Tina Fernandes Position: Women's Sprint Coach, Assistant Coach Experience: 11th Year

Tina Fernandes is in her 11th year as the women's sprints assistant coach at USC. She was the 2008 Olympic coach and Team Leader representing Puerto Rico at the Beijing Games.

Under her guidance, USC's sprint team has been one of the best in the nation the past several years. That fact has not gone unnoticed as Fernandes was named the West Region Sprints Assistant Coach of the Year by the USTFCCCA two of the last five seasons (2005 & 2007).

Her sprinters were a force on the national scene in 2008 as Jessica Onyepunuka placed fifth in the 100m dash and Carol Rodriguez stretched it out to run the 400m and placed a close third. The pair won the same events at the 2008 West Regional to help lead USC to a third-place finish. Onyepunuka qualified for the U.S. Olympic Trials in the 100m and Rodriguez became an Olympian for Puerto Rico in the 200m and 400m.

2007 was a banner year for the sprint corps as Rodriguez and Onyepunuka finished first and second respectively in both the 100m and 200m at the Pac-10 Championships and at the NCAA West Regional. Rodriguez went on to place fourth at the NCAA Championships in the 100m dash, while Onyepunuka took seventh. The pair teammed up with Shalina Clarke and Candice Davis to place third in the 4x100m relay at the NCAAs.

The 2006 women's sprints team also had a stellar campaign for USC as Rodriguez placed third at the NCAAs in the 100m and fourth in the 200m, while the 4x100m relay team of Virginia Powell, Davis, Onyepunuka and Rodriguez took third with a school-record time of 42.96. At the NCAA West Regional, Rodriguez won the 100m (11.09w) and 200m (22.23) and the 4x100m relay team also took first place. Rodriguez winning time in the 200m race set the USC and Pac-10 record. Powell won the 100m, Rodriguez the 200m and the 4x100m relay team won at the Pac-10 Championships.

With Rodriguez' win in the conference 100m dash race in 2007, she became the eighth Trojan in nine seasons to win the event. She followed three-time winner Powell (2004-06), only the second Pac-10 runner to win the event three straight seasons.

In 2003, Miya Edmonson won the NCAA West Region 200m title and qualified for both the 100m and 200m at the NCAA Championships, while Natasha Mayers finished ninth in the NCAA 100m final. USC has had a Women of Troy sprinter reach the NCAA 100m final in 10 of the last 11 seasons. The year 2002 was a special season as senior Angela Williams won an unprecedented fourth NCAA 100m title. Williams also went on to win the prestigious Honda/Broderick Cup honoring the nation's top female collegiate athlete, joining basketball's Cheryl Miller as the only USC athletes to win the award. But it wasn't just Williams who acheived excellence in 2002. Mayers became the first USC woman ever to win the NCAA 200m title and then placing second to her teammate in the 100m. Kinshasa Davis finished eighth in the 200m, while the 400m relay squad finished third at the NCAAs. At the 2002 Pac-10s, five USC sprinters made the final of the 100m--a dominating tour de force for the Women of Troy sprint corps. In 2001, Angela Williams won her unprecedented third consecutive NCAA 100m title, while Kinshasa Davis took third in the 200m at the NCAAs and the women's 400m relay placed second. At the 2000 NCAAs, the 400m relay squad finished undefeated on the season by winning the NCAA title with a then school-record time of 43.14, while Davis, who had run a nation-leading 22.69 earlier in the year, took second in the 200m. Williams won her second-straight NCAA 100m title. As well as Powell's exploits in the NCAAs in 2005, Alexis Weatherspoon placed third in the 200m and 4th in the 200m. The 4x100m relaty team won the West Regional and were Pac-10 champs. A fine sprinter herself in college, Fernandes competed at Long Beach City College and later at Fresno State. She has a Masters Degree in Education and a teaching credential in Physical Education. Chosen as one of the 2006 sprint coaches for the Puerto Rican NACAC and Pan American Championships. Fernandes also was selected to be a Mentor for Women in Coach by the USOC. She also was chosen for 2007 and 2008 Marquis Who's Who for Women. Coach Fernandes and her husband share a passion for coaching as he in the head football coach of El Camino College-Compton Center. They have two children: one son, Twin, age 19, who plays varsity football for Los Alamitos High and one daughter, T'Icis, age 16, who competes in varsity track and field.

All-Americans Coached By Tina Fernandes:

Shalina Clarke

Candice Davis

Kinshasa Davis

Malika Edmonson

Myra Hasson

Natasha Mayers*

Dalilah Muhammad

Natasha Neal

Elizabeth Olear

Jessica Onyepunuka

Disia Page

Carol Rodriguez

Virginia Powell*

Angela Williams*

Candace Young*

Alexis Weatherspoon

*--NCAA Champion