2011-2012 Trojan Athletic Season

From the main man Pat Haden, his year-end report on the 2011-2012 Trojan Athletic Season after the jump.

Mr. Haden writes:

As we take some time in July to reflect on the past academic year, I wanted to let all of you who support USC and USC Athletics know what a remarkable year our student-athletes, coaches, and staff had. I believe these results are stunning and a testament to the type of students we recruit, the coaching they receive, and the support they receive from you. We have men and women of character; we have some of the world’s best athletes; and our student-athletes continue to have a positi ve impact on our community. We have reason to be quite proud of our coaches and student athletes and staff. I am in awe each day and inspired by their effort.

To all of you, we say “thank you” for supporting USC and our department. Enjoy your summer!
Fight on!

USC ATHLETICS OVERVIEW
**Ten of USC’s 21 sports finished in the Top 7 at the NCAA Championships, including eight in the Top 3 (two champions, three runners-up, three thirds)
–Men’s water polo and men’s tennis each won a fourth consecutive NCAA championship
–Men’s volleyball, women’s water polo and women’s golf were NCAA runners-up
–Women’s volleyball, women’s swimming and women’s tennis were third at the NCAAs
–Women’s rowing finished 6th at the NCAAs
–Men’s swimming finished 7th at the NCAAs
–Additionally, football finished ranked sixth in the AP poll
**USC was seventh in the Director’s Cup (the all-sports competition between all NCAA Division I
schools), its third highest finish since 1995
**In the Capital One Cup (an all-sports competition on the NCAA Division I level for men’s teams and another for women’s teams), the USC women were seventh and men 12th
**Women’s golf won an NCAA Regional team championship
**Four teams were Pac-12/Mountain Pacific Sports Federation champions:
–Women’s volleyball
–Men’s water polo
–Men’s volleyball
–Women’s tennis
–Additionally, men’s tennis won the Pac-12 Tournament title
**USC won the Crosstown Gauntlet (the annual all-sports competition with UCLA) for the fifth consecutive year
**USC’s newest NCAA sport, women’s sand volleyball, began competition in 2012

COACH ACCOMPLISHMENTS
**Three head coaches were named National Coach of the Year:
–Men’s water polo’s Jovan Vavic
–Men’s tennis’ Peter Smith
–Men’s volleyball’s Bill Ferguson
**George Husack of men’s tennis was named National Assistant Coach of the Year
**Women’s volleyball’s Mick Haley was Regional Coach of the Year
**Track’s Dan Lange was Regional Assistant Coach of the Year
**Three head coaches were Pac-12 Coach of the Year:
–Women’s volleyball’s Mick Haley
–Women’s diving’s Hongping Li
–Men’s tennis’ Peter Smith
**Three assistant coaches became NCAA Division I head coaches: George Husack (Alabama men’s tennis), Josh Brewer (Georgia men’s golf) and Laura Beeman (Hawaii women’s basketball)
ATHLETE ACCOMPLISHMENTS
**Women’s volleyball’s Alex Jupiter won the Honda Sports Award in volleyball, as the sport’s top collegiate female athlete
–She was one of six finalists for the Sullivan Award as the nation’s top amateur athlete
–She was one of five finalists for an ESPY Award in the Best Female College Athlete
category
**Trojans won 5 NCAA individual titles
–Swimmer Katinka Hosszu won a pair of NCAA titles (400-meter individual medley, 200-
meter butterfly)
–Swimmer Haley Anderson won the NCAA 500-meter freestyle
–Diver Victoria Ishimatsu won the NCAA 1-meter springboard
–Tennis player Steve Johnson won his second consecutive NCAA singles title
**Four Trojans were named National Player of the Year:
–Alex Jupiter (women’s volleyball)
–Joel Dennerley (men’s water polo)
–Tony Ciarelli (men’s volleyball)
–Steve Johnson (men’s tennis)
–Additionally, men’s volleyball’s Micah Christenson was named National Newcomer of
the Year and men’s tennis’ Daniel Nguyen won National Co-Sportsman of the Year
**There were 57 All-American first teamers
**USC placed 15 athletes on NCAA All-Tournament teams
**Women’s golfer Lisa McCloskey won an NCAA Regional individual title
**Twelve Trojans made an All-Regional first team
**Two Trojans made a Regional All-Tournament team
–Women’s volleyball’s Alex Jupiter was the MVP of the NCAA Regional All-Tournament
team
**Trojans won 15 Pac-12 individual championships
**There were 27 All-Pac-12/All-MPSF first teamers
**Five Trojans were named Pac-12/MPSF Players of the Year:
–Alex Jupiter (women’s volleyball)
–Joel Dennerley (men’s water polo)
–Victoria Ishimatsu (women’s diving)
–Tony Ciarelli (men’s volleyball)
–Steve Johnson (men’s tennis)
–Additionally, Kendall Bateman (women’s volleyball) was Pac-12 Setter of the Year,

