University Southern California Trojans
USC
Texas Relays
USC Shows Well In Texas & Georgia Meets
April 08, 2011 | Track & Field
April 8, 2011
Spec Towns Invitational Day 1 Results 
USC has posted some special results over the last two days with athletes competing at the 84th Annual Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays in Austin, Texas and the Spec Towns National Invitational in Athens, Ga.
Among the most impressive showings was redshirt senior Nia Ali running a 13.00 to post the day's best preliminary time in the 100m HH today (April 8) at the Texas Relays to advance to Saturday's finals. In her first 100m HH race of the season, Ali moved from fourth to third on USC's all-time list by bettering her previous PR of 13.14. Joining her in the finals will be freshman Lauren Blackburn who ran a wind-aided season-best time of 13.31 (2.1 wind).
The men's team also qualified two hurdlers today for Saturday's finals as senior Brendan Ames finished second with a wind-aided season best of 13.48 and senior Oscar Spurlock finished fourth with a wind-aided season best of 13.53.
USC had three females running in the 100m dash today, but none qualified for the finals despite posting good times. Freshman Jessica Davis finished 10th and just missed the cut with a time of 11.32w (5.8 wind), while freshman Loudia Laarman placed 19th with a time of 11.47w (3.1 wind) and junior Aareon Payne took 24th with a time of 11.59w (3.8 wind). There were a total of 75 female runners who competed in the 100m dash.
Junior jumper Tony Burnett was the only male Trojan to run in the 100m and he placed 58th with a time of 11.33w. Burnett then competed in the men's triple jump "B" section and placed 14th with a leap of 46-7.50 (14.21m).
Also today, sophomore Alitta Boyd tied for second in the women's "B" section long jump with a mark of 19-7.00 (5.97m). She finished one inch behind the winner Monique Williams of South Florida who jumped 19-8.
The women's 4x100m relay team of Laarman, Payne, freshman Jenna Puterbaugh and Davis finished fourth out of 42 teams with a time of 44.51 to advance to tomorrow's finals. The men's 4x100m relay team of junior Amechi Egbe, freshman Aaron Brown, sophomore Terence Abram and junior Joey Hughes had a time of 41.04 to finish 17th and did not qualify for the finals.
The final Trojans on the track for the day were the men's 1600m sprint medley team of Egbe, Brown, freshman Josh Mance and junior Blake Shaw and they clocked a time of 3:17.42 to place third.
On Thursday in Texas, junior Dalilah Muhammad snatched the last qualifying spot (9th) with a season-best time of 58.74 in the women's 400m IH and will compete tomorrow in the finals. There were 66 entrants in the competition.
Also Thursday, sophomore Reggie Wyatt had a season-best time of 50.03 in the 400m IH, the second-fastest qualifying time to advance to Saturday's finals. Included in the heat Wyatt won was Jeshua Anderson of Washington State, a three-time Pac-10 champion and two-time NCAA champion in the 400m IH. Junior Duane Walker also competed in the 400m IH and finished in the top half of the runners with a time of 53.72 (25th overall), but did not advance to the finals.
At the Spec Towns National Invitational hosted by Georgia in Athens, Ga. on Friday (April 8), senior Trey Henderson took second place in the men's hammer throw with a mark of 215-8 (65.78m). He entered the meet with a best throw this season of 227-10 which was second in the country to Virginia Tech's Marcel Lomnicky (240-8) who won today's event with a throw of 232-6. Redshirt sophomore Eric Stein placed ninth with a throw of 173-10 (52.98m).
USC's women came a llittle short of their season-best throws too, but finished third, fourth, fifth, 12th and 21st among college athletes. Freshman Jenny Ozorai placed third with a throw of 197-2 (60.10m), redshirt junior Marissa Minderler fourth with a throw of 194-7 (59.31m), redshirt junior Tamara Baumann fifth with a throw of 177-1 (53.98m), redshirt sophomore Ashley Pyka 12th with a throw of 165-7 (50.48m) and redshirt sophomore Farren Benjamin 21st with a throw of 126-3 (38.49m).
Minderler also competed in the women's shot put and placed second with a strong throw of 50-1.25 (15.27m).
