For Immediate Release \\ Thursday, June 1, 2018 Contacts \\ Jesse Hooker ([email protected]) THRILLING USC WOMEN’S NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP CAPS 2018 PAC-12 OUTDOOR TRACK & FIELD SEASON PAC-12 TRACK & FIELD - MEN’S REVIEW PAC-12 TRACK & FIELD - WOMEN’S REVIEW While the OREGON men maintained their dominance over the Pac-12 Cham- The USC women’s track & field team posted a dramatic victory in claiming pionship, it was the USC men who capped the 2018 campaign with the best the NCAA outdoor championship on June 9. Needing a victory in the 4x400- Conference finish at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships. meter relay finale to win the national title, Trojans’ senior Kendall Ellis erased a 20-meter deficit over the final 100 meters of the anchor leg to beat Purdue USC posted its first trophy finish at the NCAA outdoor championship since to the tape and score the 10 points necessary to narrowly edge Georgia for the 2014, placing fourth with 34 points to lead the Pac-12 at the national meet. team title. STANFORD tied for eighth, its best showing since placing sixth in 2011, to finish third in the USTFCCCA Program of the Year standings behind winner The championship was the second all-time for the USC women and ninth over- Alabama and runner-up Arkansas. Oregon, which extended its record Pac-12 all for Pac-12 women’s programs, including the second straight, third in the last men’s title streak to 12 consecutive years, tied for 35th at the NCAA meet. four years and sixth since 2001. 2018 NCAA OUTDOOR TRACK & FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS STANFORD placed third, just two points shy of USC in the closest top-three MEN’S TEAM RESULTS (Top 3 and Pac-12 scorers only) finish in Championship history, to equal its best NCAA finish in program history. 1. Georgia - 52 The Cardinal - who also finished fourth at NCAA Cross Country and eighth at 2. Florida - 42 the NCAA Indoor Championships - was named the Terry Crawford Women’s 3. Houston - 35 National Program of the Year by the USTFCCCA, ahead of league rival and 4. USC - 34 runner-up OREGON. It marked the 10th consecutive year a Pac-12 program T8. STANFORD - 28 earned USTFCCCA national program of the year distinction. T35. OREGON - 8 T43. ARIZONA - 6 2018 NCAA OUTDOOR TRACK & FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS T49. WASHINGTON - 4 WOMEN’S TEAM RESULTS (Top 3 and Pac-12 scorers only) T66. UCLA - 1 1. USC - 53 2. Georgia - 52 Four event national titles were won by Pac-12 athletes or relay teams, extend- 3. STANFORD - 51 ing the league’s streak of at least one event champion at the NCAA meet to 59 7. OREGON - 39 consecutive years dating to 1960. Additionally, two all-time Pac-12 records and 9. ARIZONA STATE - 22 a trio of collegiate records were set, all by USC in winning event titles at the T14. UCLA - 18 NCAA Championship: T37. COLORADO - 6 T44. WASHINGTON - 4 T46. WASHINGTON STATE - 3 T46. UTAH - 3 USTFCCCA RANKINGS MEN’S PREVIEW WOMEN’S PREVIEW PAC-12 WEEK-BY-WEEK TOP 25 RANKED TEAMS MTF WTF MEN’S NCAA EVENT NATIONAL CHAMPIONS Pac-12 women athletes racked up 51 First Team Preseason .............................. 4 ..................... 