Meet Your Tommy Award Winners!

May 01, 2017 | Men's Tennis

May 1, 2017

The USC Athletic Department celebrated the winners of its 12th annual Tommy Awards today (May 1) in an end-of-semester event presented by the Trojan Athletic Senate.

Meet the latest set of USC's Tommy Award winners and nominees!

Female Team of the Year
Soccer
• Won the program's second NCAA Championship in 2016

• Finished with an overall record of 19-4-2 — second most wins in program history

• USC is now the only Pac-12 school with two NCAA titles

Also nominated: Swimming & Diving | Water Polo | Beach Volleyball | Lacrosse

Male Team of the Year
Football
• Rebounded from 1-3 start to win last 9 games

• Beat No. 5 Penn State 52-49 in a legendary Rose Bowl after trailing by 14 in the fourth quarter

• Ended up ranked No. 3 nationally

Also nominated: Basketball | Water Polo | Golf

Female Athlete of the Year
Sara Hughes - Beach Volleyball
• Finished with a 48-0 individual record

• Led USC to the 2016 NCAA championship

Male Athlete of the Year
Sam Darnold - Football
• Completed 67.2% of his passes for 3,086 yards

• Set a Rose Bowl record with 5 touchdowns

• Freshman All-American | Pac-12 Offensive Freshman of the Year | Archie Griffin Award winner | Rose Bowl Offensive MVP

Best Single Event Performance
Football: 2016 Rose Bowl
• After trailing by 14 points in the fourth quarter, fought back to win 52-49 on a last-season field goal

• It was the highest scoring Rose Bowl in history (by 18 points)

• It was the largest fourth quarter deficit a team has overcome to win a Rose Bowl

• Snapped Penn State's 9-game winning streak, and extended USC's winning streak to 9 in a row

Also nominated: Amalie Iuel (Pac-12 Track & Field Championships) | Stephania Haralabidis (NCAA Water Polo Championship) | Kasia Wilk, Kirsten Vose, Chelsea Chenault & Anika Apostalon (NCAA 400y Free Relay) | Katie Johnson (NCAA Championship) | Gussie Johns (Lacrosse vs. Notre Dame) | Kelly Claes & Sara Hughes (NCAA Beach Volleyball Championship)

Female Trojan of the Year
Anika Apostalon - Swimming
• Pac-12 Student-Athlete of the Year

• 2016 National Champion in the 4x100 Free Relay

• Team captain; leads by example by always being the last one in the pool

Also nominated: Mandy Freeman (Soccer) | Sara Hughes (Beach Volleyball) | Courtney Jaco (Basketball) | Giuliana Olmos (Tennis) | Jaide Stepter (Track & Field)

Male Trojan of the Year
Reed Malone - Swimming
• 2-time National Champion winner in the 800 free and 400 free relay

• 5-time Pac-12 Champion in relay and individual events

• USC's first-ever three-time captain and career 5-time All-American

• Serves on the Trojan Athletic Senate executive board and volunteers with the Special Olympics.

Also nominated: Zach Banner (Football) | Max de Vroome (Tennis) | John Plattenberg (Football)

Female Rising Star
Amanda Longan - Women's Water Polo
• 2016 First Team All-American as a freshman

• 2016 NCAA Champion

• Averaged 10.4 saves and 4.7 goals-against

• MPSF Newcomer of the Week five tim

• Eight games with 10+ saves, including career-high 17 saves in win at Stanford.

Male Rising Star
Sam Darnold - Football

• Completed 67.2% of his passes for 3,086 yards

• Set a Rose Bowl record with 5 touchdowns

• Freshman All-American | Pac-12 Offensive Freshman of the Year | Archie Griffin Award winner | Rose Bowl Offensive MVP

Also nominated: Bennie Boatwright (Basketball) | Matt Maier (Water Polo) | De'Anthony Melton (Basketball) | Patrick Mulcare (Swimming) | Logan Smith (Tennis)

Female Unsung Hero
Katrina Kernochan – Beach Volleyball
• Not normally in USC's starting lineup, she provided a spark and helped with four wins from court five

• Taken to the NCAA championships as an alternate and was an all-around team player through and through.

Also nominated: Brianna Daboub (Water Polo) | Nina Kelty (Lacrosse) | Savannah Levin (Soccer) | Kate Melberg (Rowing) | Reni Meyer-Whaley (Volleyball)

Male Co-Unsung Heroes
Zach D'Sa - Water Polo
• Doubled his scoring output from freshman (10 goals) to sophomore (20 goals) seasons

• Scored in 6 of USC's last 7 games, including three goals at the NCAA tournament.
David Laser - Tennis
• Reached the final of the SoCal Intercollegiate in 2016 with partner Kalman Boyd

• Finished 12-7 in doubles matches in the 2015-16 season.

• His energy and spirit were unmatched on the team.

Also nominated: Dashiell Enos (Diving) | Michael Hutchings (Football) | Stevie Tu'ikolovatu (Football)

Female Comeback Athlete
Katie Johnson - Soccer
• Sat out the 2015 season recovering from an ACL tear

• In 2016, tied for the team lead with 10 goals on the season

• Scored the game-winning goals in the College Cup semifinal and scored two goals, including the game-winner, in the College Cup final vs. West Virginia

• Named the Offensive MVP of the Women's College Cup

Also nominated: Tynia Gaither (Track & Field) | Jordan Adams (Basketball) | Kelsey Dreyer (Lacrosse) | Taylor Whittingham (Volleyball) | Pecko Lin (Rowing)

Male Comeback Athlete
Andy Benesh - Volleyball
• A back injury sidelined Benesh for the first 5 matches of 2016

• Despite only appearing in 20 matches in 2014, he hit .377 (third on the team) with 109 kills

• Also had 52 blocks (second on the team), 37 digs and 15 aces (second on team).

Also nominated: Ajene Harris (Football) | Michael Hutchings (Football) | Frankie Rios (Baseball) | Cameron Smith (Football)

Head Coaches of the Year
Clay Helton - Football
• After the Trojans started off 1-3 in 2016, USC went on a 9-game winning streak (its longest since 2008-09)

• Finished ranked No. 3 national AP ranking (USC's highest since 2008 and the highest ever of any 3-loss team)

• Capped the season with an 52-49 at-the-gun victory over No. 5 Penn State in the Rose Bowl.

• Named a finalist for the 2016 Paul "Bear" Bryant Coach of the Year Award and won the Football Writers First Year Co-Coach of the Year Award.

Keidane McAlpine - Soccer
• In just his third season at USC, led the Trojans to the program's second NCAA Championship

• Finished with an overall record of 19-4-2 — second most wins in program history

• USC is now the only Pac-12 school with two NCAA titles

Also nominated: Anna Collier (Beach Volleyball) | Lindsey Munday (Lacrosse) | Caryl Smith Gilbert (Track & Field) | Jovan Vavic (Water Polo) | Chris Zambri (Men's Golf)

Assistant Coach of the Year
Devon Wills - Lacrosse
• Helped USC to a record-setting season in 2016, going 20-1 overall and winning the MPSF regular season and tournament championship

• Works specifically with defense and goaltenders, including Gussie Johns, the first Trojan named to the US Lacrosse National Team