Sprinters shine again in dual meet spotlight

Powell produces first UCLA win in men’s 100 in 15 years, but USC excels at home with Sourapas, Norman, Hill and Ellis securing victories; Bruins dominate distance events to help men repeat

By Erik Boal, DyeStat Editor

One sprint streak was halted, another sprint standout emerged and one of the nation’s most gifted young sprinters finally made his outdoor collegiate debut Sunday at the annual USC vs. UCLA dual meet at Loker Stadium.

Although UCLA relied heavily on its distance depth and strength in the throws to win the men’s competition by an 88-75 margin for its second victory in a row and sixth in the past seven seasons over the Trojans, the sprint events took center stage in both genders. USC still leads the all-time men’s series 43-41.

Deanna Hill doubled up in the 100 and 200 meters, with Kendall Ellis winning the 400 and the Trojans prevailing in both the 4x100 and 4x400 relays to secure an 86-77 victory, their fourth in a row and ninth in the past 10 meetings. Even with USC’s recent success, UCLA still holds the series advantage at 22-12.

But the most significant sprint performance came from UCLA junior Leon Powell, who snapped a 14-year streak of USC victories in the men’s 100 by winning in a wind-legal 10.26.

“I’m glad to come out here and make history and get some Ws with my team,” Powell said. “It’s definitely a good atmosphere, it’s very competitive with our cross-town rivals. It felt good to come out here and PR in Los Angeles in the sense of moving forward to Pac-12s and going to Hayward Field.”

USC sophomore Christian Sourapas, who took third in the 100 in 10.37 behind teammate Alex Barnum (10.32), responded by running a lifetime-best 20.63 to win the 200 ahead of Powell (20.85) and Barnum (21.06). Sourapas also contributed to USC’s victorious 4x100 relay in 39.39.

“This is actually the first time I’ve run the 200 where I ran my race plan completely perfect. I got a good push the first 60 meters, then everybody kind of started slowing down and I was going passed them,” Sourapas said. “I wanted to see if I could keep it up and I came up hot around the curve and just held on for the rest of the way and never looked back.

“I wasn’t going to sit on that 10.3 and say, ‘Gosh, I’m so glad I ran that and forget about the 200.’ I was hungry and I wanted to get first place because I didn’t win the 100.”

Racing the 400 for the first time since the U.S. Olympic Trials in July, USC freshman Michael Norman won in 45.22, just three-hundredths of a second off his personal best. Norman had only raced in two meets during the indoor season in February, competing in the 200 and 4x400 relay.

“It feels amazing coming out here, coming off a really rough indoor season and be able to perform like I did, it’s really reassuring and it’s a great feeling,” Norman said. “I was very eager to compete and my patience was running a little short because I was just so eager, but I’m glad to be back finally.”

UCLA’s Rai Benjamin, who took second to Norman in the 400, returned to the track to win the 400 hurdles in 54.58. USC’s Marquis Morris won the 110 hurdles in 13.56 and took second to Benjamin in 55.28, in addition to competing on the victorious 4x100 and 4x400 relays, anchoring the latter in 3:22.86.

Although USC took the top two spots in the 800 with Robert Ford (1:49.44) and Alex Rohani (1:49.73), UCLA collected 26 of 27 points in the 1,500, 5,000 and 3,000 steeplechase, in addition to sweeps in the high jump and javelin throw, plus victories in the discus and hammer throws to account for 54 of its 88 points. George Gleason won the 1,500 in 3:45.51 and Cole Smith prevailed in the 3,000 steeplechase in 9:15.36.

Colin Burke (14:55.19) and Jonah Diaz (14:55.35) wrapped up UCLA’s third win its past four trips to USC by taking the top two spots in the 5,000.

“We got confidence from their performances. Our coaches talked about it all throughout this past week that everybody is going to hit it hard, so you’ve got to go out and give your best effort to really prove something to these guys,” Burke said. “Thanks to the seniors, we really feel like we’ve got a good group to turn into a national-caliber distance crew and to come out here and showcase that is just awesome.”

USC junior Eric Sloan was the only male athlete to win two individual events, capturing the long jump with a leap of 25-9.25 (7.86m) and the triple jump with a mark of 53-9.25 (16.39m). Trojans sophomore Matthew Katnik secured the shot put with an effort of 62-6.75 (19.07m) and freshman Michael Gonzalez cleared 16-9.25 (5.11m) to prevail in the pole vault.

But it wasn’t enough to overcome Dotun Ogundeji winning the discus with a throw of 175 feet (53.33m) and Justin Stafford taking the hammer with a throw of 201-2 (61.31m), along with Simon Litzell sparking a UCLA sweep in the javelin with a 218-10 (66.70m) and Sage Stone leading the top three Bruins’ finishers in the high jump with a clearance of 6-10.75 (2.01m) after USC’s reigning NCAA champion Randall Cunningham, Jr. didn’t clear his opening height.

Hill ran a wind-aided 11.12 in the 100 and wind-legal 22.74 in the 200, with Ellis clocking 51.37 in the 400 and taking second in the 200 in 22.79. Hill also anchored USC’s 4x100 relay to the win in 43.84. USC women have won the 100 in 14 of the past dual meets, with the Trojans taking the 200 in 11 of the past 12 years.

USC freshman Anna Cockrell ran a lifetime-best 12.91 to win the 100 hurdles and took second to teammate Amalie Iuel (55.62) in the 400 hurdles in 55.86 and anchored the victorious 4x400 relay, which clocked 3:49.17. Iuel also won the high jump with a clearance of 5-8.75 (1.75m).

“It felt great. It was a long time coming,” Cockrell said. “It felt really good not just to go sub-13, but 12.91 and that was great – and wind legal. The biggest difference has been my start. I’ve always been pretty good once I get going in the race, but my start has usually put me at such a disadvantage that at the end of the race, I’m already too far behind, so I’ve really worked with (hurdle coach Joanna Hayes) on fixing my start and getting it consistent and I feel like it’s finally getting there.”

USC senior Brittany Mann doubled in the hammer throw and shot put with marks of 193-5 (58.95m) and 55-3.5 (16.85m), in addition to taking second in the discus with a throw of 157-3 (47.92m), with Trojans sophomore Margaux Jones winning the long jump with a leap of 20-8 (6.30m).

UCLA remained within striking distance behind victories from Julia Rizk in the 800 in a lifetime-best 2:05.12 – edging USC’s Mikaela Smith in 2:05.17 – and sweeps of the pole vault, javelin, 3,000 steeplechase and 5,000, along with Cassie Durgy (4:34.86) and Jackie Garner (4:34.94) taking the top two spots in the 1,500. Garner won the 5,000 in 18:21.41 and Taylor Taite captured the 3,000 steeplechase in 11:05.49.

“In high school, I was always a great kicker, but in college, it’s obviously a different story. Mikaela is such a strong sprinter that you know she has strength,” Rizk said. “It’s pretty much who can go the longest and it ended up being me. If it was a 750, it could have been her. It’s the evil of the race pretty much. I didn’t win it for myself, I won it because we needed five points in the 800 and we needed to go 1-3. It’s the pressure from the team, knowing you have to go out there and beat USC, not for yourself, not for the PR, not for the time, but for the team, for UCLA to win.”

UCLA junior Jessie Maduka won the triple jump with a leap of 43-1 (13.13m) and took second in the long jump with a mark of 20-2.25 (6.15m), with Bruins sophomore Ashlie Blake prevailing in the discus with a throw of 160-5 (49.89m).