From June 17 to August 9, GoMatadors.com will present the top CSUN Moments from the 2023-24 sports season. Today, we celebrate the Matador track & field team on its strong showing at the 2024 NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Ore.
Trey Knight’s outstanding 2024 season featured a sixth-place finish at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene. His best throw at nationals was his first throw of the day at 74.00m (242-9), earning him All-America First Team accolades. Knight qualified for the NCAAs with an outstanding showing at the NCAA West First Rounds in Fayetteville, Ark., where he took third place in a 48-athlete field with a toss of 71.02m (233-0).
CSUN’s 4x100m relay team competed at the NCAAs for the first time since 2010. The quartet of Tosh Black, David Phillips, Jr., James Crawford and Chase Mars ran at nationals, taking 13th place overall with a time of 39.30 to earn an All-America Second Team award. That time nearly matched the team’s school record time of 39.29 set earlier in the season. At the NCAA West First Rounds, CSUN were represented in the 4x100m by Black, Crawford, Shamil Youngblood and Mars, which would finish 11th overall with the second-best time in school history at 39.48.
Crawford represented the Matadors at NCAAs in the 100m for the first time since 2015. He placed 19th overall at the NCAA Championships with a time of 10.33. Crawford had qualified for nationals by posting a wind-aided time of 10.07 at the NCAA West First Round to take 12th place. His performance at the west regionals also included a personal-best and the third-best time in school history at 10.27.
Mars was the first CSUN sprinter to compete in the 200m at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in nine years. At nationals, Mars finished 19th in the event, charting a time of 20.59. Mars punched his ticket to the NCAAs with an exceptional showing at the west regionals where he was fourth by setting a school-record time of 20.25.
In 2024, CSUN was represented at the NCAA Outdoor Championships for the first time in five years. Overall, the Matadors competed in their most events since the 2008 campaign when CSUN participated in six events.
While the NCAA Outdoor Championships marked the end of the season for several Matadors, three CSUN student-athletes competed in one more event in 2024 as Knight, Phillips and Mars returned to Eugene later in June to participate at the United States Olympic Team Trials.
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