University Southern California Trojans
Track and Field Teams Host Dual Meet with UCLA
June 21, 1999 | Track & Field
April 30, 1999
The USC men's and women's track and field teams will host the USC-UCLA dual meet on May 1 (Saturday) at USC's Cromwell Track & Field Stadium. Events begin in the field at 11:15 a.m. and on the track at 11:30 a.m. The annual clash between the crosstown rivals, which is generally considered the finest dual meet in all of collegiate track and field, will be scored in the traditional manner of 5-3-1 and 5-0 for relays. This year's USC-UCLA dual meet is made possible through the sponsorship of the USC/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Kenneth T. and Eileen L. Norris Foundation.
ON TELEVISION
The USC-UCLA dual meet will be televised four times on a delayed basis by
FOX Sports West 2: May 2 at 6 p.m., May 6 at 6 p.m., May 8 at 10 a.m. and
May 9 at 10 p.m. Tom Kelly, Tom Feuer and former Trojan football standout
John Jackson will call all the action. (Also, a taped broadcast of the
USTCA Regional Track & Field Invitational, which was held in Chapel Hill,
N.C., on April 10 will be shown on FOX Sports West 2 on Wednesday (April
28) at 3 p.m. The meet featured host North Carolina, USC, Georgetown and
N.C. State.)
USC-UCLA DUAL MEET HISTORY
The Trojan men lead the overall series, 38-27. However, the Bruins have
won the past 20 meetings. The last time USC was victorious was in 1977
(91-63), in front of a record crowd of 15,514 at UCLA's Drake Stadium. On
the women's side, the Bruins lead the series 12-3. The last time the Women
of Troy defeated the Bruins in a dual meet was in 1992 (80-30) at UCLA.
That meet also marked UCLA's last dual meet defeat on the women's side.
NATIONAL RANKINGS
The USC men's team is currently ranked at No. 3 according to Trackwire
(April 22). The Trojans trail No. 1 Arkansas and No. 2 Stanford. UCLA's
men's squad is tied for 20th. The Women of Troy are ranked at No. 4,
behind top-ranked Texas, No. 2 LSU and No. 3 UCLA. In the USTCA Power
Rankings (dual meet comparisons), the USC men's team is ranked at No. 3
with 323.4 points (behind Tennessee and Texas). The Bruin men are ranked
at No. 5 (312.1). On the women's side, UCLA is the top-ranked team with
335.6 points, while the Women of Troy are at No. 15 (289.2).
NCAA OUTDOOR LEADERS
USC is home to several athletes who have clocked NCAA leading times so far
this season. Senior Jerome Davis owns the nation's top time in the 400m at
45.25 (April 10) and is the defending NCAA champion in that event. Davis
also anchored USC's 4x400m relay team which clocked a leading 3:02.89 on
April 3 (the other members of the team were Charles Lee, Vince Williams and
Felix Sanchez). On the women's side, freshman sprint sensation Angela
Williams' 10.96w in the 100m is the nation's best. She has also run a
11.08w, which is the second-fastest time clocked so far this year (teammate
Torri Edwards isn't far behind at 11.17w). In the 800m, USC's Brigita
Langerholc and Grazyna Penc occupy the top two spots at 2:03.53 and
2:03.93, respectively. Penc also owns the nation's top time in the 1,500m
at 4:16.82.
SPECIAL REUNIONS
Members of the 1949 and 1974 USC track and field teams will be honored at
the meet. The 1949 squad, which won USC's 13th of 26 NCAA outdoor
championships, is celebrating the 50th anniversary. Twenty-two members of
that team, which was captained by Mel Patton and Bill Bayless, are expected
to be in attendance at the meet. The 1974 team is celebrating its 25th
anniversary and will be remembered for including USC's first women's squad.
THE 1999 USC TROJANS
USC, the most successful men's track and field program in collegiate
history, owns an unprecedented 26 NCAA Outdoor Championships (and two
indoor titles). According to Track & Field News, the 1999 USC men's team
might add to that championship total this year as the magazine tabbed the
Trojans as the title favorite in its NCAA Preview. Leading the way for the
1999 USC men's team is defending NCAA 400m champion Jerome Davis. The USC
women's team, picked to finish third at the NCAAs by Track & Field News, is
led by senior sprinter Torri Edwards, who clocked an 11.11 last year to tie
Olympian Inger Miller's 100m school record. Also in the mix for the
Trojans are a pair of freshman sprint sensations. On the men's side,
Sultan McCullough has already qualified for the NCAA Championships with a
10.17 clocking in the 100m. At the same time, the Women of Troy have
Angela Williams, the owner of the all-time national high school 100m record
(11.11). Sports Illustrated calls Edwards and Williams "the country's best
sprint tandem."
