University Southern California Trojans
Freshman Angela Williams Wins NCAA 100m Title
June 21, 1999 | Track & Field
June 6, 1999
NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships
Saturday, June 5, 1999 -- Bronco Stadium
Boise State University -- Boise, ID
FINAL TOP-10 TEAM SCORES
Men - 1. Arkansas 59, the Razorbacks win their eighth consecutive outdoor crown; 2. Stanford 52; 3. SMU 49; 4. Auburn 40; 5. USC 33; 6. South Carolina and Texas, 30; 8. Texas-El Paso 25; 9. LSU and Florida 24. (UCLA tied with Northeast Louisiana for 16th, with 15 points).
Women - 1. Texas 62, the Longhorns win their second consecutive outdoor title; 2. UCLA 60; 3. USC 58; 4. Georgia 37; 5. LSU 32; 6. SMU 29; 7. South Carolina 24; 8. Villanova and BYU 23; 10. Baylor and Pittsburgh 20.
The end of the women's and men's meets, both 4 X 400m relays, provided the drama for the UCLA and USC women's team and the UCLA men's squad. In women's competition, before the 4 X 400m relay, the Bruins led with 54 points, followed by defending champion Texas (52) and the Women of Troy were third with 50 points. Texas won the relay, with a collegiate record 3:27.08, USC was second (3:28.08) and the Bruins were third (3:29.41). USC's and UCLA's times were the fastest in both school's history. With the 10 points, the Longhorns win their second consecutive women's outdoor title with 62 points, the Bruins finish second (60) and the Women of Troy place third (58).
In the men's 4 X 400m relay, UCLA junior Michael Granville, junior Terrence Williams, junior Malachi Davis and senior Brian Fell won the race with a time of 3:02.12, the fourth fastest time in school history.
Bruin Women's Head Coach Jeanette Bolden - "I knew we made some mistakes early on in this meet. Everybody needed to be in a final for us to be successful. It didn't happen. We lost by five last year and now by two points. All of our athletes performed tremendously. I'm so happy for Seilala (Sua) and Joanna (Hayes) and we had a true freshman (Tracy O'Hara) place second in the pole vault. We did our best, we just came up two points short.
(The final relay)- "Michelle Perry ran her heart out. Every leg on that relay ran their heart out."
USC Women's Head Coach Barbara Edmonson - (On Angela Williams' victory in the 100m) --"Angela is a God-send. She was a true Trojan out there. They say, 'Mighty things come in small packages.' She proved it. She's a force who a team can really rally around and we did that."
(On USC's strong third-place finish) - "It took some new records to beat us (in the 4x400m relay), so we made some people sit up and take notice. We'll be back. We can win this and we will."
(On Kinshasa Davis' final leg of the 4x400m relay, which denied UCLA a share of the NCAA team title) - "Kinshasa has been hurt all year and we kind of waited until the end and said, 'You're the freshest one here." And she really rose to the occasion."
FINALS
Men's Hammer - USC sophomore Norbert Horvath surpassed his season best (227-9) on all four of his legal throws to finish as the runner-up. With a mark of 241-11 (73.75) on his fifth attempt, Horvath led the competition going into the final round. Andras Haklits, a freshman from Northeast Louisiana, threw 243-1 (74.09) on his sixth and final attempt. Although Horvath's final toss went into the net, his 241-11 throw represents a new PR (by more than seven feet) and is the second-best throw in USC history (second only to 1996 Olympic gold medalist and four-time NCAA champion Balazs Kiss' school record 271-1). USC has had a hammer thrower either win the national championship or finish as the runner-up in the last seven NCAA outdoor meets. Kiss won four consecutive NCAA hammer titles (1993-96) before Bengt Johansson won the title in 1997 and finished second in 1998.
