top returner from last year’s women’s heptathlon, having finished second with 6,192 points, a personal best.
Erin Marsh and Lauren Taubert, top-five in the pentathlon at USATF Indoor Championships, Allie Jones and Shaina Burns are the top American competitors.
Oklahoma’s Pippi Lotta Enok and Iowa’s Pauline Bikembo, who finished third and fourth, respectively, in the pentathlon at the NCAA Division 1 Indoor Championships, and Washington’s Sofia Cosculluela, Spanish heptathlon national champion, are the top collegians in the field. Enok took fifth in last year’s heptathlon.
Jenelle Rogers and Jenna Fee Feyerabend, NCAA Indoor Championships finalists in the pentathlon, will compete unattached.
In the men’s decathlon, former Cal standout Hakim McMorris is the top entry in the elite competition. McMorris was second at the USATF Indoor Championships in the heptathlon.
Bahamian Kendrick Thompson, representing Goon Squad, returns to Mt. SAC after finishing fourth overall in the decathlon at the 2023 meet with 8,015 points.
Miami’s (Florida) Edgar Campre, Iowa’s Abraham Vogelsand and Washington’s Jami Schuelter are the top collegians. Campre took third and Vogelsand finished fifth in the heptathlon at NCAA indoors. Schlueter took second in last year’s collegiate/open decathlon competition at Mt. SAC.
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