5 400-meter dash: Michael Norman, USC (43.61, All-America honors, highlighted by six event nation- April 2 .................................... 3 ..................... 5 collegiate record) al champions, including two for Bowerman semifi- April 9 .................................... 3 ..................... 5 5,000-meter run: Sean McGorty, STANFORD nalist and USTFCCCA Co-Field Athlete of the Year April 16 .................................. 3 ..................... 5 400-meter hurdles: Rai Benjamin, USC (47.02, Maggie Ewen. April 23 .................................. 3 ..................... 4 April 30 .................................. 4 ..................... 6 Pac-12 & collegiate record) May 7 .................................... 4 ..................... 5 4x400-meter relay: USC (2:59.00, Pac-12 & colle- WOMEN’S NCAA EVENT NATIONAL CHAMPIONS May 21 .................................. 2 ..................... 5 giate record) 200-meter dash: Angelerne Annelus, USC May 29 .................................. 3 ..................... 5 1,500-meter run: Jessica Hull, OREGON All totaled, seven all-time top-10 Conference per- 4x400-meter relay: USC MEN’S (May 29) Rank School Points Last Wk formances were recorded during the 2018 season. Shot put: Maggie Ewen, ARIZONA STATE 1 Florida 319.82 1 Discus: Maggie Ewen, ARIZONA STATE 2 Texas Tech 229.19 3 Athletes from the Pac-12 amassed 22 First Team Javelin: Mackenzie Little, STANFORD 3 Georgia 228.79 4 All-America accolades, highlighted by two honors 4 Alabama 228.48 6 for USC’s pair of Bowerman semifinalists Norman Two all-time Pac-12 records were set in 2018, com- 5 Texas A&M 215.00 2 6 OREGON 186.35 5 and Benjamin. ing in a pair of field events: 7 BYU 166.47 7 Shot put: Maggie Ewen, ASU (19.46m) 8 LSU 160.47 10 Paced by Stanford’s third-place finish, three Pac- Javelin: Mackenzie Little, STANFORD (60.36m) 9 Houston 158.14 8 12 teams appeared in the USTFCCCA National Pro- 10 Florida State 157.17 12 gram of the Year standings along with No. 7 Oregon All totaled, 40 all-time top-10 Conference perfor- 11 USC 143.19 11 12 Texas 141.83 14 and No. 13 Washington. mances were recorded during the 2018 season. 13 Arkansas 135.77 9 14 Kentucky 131.13 13 #PAC12TF ON #THEBOWERMAN18 WATCH LISTS 15 Kansas 128.67 15 16 Mississippi State 122.04 19 Two Pac-12 men’s athletes are on the Semifinalists Two Pac-12 women’s athletes are on the Semifinal- 17 STANFORD 113.06 31 list for the 2018 Bowerman released June 13. ists list for the 2018 Bowerman released June 13. 18 Northern Arizona 111.26 16 19 Illinois 106.20 17 Rai Benjamin ................... USC ..................Sprints Maggie Ewen ...................ASU .................. Throws 20 Nebraska 97.05 18 21 Auburn 95.55 24 Michael Norman .............. USC ..................Sprints Kendall Ellis .....................USC ...................Sprints 22 Tennessee 95.23 23 23 Penn State 94.43 22 2018 USTFFCCCA NATIONAL AWARDS 24 Indiana 86.23 26 25 Southern Miss 85.07 45 NATIONAL MEN’S TRACK ATHLETE OF THE YEAR NATIONAL WOMEN’S CO-FIELD ATHLETE OF THE Michael Norman, USC YEAR Other Pac-12 programs: #39 ARIZONA, #44 WASHINGTON, Maggie Ewen, ARIZONA STATE #51 UCLA, #70 CALIFORNIA, #73 WASHINGTON STATE, #78 NATIONAL MEN’S ASSISTANT COACH OF THE YEAR COLORADO, NR ARIZONA STATE. Quincy Watts, USC