May 10, 2007

USC Head Coach Curtis Frye is excited about the SEC Track and Field Championships starting today, but also is looking forward to the NCAA Regional and NCAA Championships in the same breath.

“SEC’s and the NCAAs are totally two different events. The SEC requires a great deal of volume; it’s more quantity than it is quality,” said Frye. “We have a few individuals who can do really well at nationals, but we don’t have the depth to have a really great SEC team. On the women’s side we are probably fighting to be one of the top five SEC teams. But we have a better chance at being the in the top five at nationals. It may sound contradictory to some, but you can score 40 points in the NCAAs and be in the top three, but score 70 points in the SEC and only be in the top five. It’s just the way it is.

“In the SEC you have quality from the bottom up,” said Frye. “We will probably have three SEC champions and those three will also be champions in the NCAA’s. Those three champions will give us 30 points, but because there are 300 schools competing for the NCAA’s those 30 points are big whereas you have only 11 schools competing for the SEC and those 30 points don’t mean as much. There are 21 events, a possibility of 210 points. You have to have a team that can score in all 21 events in the SEC. In the NCAA’s if you can score in four events you are a great team.”

Frye also talked the emphasis that is put on academics from the start. “We emphasize academics a great deal from the beginning,” said Frye. “Our team average has always been right around a 3.0 grade points average for our guys and above a 3.0 grade point average for our women. Last year we had 11 kids who were all Academic All-Americans. It’s a big deal with us academically to make sure all of our kids do well in the classroom.

“They are all in good shape, physically fit. This is the part of the season that really counts the rest of it was rehearsal. Now it’s tapering down, and focusing on the important ingredients that are performance,” said Frye. “Struggles happen for a reason. They prepare you for later when something special happens for you. Natasha Hastings is ready for special things so she has been through struggles, endured it and she has found it in her to make the commitment it takes to be great. It makes me feel great to see an athlete develop in character as an individual.”