"My workout three days ago was my best ever," Horvath said. "When I threw 72.24 I was so happy and I thought that would be my best. So when I threw 73.75, I was overjoyed. This was a great meet for me because I haven't had a PR in three years. I have a really good coach (USC throws coach Dan Lange) and I hope to work with for a very long time."
UCLA senior Luke Sullivan placed 14th, with a mark of 204-10.
Women's Pole Vault - UCLA had a trio in the women's pole vault, true freshman Tracy O'Hara, sophomore Erica Hoernig and true freshman Heather Sickler. O'Hara, who won this event at the Pac-10 two weeks ago and is the Pac-10 record-holder (13-4 o), placed second (13-1 Ohm), Hoernig was 11th (12-5 Ohm) and Sickler placed 16th (11-7 ae).
Men's Triple Jump - USC junior Kedjeloba Mambo's best mark of 52-9 Ohm (16.08) earned him 10th place. USC sophomore Djeke Mambo's best mark of 51-0 o (15.55) placed him in 16th.
Women's Discus - UCLA junior Seilala Sua became the fourth athlete in women's history to win both the shot put (she won the shot put on Thursday, 57-9) and discus in the same meet and the only athlete in NCAA women's Outdoor history to win three consecutive discus titles. She was named the Women's Most Outstanding Athlete of the meet. Her discus winning mark of 210-00 was a meet (210-8, Seilala Sua, UCLA, 1998 ) and stadium record (193-10, Danyel Mitchell, LSU, 1994). She joins Meg Ritchie, Arizona, 1982; Carla Garrett, Arizona, 1989 and Tracie Millett, UCLA, 1990 as the only athletes to win both the shot put and discus at the NCAA Outdoor. Sua also becomes the fourth Bruin in history to win this event-1986-Toni Lutjens, 1990, Tracie Millett and 1995, Dawn Dumble.
"It's cool to win both events. I'm glad to get that under my belt, " Sua said. "It's great to keep that Bruin throwing tradition going. I knew I needed a good throw early, because the next two top throwers were in the second flight. My goal before getting out of UCLA is to win a team title. That's what I really want. I was glad I was able to contribute 20 points."
Women's 100m Hurdles - UCLA senior Joanna Hayes, who was looking to become the only women's athlete in the history of the NCAA Outdoor meet to win both hurdle titles (she won the 400m hurdle crown on Friday, 55.16, stadium-record, No. 3 in school history and personal-best), placed third in the 100m hurdles with a time of 12.89 (personal-best and No. 2 in school history).
"I felt bad in the race, my legs felt awful," said Hayes, after the completion of her fifth race of the meet (two 400m hurdle races and three 100m hurdle races). "It was a hard race, I just wanted to get over all 10 hurdles. I've never done this before (doubled at national meet) and my legs felt fatigued. I should be strong enough, but I was sloppy and tight. I really wanted to pull out 10 points for the team. At least I got some (six). I would liked to have won this, but overall, no complaints, I feel pretty good about my meet."
Men's 110m Hurdles - USC senior William Erese finished seventh with a time of 13.88. He finished sixth at the 1997 NCAA outdoors and fifth last season.
Men's 400m - USC senior Jerome Davis finished third with a time of 45.06. Davis was the defending NCAA 400m champion coming in and had the nation's No. 2 time at 44.95.
Men's Shot Put - The Bruins had a trio of - seniors, Wade Tift, the Pac-10 champion and Travis Haynes, along with true frreshman Scott Moser. Tift earned All-America outdoor honors for the second time, placing eighth (61-11 Ohm, tying his personal-best). Moser placed 14th (59-0 ae) and Haynes was 18th (56-7 Ohm).
Women's 100m - Women of Troy freshman Angela Williams won the NCAA 100m championship with a time of 11.04 (1.4 wind), which is a new USC school record (the previous mark was set in yesterday's semifinals by USC senior Torri Edwards, who clocked a 11.10). Williams is USC's ninth individual track and field national champion and first since 1990 when Ashley Selman took the javelin title. Williams' time also broke a 23-year old national junior record (Brenda Morehead of Tennessee State - 11.08 (2.0 wind) - June 21, 1976) and moved her into ninth place on the all-time collegiate list (past Florence Griffith of UCLA - 11.06 - Aug. 26, 1983).
