The USC women's outdoor track team lived up to a its expectations this season, finishing as the national runner-up June 6 in the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field championships. Tied with UCLA at 48 points, Carolina finished at its best since winning the title in 2002.
Texas won this season's championship with 55 points and a strong finish on the final day of competition.
"I am very proud of the performance we had," Frye said. "We are proud that our women finished second in the nation. They represented our institution well - it's an outstanding finish. We would have loved to won, but we take our hats off to Texas and to UCLA. They have outstanding programs, and it's an honor to be among these teams."
The Gamecocks posted three second-place finishes on the women's side and collected 18 All-American honors, an improvement from last season's 12.
As the final day of competition concluded, the title hinged on the 1,600-meter relay - the last event. With UCLA leading Texas by 3 and USC by 8 going into the event.
With UCLA not fielding a team for the event, the relay was run tightly before Texas squeaked to a first-place finish at 3 minutes, 27.1 seconds, nine hundredths of a second ahead of the Gamecocks, who came in at 3:27.22.
"We knew it was going to come down to the 4x400-meter relay," said senior Shevon Stoddart, USC's lead runner in the event. "We all went out there and gave it our best and finished second. We have a great team who will hopefully come back next year and get it done."
Freshman Shalonda Solomon collected a runner-up finish in the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.86. The other runner-up finish occurred in the 400-meter hurdles as Gamecocks Stoddart and junior Tiffany Ross-Williams finished second and third, respectively. Both athletes ran personal bests that qualify as Nos. 2 and 3 on USC's all-time list. Stoddart's time (54.47) and Ross-Williams' time (54.56) trail only that of former 16-time All-American Lashinda Demus, whose time of 53.43 last season earned her a berth in the 2004 Olympics.
"When I got to the straightaway (300-meter), I saw I was in a good position to win and tried with all my heart to get that to that finish line," Stoddart said. "She (Wyoming's Shauna Smith) got that win, but I ran one of the best races I've ever ran."
Sophomore Stephanie Smith and freshman Natasha Hastings posted personal bests at the championships while earning All-American honors. Smith finished third in the 400s at 50.93, and Hastings, the 2005 SEC Champion, was sixth at 51.87.
USC's All-American winners on the women's side include Chelsea Hammond (eighth-long jump), 400-meter relay team (seniors Erica Whipple and Alexis Joyce, Ross-Williams and Solomon), 1600-meter relay team (Stoddart, Hastings, Ross-Williams and Smith), 400-meter hurdles (Stoddart and Ross-Williams) and the 200-meter dash (Smith and Hastings).
Men's All-American honors include junior Rodney Martin Jr. (100-meter and 200-meter) and freshman Jason Richardson (110-meter hurdles). The men's team finished No. 26 with 12 points.
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