Natalie Hagglund (women’s volleyball) was Pac-12 Libero of the Year, Matt Kalil
(football) was Pac-12 Offensive Lineman of the Year (Morris Trophy), Marqise Lee
(football) was Pac-12 Co-Offensive Freshman of the Year, Dion Bailey (football) was
Pac-12 Defensive Freshman of the Year, Micah Christenson (men’s volleyball) was
MPSF Freshman of the Year, Yannick Hanfmann (men’s tennis) was Pac-12 Newcomer
of the Year and Steve Johnson/Roberto Quiroz (men’s tennis) and Kaitlyn
Christian/Sabrina Santamaria (women’s tennis) were Pac-12 Doubles Teams of the
Year
**Three Trojans made an MPSF All-Tournament Water Polo team, Joel Dennerley (MWP), Peter Kurzeka (MWP), Monica Vavic (WWP)
OLYMPICS
**Thirty-six current and former Trojans (as of July 10) will compete in the 2012 London
Olympic Games
–Eleven are current Trojans (Haley Anderson, Stina Gardell, Lynette Lim and Katarzyna
Wilk of women’s swimming, Vladimir Morozov, Dimitri Colupaev and Cristian Quintero
of men’s swimming, Flora Bolonyai and Anna Espar of women’s water polo and Josh
Mance and Emir Bekric of men’s track)
–22 are women
–18 are first-time Olympians
–They represent 16 countries
–They will join the 396 athletes who USC has previously sent to the Olympic Games
(more than any other university)
–They will attempt to add to the record 262 medals won by Trojans, including an
unprecedented 123 gold medals (with at least one gold medalist in every summer
Olympics since 1912)
ACADEMIC ACCOMPLISHMENTS
**88 of USC’s 108 senior student-athletes graduated this spring (81.5%)
–Nineteen of the remaining 20 are expected to complete work for their undergraduate
degrees by next spring, taking the senior graduation rate to 99%
**Twelve student-athletes posted a 4.0 GPA in the 2011 Fall semester and 11 did so in the 2012
Spring semester
**Eight teams had 2011-12 cumulative GPAs of 3.0 or higher
**Seventy-seven student-athletes had at least a 3.5 cumulative career GPA through the 2012
Spring semester
**Every sport was above the NCAA Academic Progress Rate cut score of 930
**Women’s golf, women’s soccer and men’s indoor track had perfect APR scores of 1,000,
while baseball’s score of 988 was the second highest in the Pac-12
**Football’s Augusto Alonso and men’s track’s Greg Woodburn were Rhodes Scholar finalists
**Michael Shashoua of men’s water polo won a Fulbright Scholarship to study in Madrid as part
of the U.S.-sponsored educational exchange program
**Five student-athletes were among 305 USC Renaissance Scholars, awarded to those
distinguishing themselves academically with a major and a minor (or two majors) in widely
separated fields of study:
–Greg Woodburn (men’s track), who was awarded $10,000 for finishing in the top 10 of
the 305 USC Renaissance Scholars
–Elaine Lim (women’s swimming)
–Matthew McCormick (men’s track)
–Jack Ostler (men’s swimming)
–Katherine Wittig (women’s rowing)
**Three Trojans were named USC Discovery Scholars, awarded to those excelling in the
classroom and displaying the ability to create exceptional new scholarship:
–Laura Diaz-Pomatto (women’s rowing), who was awarded $10,000 for finishing in the
top 10 of the USC Discovery Scholars
–Michael Shashoua (men’s water polo)
–Greg Woodburn (men’s track)
**Two Trojans were named USC Global Scholars, awarded to those excelling in their studies at
home and abroad:
–Greg Woodburn (men’s track), one of just three USC “triple scholars” in 2012
(Renaissance, Discovery, Global)
–Michael Shashoua (men’s water polo), who was awarded $10,000 for finishing in the
top 10 of the 33 USC Global Scholars
**Thirteen student-athletes won USC Student Recognition Awards as graduating seniors who
excelled both inside and outside the classroom
**Four Trojans won Pac-12 Post-Graduate Scholarships:
–Briana Gilbreath (women’s basketball)
–Daniel Nguyen (men’s tennis)
–Amanda Smith (women’s swimming)
–Greg Woodburn (men’s track)
**Women’s tennis player Alison Ramos was a National Association of College Directors of
Athletics’ John McLendon Post-Graduate Scholarship Finalist
**Football Player Augusto Alonso won the Southern California Sports Broadcasters Association
Post-Graduate Scholarship
**Two Trojans made Academic All-American teams:
–Men’s swimmer Alex Lendrum (second team)
–Men’s tennis’ Daniel Nguyen (third team)
–Additionally, Kevin Swick (baseball) made Academic All-District
–Seven Trojan water polo players and rowers made their sport’s coaching organization’s
All-Academic teams
**Twenty-three Trojans made Pac-12/MPSF All-Academic first teams
**USC swimming legend John Naber (’77) was inducted into the Academic All-America Hall of
Fame
**Fifteen student-athletes had works on display at the 2012 Artletics exhibition, a collaborative
effort between the USC Athletic Department and the USC Roski School of Fine Arts