"I kept dreaming about this all last night and because I wanted it so bad, it became a reality today," Williams said. "I knew that I was in there with a lot of elite athletes who I know I'm going to have to compete against in the future so I thought, 'Angela you're just a freshman. There's no pressure on you.' But I really wanted to win as a freshman. You only get one chance to do that.
"I have a very quick start," said Williams, who owns the nation's fastest time this season at 10.96w. "My disadvantage is the end of the race, so what I had to keep focusing on was to keep the lead and then transition all the way through the race. All I was thinking when I got to 60 meters was 'Lift, lift, lift.' And I just kept lifting and I felt myself going. I didn't see anybody coming up on my side, like I did in the rounds, so I knew I had it.
"That was a tremendous field," Williams added. "We are going to be the future of U.S. sprinting, but I couldn't let them intimidate me. I went into this thinking, 'This is mine and I'm going to take it.' This was the first step toward taking it to a new level and now I'm there. I was the underdog and when you are not expected to win, it takes the pressure off. So it was a relaxed race for me."
UCLA sophomore Shakedia Jones finished seventh with a time of 11.23.
USC senior Torri Edwards, the 1999 Pac-10 100m champion, finished in eighth with a time of 11.26.
Women's 1,500m - The Women of Troy senior Grazyna Penc finished as the runner-up with a time of 4:22.61. The eight points Penc earned momentarily put the USC women's team into the team title lead with 47 points (one point ahead of Georgia). Penc has finished within the top four in the 1,500m at all four of the NCAA Outdoor Championships that she has competed in (third in 1996, fourth in 1997 and third in 1998). "I'm a little bit disappointed," Penc said. "This is my fourth year so it was my last chance to become the NCAA champion, but I tried everything I could."
USC junior Anna Lopaciuch, who has been battling the flu all week, finished 10th with at time of 4:32.21.
Women's 200m - Women of Troy senior Torri Edwards, running in her second final of the day and seventh race of the meet, finished sixth with a time of 22.89. At last year's NCAA meet, Edwards also finished sixth (23.24).
Men's 200m - USC senior Charles Lee finished third with a time of 20.53. Lee improved upon his fourth-place finish in 20.81 at last year's NCAA meet.
Women's 4x400m Relay -The Women of Troy quartet of junior Natasha Danvers, sophomore Malika Edmonson, sophomore Brigita Langerholc and freshman Kinshasa Davis set a new school and Pac-10 record with a time of 3:28.08, which earned USC second place behind Texas' blazing 3:27.08, which represents a new national collegiate record. Edmonson ran a key second leg of the relay with a 51.08 split and Davis came from behind to get USC into the runner-up position.
"I just had to maintain my composure," said Davis, who clocked a split of 51.82. "I'm so happy with what we did."
UCLA's team of freshman Ysanne Williams, senior Andrea Anderson, freshman Keyon Soley and sophomore Michelle Perry, placed third, with a 3:29.41, the fastest time in school history.
Men's 4x400m Relay - Junior Michael Granville, junior Terrence Williams, junior Malachi Davis and senior Brian Fell won the race, with a time of 3:02.12, the fourth-fastest time in school history. The Bruins came into the meet with the fourth fastest time (3:03.18).
USC's hope for it's second 4x400m NCAA championship died when junior Vince Williams pulled his left hamstring on Troy's second leg of the relay. The Trojans did manage to finish the race and took seventh with a time of 3:11.26. Senior Charles Lee came out of the blocks and junior Felix Sanchez and senior Jerome Davis ran the last two legs. USC came into the competition with the nation's top time with a different set of runners.