SO FAR THIS SEASON
The USC men's and women's teams are both 4-1 in dual meet competition this
season. Both squads swept past California, Cal State Bakersfield, Cal
State Fullerton and Cal Poly Pomona at the Trojan Invitational on March 6
at Cromwell Track & Field Stadium. That meet was highlighted by freshman
Sultan McCullough's blazing time of 10.17 in the 100m (fifth fastest in
Trojan history, new freshman record and new Cromwell Field record) in his
collegiate debut. On March 27, both USC teams lost dual meets at Louisiana
State. LSU beat the Trojan men, 77-71, while the Women of Troy fell,
78-62. Individually, USC already has 38 athletes qualified (automatic or
provisional) for the NCAA Championships (15 on the men's side and 23 on the
women's).
PAC-10 ATHLETES OF THE WEEK
USC has been honored with three Pacific-10 Conference Athlete of the Week
selections so far this season. Trojan senior Jerome Davis was named the
Pac-10 Athlete of the Week for the week of April 19. He ran a season-best
45.25 in the 400 meters at the Mt. SAC Relays on Sunday (April 18), posting
the nation's fastest time this year and an NCAA automatic qualifying mark.
Jerome, a senior from Ridgecrest, Calif., is the defending NCAA 400-meter
champion and a three-time Pac-10 champ in that event. Women of Troy
freshman Angela Williams was named the Pac-10 Athlete of the Week for the
week of April 19. She ran the 100 meters in 11.08w at the Mt. SAC Relays
and ran the opening leg of USC's 4x100-meter relay, which clocked a 43.40
to set a new USC school record and Pac-10 record (the other members of the
relay team are Torri Edwards, Malika Edmonson and Candace Young). Angela,
a freshman from Chino, Calif., also ran a 10.96w in the 100-meters earlier
this month. Women of Troy sophomore Jennifer Vail was named the Pac-10
Athlete of the Week for the week of April 12. She won the women's hammer
throw at the USTCA Regional Track & Field Invitational on April 10 at
UNC-Chapel Hill with an NCAA qualifying distance of 191-6 (58.38). This
was also a personal-best for Jennifer and the second-best hammer mark in
Women of Troy history. She also finished second in the discus (152-8) and
third in the shot put (42-6 3/4).
LAST YEAR'S USC-UCLA DUAL MEET
At the 1998 USC-UCLA dual meet, the Bruin men and women were both
victorious over the Trojans. The meet, which was held on May 2, produced
several outstanding performances. Seven meet records were broken and 81
proof of performances were issued to Trojan, Bruin and BYU men's and
women's athletes who improved their NCAA automatic and provisional
qualifying marks. The Bruin men defeated USC, 84-74 (the meet's closest
score since 1975), and the UCLA women beat the Women of Troy, 104-50.
NEW STADIUM
USC's Cromwell Track & Field, which is named after legendary Trojan coach
Dean Cromwell who led USC track teams to 12 NCAA Championships, will soon
be expanded to include a new 3,000-seat stadium (complete with offices and
locker rooms), which will be named after Katherine B. Loker, who made the
project possible through a generous gift to the University. Construction
is expected to begin this June. Cromwell Track & Field was used as a
training and warm-up facility during the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
The track's Rekortan surface, the same one that was installed for the
Olympic competition at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, has eight 42-inch
lanes. Cromwell Track & Field Stadium was the site of the first USC-UCLA
Dual Meet held on the USC campus in 1995. The meet was also held there in
1997 and the Trojans and Bruins will meet at Cromwell again this season on
May 1.
NEXT MEET AT CROMWELL FIELD
On Saturday, May 15, USC's Cromwell Field will play host to the 14th Annual
Fila Twilight Distance Classic, which showcases men's and women's distance
races from 800 meters to 5,000 meters. Last year's meet produced 32
qualifiers for the NCAA and the USATF meets. The first event (women's
800m) is scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m. Admission is $5.