NATIONAL WOMEN’S COACH OF THE YEAR CONFERENCE INDEX Caryl Smith Gilbert, USC Rank Conference Points Top 25 Teams 1 SEC 1884.96 10 NATIONAL WOMEN’S ASSISTANT COACH OF THE YEAR 2 Big Ten 847.81 4 Zeb Sion, STANFORD 3 Big 12 750.12 3 4 PAC-12 662.46 3 2018 USTFFCCCA REGIONAL AWARDS 5 ACC 507.84 1 WEST REGION MEN’S TRACK ATHLETE OF THE YEAR WEST REGION WOMEN’S TRACK ATHLETE OF THE YEAR WOMEN’S (May 29) Michael Norman, USC Kendall Ellis, USC Rank School Points Last Wk 1 Georgia 283.64 3 WEST REGION MEN’S FIELD ATHLETE OF THE YEAR WEST REGION WOMEN’S FIELD ATHLETE OF THE YEAR 2 USC 279.97 1 Jordan Geist, ARIZONA Maggie Ewen, ARIZONA STATE 3 OREGON 272.36 5 4 Kentucky 248.95 7 WEST REGION MEN’S COACH OF THE YEAR WEST REGON WOMEN’S ASSISTANT COACH OF THE YEAR 5 Florida 242.87 8 Robert Johnson, OREGON Caryl Smith Gilbert, USC 6 Texas A&M 238.02 4 7 LSU 235.93 2 WEST REGION MEN’S ASSISTANT COACH OF THE YEAR WEST REGION MEN’S ASSISTANT COACH OF THE YEAR 8 STANFORD 217.76 6 Quincy Watts, USC Joanna Hayes, USC 9 Arkansas 191.04 9 10 Minnesota 186.16 11 11 Kansas State 163.53 15 2018 PAC-12 ANNUAL AWARDS 12 Tennessee 157.61 10 13 Purdue 151.54 14 MEN’S TRACK ATHLETE OF THE YEAR WOMEN’S TRACK ATHLETE OF THE YEAR 14 Texas 146.76 13 Michael Norman, USC Kendall Ellis, USC 15 Kansas 123.16 19 16 Virginia Tech 118.81 17 MEN’S FIELD ATHLETE OF THE YEAR WOMEN’S FIELD ATHLETE OF THE YEAR 17 ARIZONA STATE 114.35 12 Damarcus Simpson, OREGON Maggie Ewen, ARIZONA STATE 18 New Mexico 112.61 16 19 Boise State 111.11 25 MEN’S FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR WOMEN’S FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR 20 Alabama 104.74 18 Jordan Geist, ARIZONA Twanisha Terry, USC 21 COLORADO 98.82 29 22 Wisconsin 88.14 28 MEN’S COACH OF THE YEAR WOMEN’S COACH OF THE YEAR 23 Oklahoma 86.46 21 24 Missouri 85.51 23 Robert Johnson, OREGON Caryl Smith Gilbert, USC 25 Ole Miss 83.68 22 2018 #PAC12TF ATHLETES OF THE WEEK Other Pac-12 programs: #30 UCLA, #54 WASHINGTON STATE, #58 WASHINGTON, #60 UTAH, #81 CALIFORNIA, DATE MEN’S TRACK MEN’S FIELD WOMEN’S TRACK WOMEN’S FIELD #87 ARIZONA, #115 OREGON STATE. March 20 Ricky Morgan Jr., USC Brock Eager, WSU Karolina Pahlitzsch, ARIZ Isabella Marten, CAL March 27 Michael Norman, USC Bryant O’Georgia, ARIZ Twanisha Terry, USC Maggie Ewen, ASU CONFERENCE INDEX Rank Conference Points Top 25 Teams April 3 Sean McGorty, STAN McKay Johnson, CAL Grayson Murphy, UTAH Ashlie Blake, UCLA 1 SEC 2032.65 10 April 10 Michael Norman, USC Jordan Geist, ARIZ Anna Cockrell, USC Maggie Ewen, ASU 2 PAC-12 1167.09 5 April 17 Riley Kelly, UCLA Jordan Geist, ARIZ Mesa Weidle, UTAH Lena Giger, STAN 3 Big 12 738.89 4 4 Big Ten 651.63 3 April 24 Michael Norman, USC Sander Moldau, WSU Twanisha Terry, USC Chaquinn Cook, ORE 5 ACC 516.97 1 May 1 Carlos Villarreal, ARIZ Jordan Geist, ARIZ Alissa Brooks-Johnson, WSU Maggie Ewen, ASU 2 #PAC12TF // 2018 YEAR IN REVIEW 2018 PAC-12 MEN’S NCAA ALL-AMERICANS FIRST TEAM ALL-AMERICANS (22) SECOND TEAM ALL-AMERICANS (13) HONORABLE MENTION ALL-AMERICANS (26) Jordan Geist ARIZ FR Shot Put Jordan Geist ARIZ FR Discus Collins Kibet ARIZ SR 800 Meters Maksims Sincukovs ARIZ FR 400 Meters Silviu Bocancea CAL JR Hammer Bryant O’Georgia ARIZ JR High Jump Cravon Gillespie