USC TRACK & FIELD November 7, 2016 VOLUME 23, ISSUE 1 Cunningham Skies To Victory At The 2016 NCAA Championships Coach Caryl’s Corner The 2016 season and the 2016 summer provided Randall Cunningham won the men’s high jump title with ease going perfect on his fi rst fi ve heights us with so many great moments which makes me to vitually elimate the competition, fi nishing with a best clearance of 7-4.50 (2.25m). He became so proud to be the USC Director of Track & Field. USC’s 11th NCAA high jump champion, more than any other school. Deanna Hill became a four-time Our men’s team battled through an inordinate All-American by taking 6th in the 100m, 7th in the 200m, 2nd in the 4x100m and 8th in the 4x400m. amount of injuries, but we were still able to post some impressive performances including a 12th-place fi nish at the NCAA Championships, Randall Cunningham capped by Randall Cunningham’s NCAA title in the high jump. Our women’s team was also beset by injuries, but was able to place second at the Pac-12 Championships and tie for ninth at the NCAA Championships. Both teams should do even better this coming season as we have added some very talented individuals and have a handful of All-Americans returning from injuries. During the summer the strength and reach of the USC track and fi eld program was on full display as Trojan athletes won nine Olympic medals in Rio, led by the individual gold medal earned by Dalilah Muhammad (USC 2012) in the 400m IH. It is hard to imagine it was just over a year ago we were developing the skills of a little known sprinter named Andre De Grasse and now he has established himself as one of the top sprinters in the world. There were plenty other successes during the summer as Amalie Iuel set the Norwegian 400m IH record, Eric Sloan won the NACAC U23 triple jump title and Jaide Stepter and Deanna Hill ran on winning relays at the NACAC U23s. In addition, incoming freshmen Anna Cockrell (400m IH) and Michael Norman (200m) won gold medals at the IAAF World U20 Championships. 2016 Season Accomplishments Deanna Hill We have already begun our Fall workout program to prepare for the 2017 indoor and outdoor Men’s Team: seasons. We have an experienced group • NCAA Championships - 12th Place returning which have posted 18 Trojan all-time • NCAA Champions - Randall Cunningham (High Jump) individual top 10 marks. In addition, our incoming group is very talented and I am positive both of • NCAA Preliminary Rounds - 4 individuals in 4 events advance to NCAA Championships our teams will be very competitive at the national • Pac-12 Championships - 5th Place level. • First Team All-Americans - Randall Cunningham (HJ), Adoree’ Jackson (LJ), Ricky I have enjoyed meeting so many of you during my Morgan, Jr. (400m) fi rst three seasons at USC and can think of no • Pac-12 Champions - Adoree’ Jackson (LJ) better way to say thank you for all your help and support than by winning championships. That is Women’s Team: always our goal and with hard work, I believe this • NCAA Championships - T-9th Place season we will add to the phenomenal heritage • NCAA West Regional - 10 individuals in 12 events advance to NCAA Championships of the USC track and fi eld program. • Pac-12 Championships - 2nd Place Fight On! • First Team All-Americans - Destinee Brown (4x100m), Kendall Ellis (4x400m), Alexis Faulknor (4x100m), Tynia Gaither (100m, 200m, 4x100m), Deanna Hill (100m, 200m, Coach Caryl 4x100m, 4x400m), Amalie Iuel (4x400m), Tera Novy (Discus Throw), Jaide Stepter (400m IH, 4x400m) • Pac-12 Champions - Kendall Ellis (4x400m), Deanna Hill (4x400m), Amalie Iuel (Heptathlon), Cameron Pettigrew (4x400m), Jaide Stepter (400m IH, 4x400m) 2016 NCAA Championships Review Women 2nd, Men’ 5th at Pac-12 Meet Men 12th, Women T-9th At 2016 NCAAs Stepter Wins Her Third Consecutive 400m IH Title Cunningham Wins NCAA High Jump Title USC had 11 individual earn fi rst-team All-America honors in 17 USC’s Jaide Stepter won her third consecutive 400m IH title events, led by Randall Cunningham’s high jump title and Deanna Hill and the women’s 4x400m relay won its fourth consecutive title scoring in four events at the 2016 NCAA Track & Field Championships to lead the Trojans on the fi nal day of the Pac-12 Track & Field held in Eugene, Ore. from June 8-11. The men’s team with just four Championships hosted by Washington at Husky Track in Seattle, athletes fi nshed 12th with 16 points and the women’s team tied for Wash. on May 15. USC’s women’s team fi nished second with ninth with 28 points. 