Track and field is often labeled an individual sport.
“It’s always an individual sport. People think, ‘Well, (it’s) track,’” said redshirt senior javelin thrower Derek Eager.
But Eager said the annual UCLA-USC meet is different. Athletes no longer just think about doing their best in the events they’re used to. They start thinking about doing whatever they can to add to the team’s score. If that means participating in different events, so be it.
“When it comes to the ‘SC meet, everyone’s jumping in races to help out their teammates, kind of helping them pull along,” said senior sprinter Ally Courtnall. “It’s a very team-minded meet.”
Courtnall would know. As a freshman walk-on in 2012, she stepped up and volunteered to run the 400 meters for the first time in her life.
She ended up winning the race, edging out eventual All-American Akawkaw Ncha-Ndip from USC by 0.59 seconds.
“I was running it for the ’SC meet because we didn’t have a lot of people on the 400m, and I won the race,” Courtnall said. “It was my first time ever running it, so it was one of my most memorable experiences as a Bruin.”
Courtnall will try to add one or two more memorable experiences this weekend at USC’s Loker Stadium. She and the UCLA women’s team will once again face Ncha-Ndip and a strong sprinting group from USC.
“Right now, USC on the women’s side is really, really sprint-heavy,” said sprints and hurdles assistant coach Joanna Hayes. “The men’s side, they’re pretty sprint-heavy (as well).”
The Trojans have perennially dominated a majority of the sprint events in this annual rivalry meet, but the Bruins have countered that by establishing their own dominance over the distance and field events.
“Talent-wise, yeah, we’re about even in different areas,” Hayes said. “They’re stronger in the sprints, we’re stronger in the distance and the field, and so it kind of evens out.”
If past is prologue and the rivals counterbalance each other’s strengths, Hayes said the meet could be decided by single digits on both the men’s and the women’s sides.
“No matter who wins, it’s gonna be tight. It’s gonna be maybe three to five points, one side or the other,” Hayes said. “So now it really comes down to heart: Who really wants it the most and who’s gonna go get it?”
If UCLA does end up sweeping the meet this year, it would be a benchmark win for the program. The Bruins have only swept two rivalry meets in the last 10 years – 2006 and 2013 – and aren’t ranked in either the men’s or women’s top-25 polls, while the Trojans are ranked No. 4 and No. 1 respectively.
One thing redshirt senior thrower Alec Faldermeyer was sure of is that the Bruins will be working together for a victory. It won’t be an individual pursuit.
“I’d say the most important thing about all of (the meets against USC) … is that if you don’t do as well as you expect to do, there’s always going to be someone else on the team who will do better and pick up the slack for you,” Faldermeyer said.