University Southern California Trojans
USC Track And Field Hosts 'Trojan Invitational'
March 17, 2004 | Track & Field
March 17, 2004
Los Angeles -
THE MEET
The USC men's and women's track and field teams host athletes from 10 other squads, plus unattached athletes, at the 'Trojan Invitational' on Friday and Saturday, March 19-20. It's Troy's only home track meet of the 2004 season. All events except for the hammer competition will take place at Katherine B. Loker Stadium on USC's campus (the hammer site is West L.A. College). Running events start at 10:15 a.m. with the women's steeple, while field events commence at 10 a.m. with the women's pole vault. Results for the meet will be available on www.usctrojans.com.
THE TEAMS
Men's and women's squads from Washington State, Long Beach State, Cal State Fullerton, Cal State Los Angeles, Weber State, Sacramento State, Cerritos College and Long Beach City College and the women's squads from UNLV and Cal State Dominguez Hills will be competing. There will also be a healthy complement of unattached athletes, including several former Trojans.
HONOREES
USC's 1954 national championship team and the 1979 team will be honored at the meet, as well as Hall of Fame track coach Ted Banks, in whose name the USC head coaching position has been endowed.
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, far more than any other school. 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 field. The Trojans also have had 127 individual champions over the years. The Women of Troy won their first NCAA team championship in 2001 at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore. The Women of Troy have had 18 individual collegiate champions.
USC IN THE 2003 SEASON
The Trojan men scored 41.5 points and finished third at the 2003 NCA A Outdoor Championships in Sacramento. It was USC's best finish at the NCAAs since also placing third in 1997 and it was the most points scored by the Trojans at the outdoor meet since 1977. On the season, four Trojans--high jumper Dawid Jaworski, 110m hurdler Ryan Wilson, triple jumper Julien Kapek and trilpe jumper Allen Simms--won NCAA individual crowns (Simms' came indoors). Prior to the NCAA meet, the Trojans captured their 33rd Pac-10 team title with a rousing effort in front of their home crowd at USC's Katherine B. Loker Stadium. Troy scored 139 points to Stanford's 128 to win its first conference crown since 2000. Earlier in the year, the USC men finished 14th at the NCAA Indoor Championships on the strength of jumpers Simms and Kapek, who finished first and fourth, respectively, in the triple jump. The Women of Troy finished fourth at the Pac-10s with a team score of 101 points and then went on to take 11th at the NCAA Championships as Julianna Tudja placed second in the hammer, Inga Stasiulionyte took second in the javelin and freshman Virginia Powell finished sixth in the 100m HH while breaking the school record.
SO FAR THIS YEAR
There haven't been too many outdoor appearances for the USC track teams this spring, but the Trojans did compete at the Long Beach Relays, the Claremont Relays and the Bennie Brown Invitational. Out of those meets came such stellar performances as L'Orangerie Crawford's 56-0 mark in the shot, which broke the 18-year old school record held by Diana Clements, and also Crawford's 205-10 throw in the hammer. The men are highlighted by Michael Murray's PR 214-11 in the hammer, which moved him into seventh on the all-time USC hammer chart. USC competed indoors at several events, with Allen Simms uncorking a 55-4 3/4 mark in the triple jump, while freshman Michelle Sanford went 43-2 1/4 in the triple and high jumper Jesse Williams leapt 7-2 1/4. Williams finshed seventh in the high jump at the NCAA Indoor Championships.
