Limited squad will travel to Claremont


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After a solid performance at last weekend’s Texas Relays, the USC track and field team will send a limited contingent of runners to the Pomona-Pitzer Invitational this Saturday in Claremont, Calif.

“We will have quite a few athletes competing,” USC coach Ron Allice said. “But it all really depends on who we think needs to race and who needs to rest.”

The athletes not attending the Pomona-Pitzer meet will train through the week and get ready for next weekend’s Mount SAC Relays, one of the more high-profile meets on the Trojans’ schedule. Allice declined to say if he would hold some of his stronger runners back from competing in order to rest for next weekend.

“I really don’t like to say [who will be competing] because I do have some of my first-liners competing there,” Allice said. “I’d rather not categorize. For me to draw a line in the sand for a difference between this athlete and that athlete, that could be misconstrued.”

The entries posted on the Pomona-Pitzer athletic website appear to suggest a compromise between resting USC’s top competitors and maintaining a strong team that should have a good showing on Saturday. While standouts like senior men’s sprinter Ahmad Rashad, junior men’s hurdler Oscar Spurlock and junior women’s distance runner Zsofia Erdelyi are notably absent, USC does possess the No. 1 seeds in both the men’s 110- and 400-meter hurdles in junior Brendan Ames and sophomore Duane Walker, respectively.

“I’m trying to elevate some people from one category to another,” Allice said of the athletes he is sending to Claremont. “These are people I think can get a better qualifying standard and have better standing in more important meets down the road.”

Even with all the shuffling around, Allice says the team remains united and focused on both this weekend and the more important meets that lie ahead.

“We’re doing what we need to do to continue to have this team develop to where we would like it to be during the championship part of the season,” Allice said. “That’s the focus and will remain the focus.”