April 14, 2002
USC Head Coach Curtis Frye had a huge smile on his face after the Sea Ray Relays were over – it might have been the collegiate record his women’s 4x400m relay set or the four school records the men’s and women’s teams broke. Or maybe it was junior Aleen Bailey, who was named the MVP of the meet. Any of them gave Frye reason to smile as he sees his women’s team, ranked No. 4 nationally, and his men’s team, ranked No. 12 improve each week.
Bailey was named the MVP after winning the 200m with world’s best time at 22.84 and then won the 100m with a the world’s third fastest time at 11.33. She also ran a leg of USC’s winning 4x100m relay.
The women’s 4x400m relay of Tiffany Ross, Lashinda Demus, Lisa Barber and Demetria Washington ran a time of 3:26.98, breaking Texas’ collegiate record from 1999.
Their time is a school record, an NCAA automatic time and the best time in the world for a 4x400m relay in 2002. USC also holds the collegiate record indoors in the same event.
“That time is incredible. Those four had run another relay about an hour before so that race was run without fresh legs. I think they can go a second or two faster,” said USC Head Coach Curtis Frye.
The women won two other relay events on Sunday: the 4x100m relay with a time 44.33, the 4x100m Shuttle Hurdle Relay – with a school and meet record of 54.28.
The men also put a huge time in the 4x400m relay, finishing second to Tennessee with an NCAA automatic time of 3:02.49 – breaking the school record for the second time in 2002. The relay included James Law, Otukile Lekote, Otis Harris and Jon Fortenberry. “The men also looked great. Jon Fortenberry ran a 44.9 split as the anchor – they were rolling with Tennessee,” added Frye.
Lekote came back to win the 800m with a time of 1:46.50 – an NCAA automatic time and the top time in the country in 2002.
Corey Taylor continued to run well in the 110m hurdles, putting up a time of 13.79 to finish as the runner-up to World Championship finalist Dawane Wallace. His time is an NCAA provisional time. Taylor later ran a leg of USC’s 4x100m relay that finished third with a season best time of 39.66.
Jenny Lake was the runner-up in the 3000m, finishing at 10:04.20.
The men’s 4x200m relay came away with a win, clocking 1:23.97.
Chris Steddum finished as the fourth collegiate in the pole vault, vaulting 16′ 11.
Fred Townsend was fourth in the decathlon with 6836 points.