COMMUNITY SERVICE
**USC student-athletes did 2,100-plus hours of community service
**Football’s Matt Barkley made the Allstate American Football Coaches Association Good
Works Team
**Men’s track’s Greg Woodburn won the Community Service Award from the Trojan Athletics
Parents Association and the Extraordinary Community Service Award from USC’s Dornsife
College of Letters, Arts and Sciences/USC Government and Community Relations/USC
Student Affairs
**Sixteen football players went to Haiti during summer break to build houses and deliver
supplies
**Other community service activities involving USC student-athletes included the Community
Bowl at nearby Weemes Elementary School (150 student-athletes representing 11 sports
spent a winter Saturday reading to and doing art projects with the young students, as well as
organizing games and helping re-paint the school), Swim With Mike, Friends of Jaclyn, visits
to patients at USC University Hospital and a camp for local youngsters hosted by the men’s
basketball team
Capital Projects
**The 110,000 square foot John McKay Center will open August 1 and be used by all 21 of our
sports
**Heritage Hall will begin a renovation beginning in January 2013
**The Uytengsu Aquatic Center will begin a major renovation in January 2013
**Construction of on-campus sand volleyball courts for our women’s NCAA sand team will
begin this summer
Presidential Lecture
President C.L. Max Nikias taught a class on his favorite Greek tragedy, Sophocles’ Antigone. Thirty student-athletes enjoyed the class this spring. The tragic story of Antigone’s defying Creon’s orders because of their unjustness was well received by the students and served as a springboard to a lively debate on the subject matter.
Provost’s Presentations
As part of the USC Athletic Department mission to insure that our student-athletes experience all corners of the campus, we worked with Provost Elizabeth Garrett to launch a series of mini-lectures this past Spring conducted by current USC faculty. The topics were chosen by the student-athlete’s themselves in particular areas of study that they may or may not be exposed to in their everyday curriculum. Guided by the leadership of Dana Coyle, the program manager for USC’s Center for Excellence in Teaching, the program got off to a fantastic start with meaningful dialogue exchanged and new worlds being explored from both the student-athletes and the faculty.
The baseball team heard from Professor Vared Yakovee, from the Gould School of Law, and learned about the world of professional contracts, specifically about how they apply to professional baseball. Associate Professor Oliver Mayer, from the USC School of Theatre, spoke to the Women of Troy basketball team about his latest on-campus production “Fortune is Woman” about the life and work of Machiavelli. The team and coaching staff were so inspired by the discussion they then attended the play later in the semester. The football team took a break from their Spring practice regiment to hear about the impact of music on American society through an insightful lecture put on by Professor Ronald McCurdy from the Thornton School of Music. Lastly, the Women of Troy soccer and volleyball teams learned of the cutting-edge research being conducted at USC’s Institute of Creative Technology under the leadership of Randall Hill. The women athletes marveled at USC’s leadership in the field of simulation software and the work the ICT Center is conducting with the United States Military.
This program is just getting started and we have selected an additional six teams for this Fall semester. The student-athletes and faculty alike are eagerly anticipating learning from one another and touching all corners of our wonderfully diverse campus community.
Additionally, USC History Professor and noted expert on the State of California, Kevin Starr, gave a presentation to the athletic department staff on the history and significance of California.
Foreign Tours
We have also instituted a plan for every team that takes a foreign tour, to take a university professor (or two)
along with the team to make the experience larger than just an athletic one. The women’s volleyball team in May went to Milan, Venice, Belgrade, Slovenia and London. They were accompanied by two professors from USC Dornsife, Provost Professor of English and Art History, Kate Flint and Professor of English, Gender Studies and History, Alice Echols.
It has been an extraordinary year. USC is a most remarkable place to work and learn. We look forward to watching our Olympians this summer and being inspired once again this coming academic year by our superb student-athletes.