June 9, 2007

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Noah Bryant became the first Trojan to win the NCAA men's shot put championship since 1962 to lead USC today (June 9) in the final day of the 2007 NCAA Track and Field Championships being hosted by Sacramento State at the Alex G. Spanos Sports Complex in Sacramento, Calif. before 10,165 fans and a national television audience. The USC men's team placed fifth and the women's team seventh, with both squads scoring 27 points. USC is the only university to have both the men's and women's team place in the top 10 in each of the last three seasons. There were 149 women's teams and 145 men's team represented at the championships.

"We battled through some injuries here, as a lot of teams do, but still managed to get both the men's and women's teams to finish in the top 10," said USC's Director of Track and Field Ron Allice. "That is no small feat and I'm proud of the way our entire team competed."

Bryant had a winning shot put of 65-9 (20.04m) to double as both the 2007 NCAA indoor and outdoor champion. He also was just one of three collegiate male athletes to complete the indoor-outdoor sweep in an event in 2007. Bryant set the school shot put record earlier this season with a mark of 67-5 1/2 (20.56m).

"It wasn't a great performace mark-wise, but it was good that I was able to come back after someone took the lead and then regain it," said said the four-time All-American Bryant. "Everyone threw better in the fifth and sixth rounds, so it was nerve-racking to see if the mark would hold up."

Fellow redshirt senior William Denbo placed 11th in the event with a shot put of 59-5 (18.11m). He ended up being one person away from gaining All-America honors (top 8 American-born finishers).

The first Trojan runner on the track was junior Duane Solomon who placed seventh in the men's 800m race with a time of 1:48.53 to earn USC two points. Solomon entered the race with the fastest qualifying time of 1:47.76 and owns the eighth-fastest time in school history of 1:47.19 in the 800m race. The two-time All-American placed fifth in the 800m at the 2006 NCAA Championships.

Next on the track was junior Lionel Larry in the men's 400m race and he placed second with a new PR of 44.68, two one-hundreths of a second behind the winner Ricardo Chambers of Florida State (44.66). The time improved Larry's third-place standing on the USC all-time 400m list behind Olympic champion Quincy Watts (43.50) and Jerome Davis (44.51). His previous best had been 44.73 set when he won the 2007 Pac-10 championship in the 400m race. Larry is a three-time All-American, having placed sixth in the 400m race and fourth as part of USC's 4x400m relay team in 2006 at the collegiate championships.

Freshman Ahmad Rashad was the last Trojan to run and he showed his grit to fight through a sore hamstring to finish the race and take eighth place, earning USC a valuable point with a time of 23.97. The point that Rashad earned moved the Trojans into fifth place in the final standings. The speedy freshman had a PR of 20.56 in the 200m dash earlier this season, a time that would have taken second in this race.

The following is a list of the Trojans finishing in the top eight at the 2007 NCAA Championships and earning All-America honors:

Men: Ahmad Rashad (200m - 8th), Lionel Larry (400m - 2nd), Duane Solomon (800m - 7th), Kai Kelley (110m HH - 7th) , Adam Midles (Hammer - 5th), Noah Bryant (Shot Put - 1st).

Women: Carol Rodriguez (100m - 4th, 4x100m - 3rd), Jessica Onyepunuka (100m - 7th, 4x100m - 3rd), Candice Davis (100m HH - 2nd, 4x100m - 3rd), Shalina Clarke (4x100m - 3rd), Eva Orban (Hammer - 3rd).