USC TO COMPETE AT MT. SAC THIS WEEK - Trojan Men Ranked No. 5 Men & Women No. 7 - University of Southern California Sports Information Offi ce, Heritage Hall 103A, L.A., CA 90089-0601 • Phone: (213) 740-8480 • Fax: (213) 740-7584 USC Track & Field Schedule WEEKLY TRACK AND FIELD RELEASE - APRIL 18, 2015 Date Meet - The USC track and fi eld team will compete at the Mt. SAC Relays in Wal- 2/28 Rossi Relays THIS WEEK 3/6-7 Cal State L.A. Invitational nut, Calif. from April 16-18, at the Beach Invitational on April 17-18 in Norwalk, Calif. and at 3/13-14 Ben Brown Invitational the CSULA Twilight Meet on April 16 in Los Angeles. In addition, many former Trojan track 3/13-14 NCAA Indoor Championships greats like Aleec Harris, Ginnie Powell, Carol Rodriguez and Duane Solomon are sched- 3/20-21 Trojan Invitational* uled to compete at the Mt. SAC Relays. 4/3-4 Florida Relays ELLIS EARNS PAC-12 HONORS - Trojan freshman Kendall Ellis was named the Pac- 4/3-4 California Collegiate Invite 12 Women’s Track Athlete of the Week for the week of April 6-12. Ellis won the 400m dash 4/3-4 Stanford Invitational at the Jim Click Shootout in Tucson, Ariz. on April 11 with a time of 53.01, 1.26 seconds 4/11 Jim Click Shootout ahead of the next closest fi nisher. Her time set the USC freshman record, which had been 4/16-18 Mt. SAC Relays 4/18 Long Beach Invitational held by Malika Edmonson since 1998 (53.02). She also now ranks ninth on the USC wom- 4/24-25 Triton Invitational en’s all-time 400m dash list. Ellis’ time also ties her for 11th in the country and is the fastest 5/2-3 USC-UCLA Dual Meet freshman time by over a second this season. A USC track and fi eld athlete has won eight of 5/9-10 Pac-12 Multi-Events& the 16 conference athlete of the week awards given out this outdoor season. 5/16-17 Pac-12 Championships& DUAL MEET TWO WEEKS AWAY - The Trojans will be hosting the annual USC-UCLA 5/28-30 NCAA Preliminary Rounds% Dual Meet at Loker Stadium on May 3 from 2-6 p.m. The hammer throw competition will be 6/10-13 NCAA Championships# held at Cal State L.A. on May 2 from 2-4 p.m. The meet will be televised live on the Pac- * Home 12 Network from 4- 6 p.m. on May 3. The complete meet schedule is posted on the USC &Westwood, Calif. %Austin, Texas website: USCTrojans.com under the track and fi eld page. #Eugene, Ore. CANADIAN CANNON II - Junior sprinter Andre De Grasse from Markham, Ontario, USC Quick Facts Canada comes to USC from Coffeyville Community College in Coffeyville, Kan. as a fi ve- time NJCAA Champion. He arrived at USC with big shoes to fi ll with the graduation of Location: Los Angeles, Calif. All-American sprinter Aaron Brown, also from Canada, who ranks third on USC’s all-time Enrollment: 40,000 (18,000) 100m and 200m lists, but has proved to be up for the challenge. In his fi rst outdoor indi- Nickname: Trojans vidual races at the Florida Relays on April 3, De Grasse ran the eighth-fastest 100m (10.11) Colors: Cardinal and Gold and fourth-fastest 200m (20.20) times in USC history, both legal PRs. He also ran on the Athletic Dir: Pat Haden 4x100m relay which ran the eighth-fastest time in school history of 38.97. During the indoor Dir. of T&F: Caryl Smith Gilbert season, he posted a best of 6.60 in the 60m and placed second in the 200m at the NCAA (213) 740-4201 Championships with a USC and Canadian indoor record of 20.26, both marks formerly held Coaches: David Freeman by Brown (20.53). De Grasse ran a 9.96 (+5.0w) 100m dash to win the 2013 NJCAA title. Dan Lange Jamie Nieto STEPTER & IUEL POSE QUITE A HURDLE FOR THE OPPOSITION - Junior Loreal Smith Jaide Stepter and sophomore Amalie Iuel currently rank second and third respectively DeeDee Trotter among college 400m hurdlers and tied for third and fi fth in the world with times of 55.83 Quincy Watts and 55.92 run at the Florida Relays on April 3. Those times also place Stepter third and Ryan Wilson Iuel fourth on USC’s all-time list and they are less than one second off the school record of Dir. of Ops: Mary Angell 54.95 run by Natasha Danvers in 2000. T&F SID: David Tuttle ACTION JACKSON - USC freshman Adoree’ Jackson not only is a starting cornerback (213) 740-8480 on the football team, but also a force in the long jump for the track and fi eld team. Jackson has a personal best of 