NCAA cancellation of spring sports schedule due to Coronavirus pandemic results in first interruption of annual track and field rivalry showdown in Southern California since series inception in 1934

By Landon Negri for DyeStat

Caryl Smith-Gilbert concedes she’s a little lost this week.

There are no dinners, no plans, no practices, and no getting ready for one of the biggest weekends of the year for the USC track and field head coach.

There’s even been a little boredom.

“I don’t know what life is like without the dual meet,” she said. “It’s going to be a little difficult for me.”

She’s not the only one. The annual dual meet between the track and field programs at USC and UCLA is one of the most anticipated events on the spring calendar, not only in Southern California, but in the country.

And for the first time in 87 years, the crosstown rivalry meet won’t happen as part of the NCAA’s sports shutdown due to fears over Coronavirus (COVID-19) continuing to spread throughout the United States and around the world.

The meet was scheduled for Sunday.

The women’s track and field teams at UCLA and USC have competed against each other in each year since 1985. The men’s meet goes back to 1934.

That means this rivalry survived World War II and the wartime, nighttime blackouts of the Los Angeles metropolitan area; it’s survived rioting and looting in L.A. County, and a host of earthquakes – along with their aftermaths and aftershocks – to hit the area since.

The COVID-19 virus, which first forced athletes off the track March 12, the day before the NCAA Indoor Championships, has been a different story. The NCAA canceled its entire spring athletic schedule not long afterward.

The USC-UCLA meet is one of a long list of sports cancellations during the past two months.

“It’s strange knowing this would have been the dual-meet week,” said UCLA fifth-year senior and distance standout Robert Brandt, “which is always one of the most fun events of the year.”

And it has a long legacy. Cal versus Stanford, also known as “The Big Meet,” has more meetings – 125 times they’ve faced off against each other – dating to 1893. Harvard against Yale is older, first running in 1890, but nothing tops USC versus UCLA for those in Southern California. It’s also ridiculously competitive.

UCLA’s men won 102-60 last season, though USC leads the all-time series, 43-42 (the 1982 meet was a non-scoring competition). The Trojan men won 32 consecutive dual meets from 1934 to 1965, but the Bruins have won 42 of the last 53.

The USC women won 90-69 last year, but UCLA still leads the all-time series 21-14, even with six straight victories by the Trojans entering this season.

A team on the rise, the Bruins were excited to see how they stacked up against the Trojans, national-title contenders once again on the women’s side.

“We’re adding to the meet instead of just being in the meet,” third-year Bruins coach Avery Anderson said. “When I inherited the program, we just did the meet. We had a few athletes here and there, but it was a slaughter.”

In a sport that is so much about individual achievement, the USC-UCLA dual offers a true team feel. Both teams annually have a dinner during the week as they enjoy a chance at team bonding before entering championship season in May.

“We always have the tradition of having a dual-meet dinner prior to the meet and the seniors give speeches,” USC senior Angie Annelus said. “That’s a moment you really share with your team and coaches.”

Brandt added: “We actually have groups and we put together funny videos prior to the meet, where we kind of poke fun at the coach and guys on the team, all in good nature.”

Athletes and coaches all agree the meet’s cancellation is a bummer. Where they differ, though, is in how this – and the Coronavirus-related stoppage – has affected them individually.

Annelus has a unique perspective, having transferred from UCLA three years ago. As a junior last year, she won her second consecutive NCAA Division 1 championship in the 200 meters in addition to winning another NCAA title with the Trojans in the 4x100 relay in a school-record time of 42.21 seconds. She currently holds the program record of 22.16 in the 200.

“It was definitely about protecting your school and making sure you put out the best effort, so your school comes out on top” Annelus said. “We didn’t like the Trojans (at UCLA) and wanted to make sure they didn’t win.

“I feel that’s the same on the other side. It’s making sure you represent your school and make sure your school is on top.”

The NCAA Division 1 Council decided March 30 to allow athletes who lost their spring seasons the option of an extra year of eligibility, and Annelus said she will definitely take it, particularly with USC extending scholarship money an extra year for many who want it. Athletes said a similar offer was put forward at UCLA.

