USC
Pac-10 Championships
Minderler, Thompson And Ames Win Pac-10 Titles
May 14, 2011 | Track & Field
May 14, 2011
Marissa Minderler, Cooper Thompson and Brendan Ames won Pac-10 titles and Ames set a Pac-10 Championship meet record, while Jessica Davis set a stadium record to lead the USC Track and Field team today (May 13) at the Pac-10 Championships being hosted by Arizona at Roy P. Drachman Stadium in Tucson, Ariz. before 3,293 fans. After the first day of action, the USC women's team sits in fifth place with 24 points and the Trojan men are in seventh place with 20 points.
The redshirt junior Minderler got the day started on a great note for USC by winning the women's hammer throw competition with a PR of 210-3 (64.09). Her winning throw came in her second attempt and the field could not catch her the rest of the way. Minderler moved into fourth place on USCs all-time hammer throw list and became the highest America-born Trojan on the list as the top three USC throwers all-time are natives of Hungary. Speaking of Hungarians, freshman Jenny Ozorai, third on USC's all-time list at 212-3, placed third today with a throw of 207-7 (63.28m). Minderler and Ozorai teamed up to score 16 points for the USC women's team. Redshirt junior Tamara Baumann had a best throw of 171-6 (52.27m) to place 12th, redshirt sophomore Ashley Pyka took 14th with a mark of 160-10 (49.02m) and redshirt junior Jade Niemeyer placed 15th with a throw of 149-2 (45.47m).
Junior Cooper Thompson was the next Trojan to win a Pac-10 title when he had a season-best javelin throw of 238-6 (72.69m) on his fifth attempt. Thompson entered the round in fourth place with a best throw of 226-4, but his fifth throw won the event over Kyle Nielsen of Washington by eight inches who had taken the lead in the fourth round with a throw of 237-10. It was a fittingly close win for Thompson who placed second in the event last season to Cyrus Hostetler of Oregon who passed him by two centimeters after he had taken the lead with a PR of 253-3. Redshirt freshman Jeffrey Churchman placed 12th overall with a best throw on the day of 179-9 (54.79m).
In the final event to finish on the day, the senior Ames capped off a big day by winning the men's long jump with a season-best leap of 25-2.75 (7.69m). He took the lead in his third jump by 5.75 inches and waited for the second flight to finish and then passed on all three attempts in the finals. He, too, suffered a tough loss last season, placing second in the long jump by one centimeter in the final jump of the competition, despite having the lead with one jumper left after setting a PR of 25-7.25. Also competing in the long jump were sophomore Tyler Ruiz who placed 13th with a PR of 23-2.75 (7.08m),freshman Viktor Fajoyomi who placed 17th with a jump of 22-8.50 (6.92m) and junior Tony Burnett who took 23rd with a best jump of 16-9.25 (5.11m) as he continues to try and comeback from a football injury.
Earlier in the evening Ames posted a blazing time of 13.39 in the men's 110m HH to advance to the finals. His time moved him into fourth place on USC's all-time list and set a Pac-10 Championship meet record, bettering the old time of 13.43 set by Greg Foster in 1980. Ames' time now stands .06 seconds off the school record held by Oscar Spurlock and Mark Crear. The senior Spurlock also advanced to tomorrow's finals by winning his heat with a time of 13.70.
The freshman Davis won the second heat of the women's 100m dash with the day's best time of 11.27 to advance to the finals. In fact, her time set a Roy P. Drachman Stadium record breaking the standard formerly held by Trojan Virginia Powell (Crawford) at 11.32 set in 2004. Junior Aareon Payne fought off a slow start and nearly ran down the entire field to finish third in the first heat of the 100m with a wind-aided time of 11.45. She had to wait for the other two heats as each heat winner and the five next best times advanced and as it turned out, she had the fifth-best time on the day. Freshman Loudia Laarman had a time of 11.72 in the third heat to place 15th overall and did not advance.
Minderler was one of the busiest Trojans on the day and certainly as successful as any as she also scored three points in the javelin throw by placing sixth and one in the shot put by finishing eighth, accounting for 14 of USC's 24 first-day point total. Minderler had a throw of 144-7 (44.04m) to finish sixth in the javelin while senior Devon Rennie placed 14th in the event with a best throw of 127-9 (38.95m). Minderler was the only Trojan in the shot put and she placed eighth with a mark of 48-2 (14.68m). She actually was edged out of seventh place by one centimeter in the final round.
The final Trojan to score points on the first day was sophomore Alitta Boyd who placed fifth in the women's long jump with a season-best leap of 20-4.50 (6.21) to earn USC four points. Senior Shana Woods just missed out in the scoring by placing ninth in the competition with a season-best jump of 19-11.75 (6.09m). Both Boyd and Woods actually tied the person above them, but their next best jumps were not as far and they had to settle for fifth and ninth instead of fourth and eighth.
Fajoyomi and Ruiz were the first Trojan males to compete on the day when they took part in the men's high jump. Ruiz had a best clearance of 6-7.00 (2.01m) to place 18th while Fajoyomi finished ninth and just out of the scoring with a clearance of 6-11.00 (2.11m). Fajoyomi just missed on his final attempt at 7-0.25 (2.14m) which would have secured sixth, but due to misses he slipped to ninth. Fajoyomi missed twice at 2.06m and once at 2.11m.