LAST YEAR IN THE POST-SEASON
The USC men's team finished seventh at last season's NCAA Championships and
second at the 1998 Pac-10 meet. The Women of Troy squad finished fifth at
the 1998 NCAA Championships and third at the Pac-10s.
1998 PAC-10 CHAMPIONSHIPS
The USC men's team finished second at the 1998 Pacific-10 Conference
Championships at Stanford (May 23-24), while the Women of Troy finished
third. The Trojan men won two individual events (400m - Jerome Davis; 110m
HH - William Erese). The Women of Troy took home five individual
championships (200m - Torri Edwards; 800m - Anna Lopaciuch; 1,500m -
Grazyna Penc; 400m IH - Natasha Danvers; 1,600m relay - Danvers, Carla
Estes, Kristie Johnston, Brigita Langerholc). Natasha Danvers, a sophomore
>from London, was USC's star of the meet, winning the 400m IH in 58.01,
anchoring the winning 1,600m relay and finishing second in both the high
jump (5-10 1/2) and 100m HH (13.32). She accounted for 28 1/2 of the Women
of Troy's 121 points all by herself on the final day of the competition.
USC'S NCAA TITLE HISTORY
The Trojan men's program has won an unprecedented 26 NCAA outdoor national
titles (including nine straight in 1935-43), plus two NCAA indoor crowns.
USC's men also have had 105 individual champions over the years, including
defending 400m champion Jerome Davis. The Women of Troy have had eight
individual collegiate champions and six Top 10 NCAA team finishes in school
history, including last season's fifth-place showing at the 1998 meet in
Buffalo, N.Y. This year's NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field
Championships will be held in Boise, Idaho, on June 2-5. CBS will televise
the meet nationally on a tape-delayed basis on Sunday, June 6, at 9 a.m. (PT).
RON ALLICE
Following in the footsteps of USC's legendary track coaches, Ron Allice has
made quite an impression during his first four seasons in Troy as the
Director of Track and Field. At last year's NCAA Outdoor Championships, he
led the USC men's team to seventh place and the Women of Troy to fifth (as
a combined men's and women's program, that performance ranked USC behind
only two schools at the 1998 NCAAs and was the best in school history). In
1997, Allice directed the Trojan men's team to its first Pac-10 title since
1977 (and 30th overall) before finishing third at the NCAAs. In 1996,
Allice guided the USC women's team to its first-ever Pac-10 title and
directed the men's squad to a 10th-place finish at the NCAAs. And in his
first year at USC in 1995, he led the men's team to a fourth-place finish
at the NCAAs. Allice is well known for his ability to win. His overall
dual meet coaching mark is 179-29-1 in 32 years at five schools, including
11 state championships in 16 years at Long Beach City College, his previous
stop before landing at Troy. Allice's programs have produced more than 200
All-Americans, plus 16 Olympians, four world record holders and seven
American record holders. He has coached at his high school, junior college
and college alma maters on the way to compiling his outstanding coaching
statistics.
USC TRACK & FIELD HISTORY
In addition to Troy's 26 NCAA outdoor titles (including nine straight,
1935-43), two indoor NCAA titles and 30 conference crowns, the USC men's
program has had 38 unbeaten and untied seasons, including a string of 16 in
a row (1946-61). Since starting the track and field program in 1900, the
Trojan men have compiled a dual-meet record of 394-106-4 (.786). Since
1912, 61 USC trackmen have equalled or bettered world records, and there
have been 105 NCAA individual or relay winners from Troy. Seventy-four
Trojan men and 13 Women of Troy have won 117 places on national Olympic
teams over the years. Trojans have won 25 individual Olympic titles and
shared in nine relay wins. Gold medal winners include long jumper Randy
Williams, pole vaulter Bob Seagren, sprinter Charles Paddock, quartermiler
Quincy Watts and hammer thrower Balazs Kiss. USC has also been associated
with 14 members of the U.S. National Track and Field Hall of Fame. The USC
women's program has developed into one of the nation's finest. The Women
of Troy have had eight individual collegiate champions and six Top 10 NCAA
team finishes in school history (including fifth in 1998), and won the
school's first-ever Pac-10 women's team title on May 19, 1996.