It was an easy decision for Annelus, a team captain from suburban Kansas City.

“It didn’t feel right not being able to finish that out,” she said.

For now, she is on her own for workouts and keeping up with nutrition. She’s doing her best not to lounge around, though she joked about her couch, saying, “it’s pretty comfortable. You get tired.”

The desire to return burns even hotter for Anna Cockrell, the runaway NCAA Division 1 champion in the 400 hurdles last year.

With the Trojans in contention for a team title, Cockrell – running the third leg in the 4x400 relay – appeared to get her feet tangled and lost the baton on what was later termed “incidental contact,” and the Trojans finished eighth and missed a chance at repeating as national champions. They were tied with Arkansas going into the relay, the meet’s final event.

A decorated track veteran, the 22-year-old Cockrell has waited eagerly for this season. That will have to wait for another year.

“That’s kind of like a little stab in the heart to wait another year for redemption and an opportunity to win a team championship,” Cockrell said. “But there are more important things in the world right now than my personal quest for redemption.”

Cockrell is at home, in Charlotte, N.C., finishing up classes online. She is working on a Master’s degree in Public Policy.

She said she had gotten face stickers and had planned on multiple family members attending the meet.

“It’s weird to be at home and not competing and to think that we’re not going to have that experience on a personal level,” she said. “On a broader level, it’s odd, considering how historic (the dual meet) is and the traditions.

“It’s crazy to think about where we would be in the season,” she added. “It always feels fast when you’re in it. Now that I’m thinking about going to practice every day, it feels even faster. It feels like we’re flying through what would be the NCAA Division 1 track season at 10 times the speed.”

Across town, Brandt, the reigning Pac-12 10,000-meter champion, won’t return to UCLA next year. The grad admission’s timetable has passed so if he returned, Brandt would essentially sit around for a year academically, or work toward a double major.

Brandt will instead do his Master’s program at Georgetown and use his extra year of eligibility there. So he will never get to defend his 1,500-meter win against USC last year, when he won in a personal-best time of 3:44.66, one of his career highlights.

“They did offer to pay for a sixth year,” Brandt said. “I was already done with my classes and graduating, so I would’ve had to get a double major and stay undergrad another year.”

Brandt also has a unique perspective, having started his college career at Cal and being on the roster for Big Meet week. He said the week leading up to both meets are a lot alike.

“It’s interesting,” he said. “I’d say the atmosphere surrounding Big Meet week and the USC-UCLA dual is pretty similar. You can really sense the team come together on those weeks. It’s a very team-centric environment.”

The decision to go to Georgetown, where he’ll enter its real estate finance program, did not come easy. After two weeks at home, in reflection, he said he “wasn’t ready to be done.”

“I even considered walking away from running,” he said.

Shae Anderson came to UCLA after transferring from Oregon and sitting out last year with a back injury. She was hoping for a rebirth, of sorts, and that will also have to wait for the former California high school state champion – in the 400 and 300 hurdles – out of Norco High.

Anderson was off to a great start during the 2020 indoor season, having broken the UCLA indoor 400-meter record twice and helping the women’s 4x400 team to a school record, as well.

She is currently at home in Norco but still has her apartment near school and finds herself going back and forth while also doing classwork online.

“I’ve been going on runs and doing hills,” she said. “My dad just cleaned out our garage so I could start lifting again, which is exciting, because lifting is one of my favorite parts of training.”

UCLA was set to host the dual at Drake Stadium this weekend. Avery Anderson – no relation to Shae – said that for now, it looks like the Bruins will host again in 2021 and not miss a turn in alternating home sites.

“There was, for a little while, a lot of lingering hope we would be able to get to the meet and do the dual meet, and then do the Pac-12 Championships,” Avery Anderson said, “and then everything kind of came crashing down.”

Both programs will move forward and be fine. But missing the dual this year will certainly leave a hole.

“There’s definitely going to be a void,” Smith-Gilbert said. “This year was supposed to be at UCLA – my alma mater – so I definitely like going back to Westwood.”

Said Avery Anderson: “Certainly (missing) the opportunity to go against the best team in the country – that was the hardest part.”