Junior Blake Shaw was the first Trojan on the track and he advanced to tomorrow's finals by placing third in his men's 1500m heat with a time of 3:57.83. The top four from each heat plus the next four best times move on, but Shaw's heat was going at a slow pace so he was going to need to place top four to advance, and after spending the first 800m in eighth or ninth, he moved into third by the 400m mark and held on.
The next semi-final to be held was the women's 100m HH and senior Nia Ali and freshman Lauren Blackburn took no chances by finishing 1-2 in their heat to advance Saturday's final. Ali had the best time on the day of 13.16 and Blackburn the third best, tying her PR of 13.22.
The men's 400m semifinal heats were next and USC junior Joey Hughes (45.72), freshman Josh Mance (45.82) and redshirt junior Bryshon Nellum (46.09) all advanced with the third through fifth-fastest times on the day respectively. Senior Josh Tennefoss ran 47.97 to place 13th and junior Scott DeYoung had a season-best time of 48.07 to place 14th, but did not advance to the finals.
Freshman Aaron Brown advanced to the men's 100m finals by winning the second heat with a time of 10.38, tying his legal PR. Sophomore Terence Abram had a collegiate PR of 10.67 to finish sixth in his heat and 16th overall and junior Amechi Egbe finished seventh in his heat and 19th overall with a time of 10.71. Senior Sean Jackson pulled up after coming out of the blocks and did not finish with an aggravation of a previous leg injury.
The women's 800m race was next, but USC did not have a runner advance to the finals despite senior Christine Cortez having a season-best time of 2:10.01 to finish 10th, one slot out of advancing to the finals. Junior Anniya Louis also had a season-best time of 2:12.28 to finish 12th and senior Allison Rojewski a time of 2:16.21 to finish 15th.
Shaw then doubled back in the 800m race and qualified for the finals by placing fourth in his heat and seventh overall with a time of 1:49.88. Also in his heat and qualifying for the finals was senior David Branch who ran down three runners on the home stretch to finish fifth in the heat and ninth overall with a time of 1:50.44, nearly a second better than his previous career-best time.
Redshirt senior Adrian Rafiee was USC's only entry in the men's 3000m steeplechase and he placed 13th with a time of 9:35.83.
Junior Dalilah Muhammad then punched her ticket to the women's 400m IH finals tomorrow by winning her heat with a time of 57.60, the second-fastest qualifying time. Freshman Lauren Blackburn was fifth in the same heat and 12th overall and did not advance.
Sophomore Reggie Wyatt automatically qualified for tomorrow's men's 400m IH final by taking second in his heat and third overall with a time of 50.71. Junior Duane Walker just missed out on advancing by placing fifth in his heat and 10th overall with a time of 52.85.
Davis (23.12) and Payne (23.20) won their 200m heats to advance to the finals with the second and third-fastest time of the day. Freshman Jenna Puterbaugh just missed out on advancing, placing 10th with a time of 23.85, just .05 seconds out of 9th and .07 seconds out of seventh place. Laarman also ran in the 200m race and placed 15th with a time of 24.08.
Hughes came back to win his 200m heat with a PR of 20.84, the second-fastest qualifying time on the day. Brown, who has been bothered by hamstring soreness, pulled up after the curve in the 200m and did not finish.
The last Trojan on the track was senior Ted Price in the men's 10,000m race and he placed 14th with a time of 31.37.25.
Trojans competing in Saturday's final day of action are for the women: Nia Ali (100m HH, high jump), Lauren Blackburn (100m HH), Alitta Boyd (triple jump), Jessica Davis (100m, 200m, 4x100m, 4x400m), Loudia Laarman (4x100m), Dalilah Muhammad (400m IH, 4x400m), Jenny Ozorai (discus), Aareon Payne (100m, 200m, 4x100m, 4x400m), Jenna Puterbaugh (4x100m, 4x400m), Ashley Pyka (discus), Jennifer Stutland (high jump) and for the men: Terence Abram (4x100m), Brendan Ames (110m HH), Aaron Brown (100m, 4x100m), David Branch (800m), Tony Burnett (triple jump), John Carley (5,000m), Amechi Egbe (4x100m), Viktor Fajoyomi (triple jump), Trey Henderson (hammer), Joey Hughes (200m, 400m, 4x100m, 4x400m), Josh Mance (400m, 4x400m), Ross McDonald (pole vault), Bryshon Nellum (400m, 4x400m), Ted Price (5,000m), Adrian Rafiee (5,000m), Blake Shaw (800m, 1500m), Eric Stein (hammer), Taylor Slingsby (pole vault), Oscar Spurlock (110m HH), Reggie Wyatt (400m HH, 4x400m).
Women's Scores: 1.) Arizona - 70, 2.) ASU - 53, 3.) Oregon - 49.5, 4.) Stanford - 48, 5.) USC - 24, 6.) WSU - 23, 7.) California - 17, 8.) UCLA - 16.5, 9.) Washington - 11.
Men's Scores: 1.) Oregon - 53, 2.) Arizona - 45 and Stanford - 45, 4.) Washington - 31, 5.) ASU - 26 and UCLA - 26, 7.) USC - 20, 8.) California - 15, 9.) WSU - 12.
Players Mentioned
