De Grasse Wins Twice & Hall Sets USC Freshman Record At Husker Invitational

Trojans win seven more events on the final day

Junior Andre De Grasse set PRs in winning the 60m and 200m dashes today at the Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational.

Feb. 7, 2015

Complete Results 

Dior Hall won the women's 60m HH with a school freshman record, the women's 4x400m relay won with a meet record and Andre De Grasse won both the 60m and 200m dashes to highlight USC's efforts during the final day of competition at the 40th Annual Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational held at the Bob Devaney Sports Center Indoor Track in Lincoln, Neb. today (Feb. 7). In all, USC won seven events on the final day and nine total during the two-day meet.

"Today we performed outstanding in most events," said USC Director of Track & Field Caryl Smith Gilbert. "We had national caliber efforts and wins in the women's hurdles, sprints, middle distance, relays and men's sprints. Our throwers have a lot more in the tank, although they had PR's as well. Our men's middle distance runners are very consistent right now. The plan is to go back to sunny Los Angeles, start training, make corrections and get ready for New Mexico and Seattle next week."

Senior Erica Capellino won the women's 800m race with a PR of 2:11.62. She won the first heat by nearly two seconds and her time was her best time indoors or outdoors as a Trojan. Junior Reika Kijima was fifth in the second heat and sixth overall with a PR of 2:13.14.

The freshman Hall cruised to victory in the women's 60m HH with a season-best and USC freshman record-time of 8.14. That time places her second on the NCAA descending order list entering action this weekend and is .05 seconds better than Lauren Blackburn's winning time for the Trojans at the 2014 MPSF Championships.

USC kept winning as it reached the men's and women's 60m dashes. Freshman Ky Westbrook won the women's race with a time of 7.34, followed by junior Alexis Faulknor in second (7.36), redshirt junior Tynia Gaither in third (SB of 7.425), freshman Gabriella Cantrell in fourth (7.427) and sophomore Destinee Brown in sixth (7.51).

The junior De Grasse won the men's 60m race with a PR of 6.60 which places him tied for fifth on the NCAA descending order list entering action this weekend. Senior BeeJay Lee posted a season-best time of 6.68 to take second. His time places him tied for 22nd on the NCAA list entering this week's action.

USC also had a strong showing in the women's 200m race as Gaither won with a season-best time of 23.44 which ties her for eighth on the NCAA list entering this weekend. Westbrook took second with a time of 23.63 (.627) and Cantrell third with the same time of 23.63 (.629). Faulknor took fifth with a PR of 23.99, Brown was seventh with a PR of 24.00, senior Vanessa Jones was eighth with a PR of 24.11 (.102), juniorJaide Stepter was ninth also with a PR of 24.11 (.104), freshman Kendall Ellis was 13th with a time of 24.26 and Hall was 22nd with a time of 24.79. It was the first indoor 200m dashes as Trojans for Ellis and Hall.

De Grasse came back to win the men's 200m dash with a PR of 20.79, .05 seconds off the meet record set by Aaron Brown last season. His time also places him fifth on the NCAA indoor list. Lee won his heat with a PR of 21.00 to finish fourth overall. Freshman Ricky Morgan took 10th with a time of 21.62, junior Just'N Thymes was 11th also with a time of 21.62 and freshman hurdler Marquis Morris was 25th with a time of 22.02.

Freshman Robert Ford and senior Myles Andrews ran in the men's 800m Special Invitational and placed third and fourth respectively. Ford took third with a time of 1:51.37, closely followed by Andrews in fourth with a time of 1:51.55.

The USC women's 1600m relay team of Ellis (55.015), Jones (53.347), Iuel (53.887) and Stepter (53.549) won the 4x400m Special race with a season-best and meet record-time of 3:35.80. The Trojans broke the record which had stood since 1988.

The men's 1600m relay team of Morgan (47.846), Ford (48.075), Morris (49.840) and Andrews (49.242) placed fourth in the 4x400m Special race with a time of 3:15.01.

Redshirt freshman Nick Ponzio opened the day by placing 10th in the men's shot put with a mark of 56-1.00 (17.09m). He fouled in his third attempt and missed reaching the finals by 2.25 inches.

Junior Tera Novy took fifth in the women's shot put with a PR of 49-8.25 (15.14m). That mark came in her fifth attempt and she also cleared 15m in her final attempt with a mark of 49-3.75 (15.03m).

Freshman Dominic Smallwood just missed the finals and placed 10th in the men's triple jump with a best leap of 47-0.25 (14.33m). He had his best jump in the third round, but three other jumpers also had their best leap in the third round to keep him out of the finals. Senior Allen Williamsjumped 46-10.75 (14.29m) to place 12th.

Sophomore Amalie Iuel placed eighth in the women's high jump with a clearance of 5-6.00 (1.68m). It was her first indoor high jump competition as a Trojan.

The final result for the Trojans was the men's high jump and freshman Randall Cunningham took sixth with a clearance of 6-10.75 (2.10m) and senior Michael Krone tied for eighth with a clearance of 6-8.75 (2.05m). .

The Trojans will be back in action next week at the Don Kirby Elite Meet held in Albuquerque, N.M. on Feb. 13 and 14 and the Husky Classic held in Seattle, Wash. on Feb. 13 and 14. 
Courtesy USC