The high praise continues for USC junior Andre De Grasse after the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association named him the 2015 Men's Track Athlete of the Year on Wednesday. De Grasse now joins Olympic silver medalist Bryshon Nellum as the second Trojan in three seasons to win the award.
This honor comes on the heels of De Grasse's truly remarkable performance at the NCAA Championships, where he swept the 100m and 200m dashes. He started by besting a powerful field in the 100m with a wind-aided time of 9.75 (+2.7w), which is the second-fastest any condition time by a collegiate runner ever. He followed that by winning the 200m in 19.58 (+2.4w), setting the collegiate any condition record. It is the first time a Trojan won both the 100m and 200m dashes at the NCAA Championships since Clancy Edwards in 1978, and the first time a collegiate runner has swept the two events since 2007 (Walter Dix). These two events came after De Grasse had already run the second leg of USC's 4x100m relay that finished fourth with a time of 38.75, the second-fastest time in school history.
This is not the first recognition the junior has received this season as he was also named the Pac-12 Men's Track Athlete of the Year after he set the Pac-12 Championship meet record in the 100m with a time of 9.97.
