Getting To Know Lanae-Tava Thomas

Freshman Lanae-Tava Thomas (luh-NAY TAY-vuh) is in her first season as a jumper and sprinter on the USC track and field team. She was an 11-time New York state champion in high school. Read below to see how she is adjusting to becoming a college student-athlete.

Q - Is there a story or meaning behind your name?

LT - Actually, my dad said that he thought of "Lanae" in a dream, and my mom says that she heard "Tava" on TV and she just loved the name, so they just kind of combined the names. Oh, and fun fact: me, my sister, and my dad all have the same initials: LPT.

Q - Could you tell me a little about how you chose USC?

LT - It started out a difficult choice between USC and Miami, because I knew I wanted to leave New York, but I didn't know where I was going to go at first. Everything about USC was just… way superior. It was just way better here. The campus is smaller than Miami's which I really loved because it's so huge but at the same time it's not inconvenient to go anywhere. And, academically and athletically it was just way more dominant. It was kind of just a go for it.

Q - How do you like it here so far?

LT - I love it. Absolutely love it! I'm just getting used to all of my classes and everything, getting to know the campus, but so far I absolutely love it.

Q - Do you have a favorite class?

LT - I would say "Race and Class in Los Angeles," AMST 101. I really like that class, it gives you a lot of background and detail, especially [for me] not growing up in America, so I learned the origins of stuff like that.

Q - You were born in Jamaica and then went to high school in New York. How has the transition been from the East Coast to the West Coast?

LT - Well, I'm pretty used to transitioning now since I moved a whole country, so transitioning from the East to the West wasn't really that big of a deal. It was kind of like a, "Oh, you're going to USC, it's fine, we'll see you every now and then." [My family and I] didn't really have a big issue with the whole sentimental part of it, because we always stay in touch. So it's not really that big of a transition.

Q - What are your goals as an athlete, both as a student-athlete and long-term?

LT - Well, you know, the NCAAs and all that. 2020 Tokyo is coming up, so we'll see how the Olympics go…and World games! I'm really just trying to get on the course of being a more successful athlete when I go pro, and I feel like USC's really setting me up for that, so that's really nice.

Q - You are a Human Biology major and mentioned that you plan to go to medical school after graduation. Have you thought about other career goals outside of athletics?

LT - I would definitely love to be a pediatrician. Working with kids has always been a passion. I definitely feel like I can do both- I can definitely be a pediatrician and be an athlete all at once. It's gonna be a lot of hard work but I know that I can accomplish it, and I feel like just setting myself up for that is really necessary.

Q - You've set records and won awards for track and field in high school. Which of your athletic accomplishments so far are you most proud of?

LT - I was recognized at a banquet and received the Elliott Cushing Award which meant a lot to me because it wasn't really just an award for a high school, it was saying "Rochester admires your dedication to your sport and we admire what you're doing for the program, for the city, tipping the scales to the good side and bringing great publicity to the city," so they awarded me and I felt really honored and dedicated, mostly because it wasn't just a bunch of people getting together like, "oh, she deserves this." They put thought into it and really, out of hundreds and thousands of candidates they chose me and that really meant a lot.

Q - What are you most looking forward to this season?

LT - NCAAs! I'm definitely looking forward to that! Oh- I just got butterflies thinking about it! I'm really looking forward to the NCAAs. I hear that it's such a great experience and it's like nationals, but times a hundred, so I'm really looking forward to that experience.

Q - Do you go watch them for fun?

LT - I watch them all the time! I tape them, I have them on replay. Yeah.

Q - What are your goals for the school year?

LT - I'm really just trying to keep my GPA high, I'm trying to maintain a balance, to know the material and the classes. I'm really trying to make bonds with all of my teachers, just because I'm that kind of person (laughs). But it's really about going after the goals I set this year. Each class has a different goal, but I would like to keep a high GPA.

Players Mentioned

Lanae-Tava Thomas

Getting To Know Lanae-Tava Thomas

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University Southern California Trojans

Players Mentioned

Lanae-Tava Thomas

Getting To Know Lanae-Tava Thomas

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