USC's Women's Relays Teams Rule At Florida Relays

Selma, Kleinsasser, Ozorai and Conatser Shine At Cal State L.A. Invitational


Junior Jessica Davis and sophomore Akawkaw Ndipagbor helped USC post a season-best time of 44.20 in the 4x100m relay at the Florida Relays Saturday.
April 6, 2013





Florida Relays Results


CSULA Results

Three USC women's relay teams posted impressive times on the second day of the Florida Relays in Gainesville, Fla. and David Selma in the long jump and Eric Kleinsasser posted big wins at the Cal State L.A. Invitational in Los Angeles, Calif. today (April 6) to complete another good week of competition for the Trojans. On Friday at CSULA, Jenny Ozorai and Remington Conatser posted the best college hammer throw marks.

At the Florida Relays on Saturday, USC's 4x100m relay team of junior Jenna Puterbaugh, junior Jessica Davis, sophomore Akawkaw Ndipagbor and junior Loudia Laarman had the top collegiate time and finished third overall with a season-best time of 44.20. That time currently ranks as the ninth-fastest 400m relay time this season. USC's B Team of senior Alitta Boyd, junior Ashley Liverpool, sophomore Melia Cox and sophomore Vanessa Jones finished 16th with a time of 45.96.

"We're excited because we've had sporadic injuries throughout the season," said Puterbaugh. "This is really the first time we've been able to run all together with a practice behind us. We're just looking forward to a lot better times after this since this is really the start of our season."

USC then came back to had the top college time and third overall again in the 4x200m race, running 1:34.22. That team was comprised of Davis, Jones, Ndipagbor and Puterbaugh. USC's B Team of Liverpool, Laarman, freshman Jaide Stepter and Cox finished sixth with a time of 1:35.68.

"This is something we've never practiced for, but we know we have a lot of potential in it," added Puterbaugh. "We were just excited to see where we're at. I think this is something where if we have another opportunity, we are definitely able to get better at it."

The Trojans relay success didn't end there, however, as the 4x400m relay team of Ndipagbor, Jones, Puterbaugh and Liverpool ran a season-best time of 3:34.83 to finish ninth, fourth among college teams at the meet and 12th-fastest this season.

Boyd had a season-best triple jump of 43-8.00 (13.31m) just off her PR to place second. Sophomore Oluwakemi Olonade place 10th with a jump of 40-8.75 (12.41m) and senior Candace Bailey place 21st with a triple jump of 38-8.25 (11.79m).

Also at Florida on Saturday, senior Tyler Ruiz tied for eighth in the high jump with a clearance of 6-9.00 (2.06m), junior Herb Dew no-heighted in the high jump, sophomore Allen Williams fouled out in the triple jump and freshman Tera Novy fouled out in the women's shot put. Stepter placed 38th in the 400m IH with a time of 62.84.

At the Cal State L.A. Invitational on Saturday, redshirt junior David Selma had a big day by winning the men's long jump with a PR of 23-6.75 (7.18m) and also running a season-best 11.73 to place fifth in Section 10 of the 100m dash. Freshman Luke Niu placed fifth in Section 5 of the 100m dash with a season-best time of 11.75.

Redshirt senior Eric Kleinsasser won the mixed 10000m race with a solid time of 31:29.15, winning by a minute and a half.

Other Trojan men competing Saturday at CSULA were junior Jacob Bradley in Section 3 of the 1500m race (4th - 4:17.08), seniors Barry Wilkins (4th - 1:58.16) and Aaron Adkins (7th - 2:01.13) in Section 2 of the 800m race, redshirt junior Spencer Remick (3rd - 1:59.87) and freshman Surafael Yared (5th - 2:01.82) in Section 3 of the 800m race and freshman Will Robinson (9th - 2:10.67) in Section 10 of the 800m race. In addition, sophomores Steven Cherry and Diego Lopez no-heighted in the pole vault.

For the USC women at the Cal State L.A. Invitational on Saturday, redshirt sophomore Charity Bruce won Section 3 of the 100m dash and was third overall with a season-best time of 12.16. Senior Kelly Owen (61.18) was fourth in Section 4 of the 400m dash, junior Natalia Williams (62.41) was third in Section 5 of the 400m dash and redshirt sophomore Samantha Ojo (63.93) won Section 7 of the 400m dash with a season-best time. Junior Jackie Dion (2:24.08) placed third in Section 2 of the 800m race.

In Section 1 of the women's 1500m race, freshman Natasha Strickland (4:42.46) placed third, freshman Jenna Tong (4:43.88) was fourth, sophomore Kira Soderstrom (4:46.74) was eighth and freshman Nicole Davies (4:52.02) placed ninth. Sophomore Austin Lundin (4:54.88) finished fourth in Section 2 of the 1500m race.

Redshirt senior Kathryn Karkut was 23rd in the 100m HH with a time of 17.98 and fourth in Section 2 of the 400m IH with a time of 69.68.

Freshman Felicia Horvath, freshman Ariel Hayward and redshirt junior Thea Weiss all tied for third in the pole vault with a clearance of 11-7.75 (3.55m). For Horvath, it was a season-best clearance. Redshirt senior Katherine Chang no-heighted.

In the hammer throw at the Cal State L.A. Invitational on Friday, junior Jenny Ozorai threw a season-best 209-5 (63.84m) and won for the second time in two meets this season. Redshirt senior Ashley Pyka threw 164-6 (50.15m) to finish fifth and redshirt senior Farren Benjamin once again set a PR with a best mark on the day of 148-9 (45.33m) to finish ninth.

Junior Remington Conatser threw 205-1 (62.51m) to finish with the top throw by a collegian and second overall in the men's hammer throw. Senior Beau Falgout had a PR of 154-0 (46.95m) for finish 15th.


Courtesy USC