25-5.25 (7.25m) in the long jump set at the Chandler Rotary Elite USC’s History In Track & Field Session last year, the second-farthest jump by a high school athlete in 2014. Jackson won the 2012 CIF State long jump title with a leap of 25-0.50. He also has a best 200m time of NCAA Titles: Men (26 outdoor) Men (2 indoor) 21.59. Jackson had an indoor best of 24-7.75 (7.51m) at the McCravy Memorial Invitational Women (1 outdoor) on Jan. 23 and jumped 24-4.25 (7.42m) to win the long jump at the Trojan Invitational on Last Title: Men (1976) March 21, which currently ranks tied for 39th in the country. Spring football ended on April Women (2001) 11, so Jackson will be able to focus on track the rest of the semester. NCAA Champs: Men (164) USC RANKING AMONG THE BEST -- There are currently 40 NCAA top 30 marks Women (32) posted by Trojan athletes early in the outdoor season: Men (13): Randall Cunningham Olympic Champs: Men (41) (HJ - T-4th), Andre De Grasse (100m - 5th, 200m - 1st), Michael Krone (HJ - T-26th), Women (5) BeeJay Lee (100m - 3rd, 200m - 2nd), Conor McCullough (HT - 1st), Nick Ponzio (Shot - PRONUNCIATIONS 26th), Just’N Thymes (100m - T-23rd, 200m - 5th) and the 4x100m relay (3rd, 13th, 29th). Andre De Grasse Da-GRAHS Women (27): Gabriella Cantrell (100m - 27th, 200m - 18th), Alexandra Collatz (Discus Katerina Berdousi Burr-DOO-see - 7th), Melia Cox (100m HH - T-21st), Kendall Ellis (400m - T-11th), Alexis Faulknor Alexandra Collatz COE-lotz Tynia Gaither TIE-knee-uh Gayther (100m - T-3rd, 200m - 30th), Tynia Gaither (100m - 5th, 200m - 6th), Dior Hall (100m Amalie Iuel AH-mah-lee Yule HH - 6th), Deanna Hill (100m -T-11th, 200m - 2nd), Amalie Iuel (400m IH - 3rd), Vanessa Emma Kao Gow Jones (400m - T-11th), Tera Novy (Discus - 4th), Jenny Ozorai (Hammer - 21st), Madisen Reika Kijima RAKE-uh Kih-JEE-muh Richards (LJ - 26th), Jaide Stepter (200m - 27th, 400m IH - 2nd), Ky Westbrook (100m Akawkawa Ncha-Ndip Coco In-cha-In-dip Jenny Ozorai OH-zor-eye - 24th), the 4x100m relay (4th, 8th, 26th, 27th, 30th) and the 4x400m relay (7th, 10th). RANKINGS - The USTFCCCA outdoor rankings have not started yet. The preseason rankings will come out on March 23. 3/24 4/6 4/13 4/20 4/27 5/4 5/11 5/18 5/26 6/1 USC Men 7 5 5 USC Women 8 7 7 USC TRACK AND FIELD HISTORY - USC is well known as one of the most successful athletic programs in the history of the NCAA, with 122 men’s and women’s national championships. The Trojans have won far more NCAA team and individual titles combined than any other university. However, the most dominant force in USC’s slate of athletic programs is not the baseball team (12 College World Series titles) or the football squad (nine national championships) but the men’s track and fi eld program, with an unprecedented 28 NCAA titles (including nine straight, 1935-43). In fact, in the history of the NCAA, only the Oklahoma State wrestling program (31) has more national titles than USC men’s outdoor track and fi eld. Trojan athletes have dominated the track and fi eld scene for decades. From the exploits of sprinter Charlie Paddock and thrower Clarence “Bud” Houser in the 1920s and 1930s, sprinter Mel Patton in the 1940s, thrower Parry O’Brien in the 1950s,sprinter Lennox Miller and pole vaulter Bob Seagren in the 1960s, sprinter Quincy Watts in the 1980s, to four-time NCAA hammer champion Balazs Kiss (only the fi fth collegian to win four in a row) in the 1990s and World Champion hurdler Felix Sanchez in the 2000s, USC is synonymous with track and fi eld excellence. TROJAN PROGRAM IN GOOD HANDS WITH SMITH GILBERT - USC Director of Track & Field Caryl Smith Gilbert is in her second season at the helm of the Trojans’ track and fi eld program. Already she has guided the women’s team to the 2014 and 2015 MPSF indoor titles, their fi rst two seasons in the conference. The men’s team placed second at the MPSFs in 2015, their fi rst year com- peting in the conference. She has also been named the 2014 and 2015 MPSF Women’s Indoor Coach of the Year, the 2014 and 2015 USTFCCCA West Region Women’s Indoor Coach of the Year and the 2014 USTFCCCA West Region Women’s Outdoor Coach of the Year. She was named the USC Director of Track & Field on June 17, 2013, following the retirement of Ron Allice who guided the pro- gram for 19 seasons.