111.50 points and the undermanned men’s team placed fi fth with a total of 75 points. USC athletes won three individual and Cunningham closed out the men’s competition on June 10 by one relay Pac-12 titles during the two-day competition. The winning the men’s high jump with an outdoor PR of 7-4.50 (2.25m) conditions were cold, windy and rainy, especially on the fi rst day to become the 11th Trojan to win the event, four more than any other of the competition. school. He was fl awless through that height, virtually eliminating the competition before he missed. Ricky Morgan Jr. placed The women’s team fi nished second for the third consecutive seventh in the men’s 400m fi nal with a time of 46.63. On June 8, season as Oregon ran away with the team title. Amalie Iuel got Adoree’ Jackson placed fi fth in the men’s long jump for the second things started for the Trojans by winning her second conference consecutive season, becoming the fi rst USC back-to-back LJ all- heptathlon title on May 8 with 6,011 points, the second-most American since Ed Tave in 1983 and 1984. Also, Nick Ponzio took in school history. The next week she injured her elbow the day 12th in the men’s shot put. The four athletes combined for 16 points before the Pac-12 championships and was limited to the high and 12th place, one point outside of a top 10 fi nish. jump and 400m IH prelims before having to be pulled from the meet. Lyndsey Lopes also had a PR of 5,277 points to fi nish fi fth, The women’s team opened the fi nal day of competition on June 11 tops among the freshmen and 10th all-time by a Trojan. with a school-record and second place fi nish in the 4x100m (Brown, Hill, Faulknor & Gaither) with a time of 42.90. USC scored eight times The men’s team had to redshirt Marquis Morris, Just’N Thymes, in six different events on the fi nal day with Tynia Gaither fi nishing Eric Sloan and Alex Rohani due to injuries and the departure of fourth in the 100m and fi fth in the 200m, Deanna Hill sixth in the Andre De Grasse in the Fall semester had left the team depleted. 100m and seventh in the 200m, Tera Novy seventh in the discus Still, they fought hard and when they took fourth in the 4x400m and Jaide Stepter fi nishing sixth in the 400m IH. USC topped off its relay, they had grabbed fi fth place. Adoree’ Jackson won his scoring by taking eighth in the 4x400m (Ellis, Iuel, Stepter, Hill) after a second consecutive Pac-12 long jump title with a leap of 25-3.50 dropped baton on one of the exchanges. USC fi nished with 28 points (7.71m) becoming the fi rst Trojan to win consecutive conference and tied for ninth. USC has scored a total of 77 points in Caryl Smith long jump titles since school and Pac-12 record-holder Randy Gilberts fi rst three seasons, the most it has scored in a three-season Williams won it 1972-75. stretch since 2006-08. Trojan men scoring and earning fi rst-team All-America status were: Randall Cunningham (HJ), Adoree’ Jackson (LJ) and Ricky Morgan, Jr. (400m). USC’s women’s fi rst-team All-Americans were: Destinee Brown (4x100m), Kendall Ellis (4x400m), Alexis Faulknor (4x100m), Tynia Gaither (100m, 200m, 4x100m), Deanna Hill (100m, 200m, 4x100m, 4x400m), Amalie Iuel (4x400m), Tera Novy (Discus Throw), Jaide Stepter (400m IH, 4x400m). Final team scores: Final 2016 Pac-12 Championship Results: Men: Women: Men: Women: 1.) Florida - 62 1.) Arkansas - 72 1.) Oregon - 155.6 1.) Oregon - 185 2.) Arkansas - 56 2.) Oregon - 62 2.) Washington - 122 2.) USC - 111.5 3.) Texas A&M - 50 3.) Georgia - 41 3.) UCLA - 94.2 3.) Stanford - 90 4. Oregon - 48 4.) Texas - 36 4.) Arizona St. - 83 4.) Washington - 82 5. LSU - 41 5.) Texas A&M - 35 5.) USC - 75 5.) UCLA - 66.5 6.) Tennessee - 30 6.) LSU - 31 6.) Stanford - 74 6.) Colorado - 66 7.) Virginia - 20 7.) Stanford - 29 7.) Colorado - 63 7.) Arizona - 62 8.) Virginia Tech - 19 Kansas St. - 29 8.) Arizona - 57 8.) Washington St. - 45 9.) Mississippi St. - 18 9.) USC - 28 9.) California - 50.6 9.) Arizona St. - 41 10.) Nebraska - 17 Florida - 28 10.) Washington St. - 41.6 10.) California - 39.5 Houston - 17 11.) Kentucky - 25 11.) Oregon State - 23.5 12.) USC - 16 12.) Oklahoma St. - 24 12.) Utah - 3 Trojans Split Dual Meet with Bruins USC Wins 9 T&F Medals At Rio Olympics Women’s Team Wins For 8th Time In 9 Seasons Muhammad Wins Gold In 400m IH, Felix With USA’s Relays The USC track and fi eld team posted 21 victories in 38 events to USC’s track and fi eld program was fi rmly on display on the world earn a split in the annual USC-UCLA Dual Meet hosted by the Bruins scene as nine different current and former student-athletes in Westwood, Calif.