University Southern California Trojans
USC
Northridge Invitational
Ames Earns All-America Honors In Indoor Hurdles
March 13, 2011 | Track & Field
March 13, 2011
Brendan Ames earned indoor All-America honors in the 60m hurdles at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships hosted by Texas A&M in College Station, Texas on March 12. Also, the USC track and field team was out in full force at the CS Northridge Invitational in Northridge, Calif. on March 12 and posted some impressive early season results.
Ames finished sixth in the finals of the 60m HH with a time of 7.73 seconds as just .06 seconds separated the third through sixth-place finishers. Ames had the second-fastest qualifying time of 6.68 in the semifinals. Oscar Spurlock had a time of 7.92 in the semifinals and did not advance to the finals. He entered the meet with a best time of 7.71, tied for third in the country. Nia Ali also entered the meet with the third-fastest women's 60m HH time of 8.06 seconds, but has been slowed by a hamstring problem and could not finish her semifinal race.
At Northridge, among the Trojan women's highlights were Christine Cortez winning the 1500m, Marissa Minderler winning the shot put and placing second in the hammer throw and the 4x100m and 4x200m relay teams winning. For the men's team the highlights included David Branch winning the 800m race, Duane Walker winning the 400m IH race, Trey Henderson winning the hammer throw and the 1600m sprint medley team winning.
Cortez had the top female time in the 1500m of 4:30.67, just two and a half seconds off her PR. Jaclyn Walles had a time of 4:53.05 in her first 1500m race for USC.
Minderler set a PR in winning the shot put competition with a mark of 50-2.75 (15.31m). Her winning throw moved her from ninth to sixth on USC's all-time shot put list. Minderler also took second in the hammer throw competition, tops among collegians, with a throw of 185-2 (56.44m). Tamara Baumann was third with a mark of 169-3 (51.60). Farren Benjamin had a mark of 130-8 (39.82m) and Kathryn Daniels, Jenny Ozorai and Ashley Pyka did not post a legal throw.
The "Freshmen Four" of Loudia Laarman, Jenna Puterbaugh, Lauren Blackburn and Jessica Davis posted a season-best time of 45.24 to win the women's 4x100m relay race by 2.51 seconds.
The 4x200m relay team of Aareon Payne, Davis, Laarman and Puterbaugh won with a time of 1:34.54, 7.56 seconds faster than the second-place team.
Branch won the men's 800m race with a new PR of 1:51.36, almost two seconds faster than his previous best. Kris Washington took third with a PR of 1:53.39 and Reggie Wyatt fourth with a PR of 1:53.67. James Leckie also had a PR of 1:54.30 and Spencer Remick had a time of 1:58.25 to win his heat.
Walker won the men's 400m IH with a season-best time of 52.58. His personal best is 50.78 set in 2009.
Henderson continues to make it a habit of winning men's hammer throw competitions, this time with a mark of 211-3 (64.38m). Eric Stein had a season-best throw of 167-2 (50.95m) to place eighth. Benjamin Gelsey had a season-best throw of 145-11, while Beau Falgout did not post a legal throw.
