June 9, 1997

The Week in Review / Preview

Men's and Women's Track and Field

Thanks to an outstanding final day that saw the USC men's team earn 20 of its 34 points, the Trojans placed third at the NCAA Championships in Bloomington, Ind., their best finish since also taking third in 1991. The USC women, limited by illness and injury, tied for 14th place with 17 points.

The highlight of the meet for the Trojans was junior Bengt Johansson, who won USC's fifth straight national title in the men's hammer throw. Johansson, who finished second at the NCAAs last year, continued a streak started by Balazs Kiss, a four-time winner in the event. His winning throw was 230-1, his best throw yet in his time at USC.

Prior to the meet's final event, the 4x400m relay, the USC men knew that they needed to place at least sixth in the race to move into sole possession of third place, past UCLA and Wisconsin, in the team standings. The team of freshman Ray Carter, senior Isaac Turner, freshman DeJon Joyner and sophomore Jerome Davis did even better, placing fourth in a time of 3:03.28.

"Considering that our men weren't even supposed to finish in the top 25, we are the surprise team of the NCAAs," USC Coach Ron Allice said. "We're just elated. Our kids came to this meet prepared and they all performed. We kept telling them that if you get to the finals, you have a chance to score, and they did exactly that."

Others that picked up points and earned All-American status for the men's team: Davis (third place in the 400m, a personal-best 45.36 seconds), senior Jason Shelton (sixth in the 100m, 10.44 seconds), sophomore William Erese (sixth in the 110m hurdles, 13.72 seconds), freshman Kedjeloba Mambo (sixth in the triple jump, 51-7 1/4), Turner (eighth in the 800m, 1:49.67) and the 4x100m relay team of Shelton, freshman Marques Holiwell, junior Tony Serpas and Davis (sixth place, 39.53 seconds).

The Women of Troy were led by sophomore Grazyna Penc (fourth in the 1500m, 4:17.51), senior Emebet Shiferaw (fourth in the 3000m, 9:11.78), freshman Emelie Fardigh (fifth in the high jump, 6-0 1/2) and sophomore Pamela Simpson (sixth in the long jump, 20-5 1/4).

Athlete of the Week

Bengt Johansson, Men's Track - Johansson, a junior, had to come from behind to win the men's hammer title at the NCAA Championships. He had the best throw of qualifying (69.52m), but Southern Methodist's Xavier Tison threw 69.54m on the first of three throws in the finals to pass him. Moments later, though, Johansson unleashed his winning throw of 70.12m.

Sport                   Record  Conf. Finish    Nat'l Finish    Last Week
Men's Track and Field      7-2           1st             3rd    third at NCAA Championships
Women's Track and Field    8-1           2nd            14th    tied for 14th at NCAA Championships
Season                  Complete Record  Conf. Finish  Nat'l Finish  Notes
Baseball                          42-20   17-13 (3rd)          10th  second at NCAA South II Regional
Men's Basketball                  17-11   12-6 (t2nd)            --  first NCAA berth since 1992
Women's Basketball                 20-9    13-5 (3rd)            --  reached second round of NCAAs
Women's Crew                         --           7th            --  Guerrero All-Pac-10
Women's Cross Country                --           6th            --  Shiferaw first team All-American
Football                            6-6    3-5 (t5th)            --  def. Notre Dame, 27-20 (OT)
Men's Golf                           --           3rd          14th  Tambellini, Wright, third team All-Amer.
Women's Golf                         --           6th          26th  Josefsson All-Pac-10 hon. men.
Sailing                              --            --          10th  10th at National Coed Dinghy Champ.
Women's Soccer                     15-5     4-3(t4th)            --  Harvey Pac-10's top scorer
Men's Swimming & Diving             8-0           4-0 (2nd)     6th  Krayzelburg NCAA champ in 200 back
Women's Swimming & Diving           9-1           4-1 (2nd)     1st  first-ever national championship
Men's Tennis                       18-6           6-4 (3rd)    15th  Bastl second at NCAA singles/doubles
Women's Tennis                     8-15          0-10 (6th)    32nd  Baklarova All-Pac-10 hon. men.
Men's Volleyball                  12-12          9-10 (9th)    13th  Guigliano, Seiffert, All-MPSF hon. men.
Women's Volleyball                 21-9          12-6 (t3rd)   13th  reached round of 16 in NCAAs
Men's Water Polo                   23-3           7-1 (1st)     2nd  Cizmic, Zagar first team All-Americans
Women's Water Polo                15-20           0-6 (5th)     7th  Orwig second team All-American