University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics
Lexus Gauntlet Trophy Could Be Decided This Weekend
April 29, 2009
The recipient of the 2008-09 Lexus Gauntlet Trophy, which is given annually to the winner of the all-sports competition between UCLA and USC, could be decided this weekend.
Points are awarded to the winner of each Bruin-Trojan contest throughout the year and the Lexus Gauntlet Trophy is presented to the school with the most points at year's end. A minimum of 57.5 points is required to win the trophy outright.
UCLA currently trails this year's race by five points, 50-45. There are three regular-season head-to-head competitions remaining and all are this Saturday (May 2): women's rowing, men's track and field and women's track and field. The winner of each gets five points and the loser gets none.
Here are the three scenarios:
--USC needs to win at least two of those three events to guarantee that it retains possession of the Lexus Gauntlet Trophy after winning it last year. That would give USC at least 60 points in the Lexus Gauntlet Trophy race and there would be no chance for USC to surrender enough points in any potential post-season head-to-head meetings to allow UCLA to tie or go ahead.
--If UCLA wins two of those events on Saturday, the Lexus Gauntlet Trophy competition will be tied at 55-55. Unless USC recaptures points in any potential post-season head-to-head meetings, UCLA would hold the first tiebreaker over USC (most head-to-head regular season wins), 13-12, and the Bruins would reclaim the Lexus Gauntlet Trophy.
The possibility exists for both teams to recapture at least 2.5 points. If the two schools meet in the NCAA women's tennis championships, the winning team would take 2.5 points from the losing team. If USC defeated UCLA in NCAA baseball, the Trojans would take 2.5 points from the Bruins. If UCLA recaptures tennis points, it wins the Lexus Gauntlet Trophy. If USC recaptures any points in tennis or baseball, the Trojans would retain the Lexus Gauntlet Trophy.
In the regular season, the teams split a pair of matches in women's tennis (so each claimed 2.5 points), while UCLA beat USC twice in three tries in baseball to win all 5 points. (The only other chances for a Trojan-Bruin meeting in the NCAA post-season would be in men's tennis, but that outcome would not affect the point scoring because UCLA won both regular season matches, and in women's water polo, but that outcome also would not affect the scoring because USC won both regular season contests.)
--A UCLA sweep of Saturday's three contests would give the Lexus Gauntlet Trophy to UCLA, regardless of whether the Bruins surrendered any post-season points to USC.
If the scoring ends in a 55-55 tie, it would be the third time the Lexus Gauntlet Trophy scoring ended up tied. USC won the inaugural competition in 2001-02 by going to the first tiebreaker, and UCLA won the next year's competition by going to the second tiebreaker (most head-to-head post-season wins).
If USC were to win this year's Lexus Gauntlet Trophy, it would mark the first time since the trophy was first awarded in 2001-02 that a school won it two consecutive years.
So far, the winner has alternated every year. After USC captured the inaugural trophy in 2001-02 and UCLA won it in 2002-03, USC then recaptured it in 2003-04, UCLA won it back in 2004-05, USC claimed it in 2005-06, UCLA won it in 2006-07 and then USC claimed it last year.