Out from the shadow of Steve Johnson and Daniel Nguyen, No. 4 USC men's tennis captains Ray Sarmiento and Emilio Gomez have taken the torch and blazed a route to a potential fifth consecutive national championship.  The junior pair was named to the All-Pac-12 first team today after combining to go 31-8 in singles this season.

Click here for the full story.

No. 1 USC women's water polo is hoping to play Boston Strong this week as the Women of Troy make the final push for the NCAA title.  The eight-team tournament begins Friday at Harvard as the Trojans take on Pomona-Pitzer in the quarterfinals (2:15 p.m. PT).

Click here for NCAA Tournament central.

With a win, USC will take on either No. 4 Hawaii or No. 5 UC San Diego on Saturday.  The NCAA Title match is Sunday with No. 2 Stanford and No. 3 UCLA looming on the other side of the bracket.

Outside of the Vavic duo, head coach Jovan and MPSF Player of the Year Monica, the Women of Troy will rely on Olympians Flora Bolonyai and Anni Espar.  In case you missed it, here was our profile on the international stars:

Written by Sarah Bergstrom, USC blog contributor

No. 4 USC men's tennis and No. 5 USC women's tennis host first and second round match-ups this Friday through Saturday at Marks Stadium.  The Trojans will be heavily favored in both rounds before a likely trip to Champagne-Urbana, Illinois, for the remainder of the 64-team tournament.

Click here for the complete men's preview.

Click here for the complete women's preview.

Here is the schedule for this weekend:

Friday at 11 a.m. - San Diego vs. Alabama
Friday at 2 p.m. - USC (men) vs. Sacramento St.

Saturday at 9 a.m. - UCI vs. San Jose St.
Saturday at Noon - Women of Troy vs. Sacramento St.

Sunday at Noon - NCAA Women's 2nd Round
Sunday at 3 p.m. - NCAA Men's 2nd Round

After an All-Pac-12 season, USC women's basketball center Cassie Harberts has been invited to the 2013 USA Women's World University Games Team trials.  Harberts carried the Women of Troy in 2012-13 averaging 18 points and 8 rebounds while leading the team in scoring, rebounding, blocks and steals.

Click here for the full story.

Talented teammate Jordan Adams, whose freshman season was plagued by injury, will also compete at the same camp (May 16-19 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs) in an effort to make the 2013 USA Women's Under-19 World Championship Team.

Written by Andie Hagemann, USC blog contributor

Mother's Day is just around the corner and it happens to coincide with the Pac-12 Championships this weekend. For Alitta Boyd, she has much to be thankful for as her mother was the one who initially involved her in track and field.

"My mom was a retired police officer from Oakland and they had this organization called Oakland Police Activities League," Boyd said. "When I was younger, she got me involved because she noticed I had so much energy running around as a child. Track is a growing sport in which you can start at such a young age and continue to do it until your nineties. I started track when I was five. I did get involved in other sports but at the start of high school, I found that track was the sport that I liked best."

Boyd competes in both the long jump and triple jump events. She ranks fourth all-time by a Trojan female in the triple jump. In the long jump, she ranks just outside the USC Top 10.

"The long jump is just run as fast as you can, jump and keep your speed throughout your jump," Boyd said. "The triple jump is a little more technical. You have to have speed but you need to know how to use your speed throughout the jump. I'm a right foot jumper so I go off the board with my right foot and land on my right foot. I alternate and jump on my left before jumping into the sand. It takes coordination. If you're off balance, you'll land on your face in the sand. It's a big difference but you have to carry your speed through both jumps."

This year, Boyd was appointed as one of the team captains by several coaches. For Alitta, being a captain is not just a title, it's a lifestyle. "Being a captain is actually more of a responsibility than people realize," Boyd said. "It's not just something that you put on your resume. You can't just motivate from words, your actions and practices have to show it. You have to be involved with your team so they know that you care enough and that you deserve to be in that position."

In true captain fashion, Boyd is overjoyed when her teammates claim victories and personal records. "There are many memorable moments but one that stands out is when one of the former jumpers, Ben Brown, threw javelin," Boyd said. "He was a jumper for four years and started trying javelin his senior year. The Dual Meet came up and he won and set a personal record by 10 feet. Everyone went crazy because he won. We all wondered why he didn't try javelin earlier in his career. I get more excited when others improve rather than me. If I PR when I jump, I'm not excited at all because I know I need to go beyond that. But I love seeing my teammates improve rather than myself."

Boyd's final conference meet is on the horizon and she holds ambitious goals for each of her events.

"I have huge goals that I want to reach for myself this weekend. It has been a long journey and I am definitely not taking this weekend for granted," Boyd said. "I am a senior so this is my last Pac-12 meet ever. I definitely want to PR on all of my jumps and get to the goals I set for myself five years ago. Hopefully, my performance can inspire the rest of my team to do just as well."

Alitta intends to continue her track and field career post-graduation. Though the path is unclear at the moment, she will make her dream a reality. "I've put too many years into this to just stop. I think people short themselves of what's available outside of collegiate track and field," Boyd said. "There are so many opportunities on the elite level. I think it is all about a mindset because a lot of people don't think they can be elite. They don't believe that they can push themselves further than they have. I definitely want to continue. Professional is looking very nice right now and that is the route I'm traveling."

Boyd and the Trojans will host the Pac-12 Championships on Saturday and Sunday at Loker Stadium.

The hiring of Andy Enfield as the new USC men's basketball head coach continues to make national news with the New York Times the latest to weigh in. 

Click here for to read the NY Times profile of Enfield.

While all eyes will be on Enfield from the jump, the head coach understands the need to construct his program from the foundation.  He has executed that plan successfully as a basketball coach at Florida Gulf Coast, but also in the business world with a tech start-up.

"You have to build something," Enfield told the NY Times. "You have to communicate with your employees.  You have to show up every day wanting to improve.  You have to create a culture and a brand."

(Photo by Aurelio Jose Barrera/NY Times)

Graduating senior offensive lineman Khaled Holmes has been named one of five finalists for the Male College Athlete of the Year by Sports Illustrated.  Holmes distinguished himself as an exemplary athlete, leader, scholar and community servant during his time at Troy.

Click here to vote for Khaled Holmes!!!

On the field, Holmes earned Pac-12 recognition three times, and was voted team captain as a senior.  Away from the gridiron, the gentle giant completed a bachelor's degree with a double major in classics and communications (for which he also received a master's), and joined his teammates on the humanitarian aid trip to Haiti as well as working to help kids in the Los Angeles neighborhoods throughout his five years in school.

Click here for the profile on Holmes by SI's Stewart Mandel.


(Photo by Rich Kane/Icon SMI)

In the wake of the watershed announcement by NBA player Jason Collins, USC junior swimmer Sean Mulroy wrote a first person account of what it is like to be an openly gay collegiate athlete. 

Click here to read his story.

"Being an openly gay athlete at USC has been nothing short of fabulous," Mulroy writes. "I've been out since I stepped on the pool deck three years ago and have thoroughly enjoyed my time as a student-athlete. Heading into my senior year, and last year of NCAA eligibility, I am content with my place on the team and am able to recognize and celebrate the differences with my straight teammates."

Before the Collins story, the Daily Trojan profiled the challenges LGBT athletes face in collegiate athletics, and what USC's athletic administration is doing to support them.

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