STA alum Ellis’ comeback wins USC a title
You may have seen video circulating around the Internet of a Southern Cal women’s track and field athlete making a remarkable comeback on the last leg of the 4x400-meter relay to win the event and clinch a national title.
Her name is Kendall Ellis, and she’s a Pembroke Pines native and St. Thomas Aquinas alum.
Ellis, a senior, doesn’t even appear in the picture on ESPN’s broadcast as Purdue’s anchor runner leads the race by a significant margin heading into the final stretch at the NCAA Track and Field Championships. USC is actually in third behind host Oregon.
“I just don’t know if Purdue is going to get caught,” one commentator said.
“No, there’s no way — unless they drop the baton. Purdue’s going to win this,” the other chimed in.
That’s when Ellis found an extra gear over the final 100 meters on the raindrenched track in Eugene. She quickly speeds past the Oregon runner, inches closer to Purdue’s Jaheya Mitchel and leans across the finish line the victory.
Her 50.05-second split made up a near-two-second deficit and was good enough to win the event by seven-hundredths of a second. The 4x400 victory gave USC 10 points on the final event to edge runner-up Georgia (52) and third-place Stanford (51) for the Trojan’s second national title.
The push down the homestretch wrapped up an impressive national championship performance for Ellis, who also was second in the 400 and was part of a 4x100 relay that finished third.
In high school, Ellis was a four-time state champion in the 400 and AllCounty first-team selection in the Sun Sentinel.
She’s the second St. Thomas grad in the past week to excel on the national stage of collegiate athletics after former Raiders’ softball pitcher Meghan King put together a record-setting performance in leading FSU to a Women’s College World Series crown.
dfurones@ sunsentinel.com / @DavidFurones_ in for