March 18, 2008

LOS ANGELES - A month ago, USC was cruising toward winning its fourth Lexus Gauntlet trophy in seven years. At one point, the Trojans had a 33-point advantage over UCLA in pursuit of reclaiming the 150-pound, pewter-gilded trophy presented by the Southern California Lexus Dealers. That was then. Defending Lexus Gauntlet champion UCLA has since won seven straight events in the year-round, all-sports challenge to storm back into contention for the rivalry trophy.

Make no mistake; USC still owns the inside track on claiming city-wide bragging rights in the battle for college sports supremacy in Los Angeles. Needing 57.5 points to clinch the Lexus Gauntlet, the Trojans lead 45-32.5. A total of 32.5 Gauntlet points remain up for grabs in the cross-town competition with upcoming contests scheduled in baseball, men's and women's tennis, men's and women's golf, men's and women's track and field and women's rowing.

Last week, UCLA captured 10 Lexus Gauntlet points with pivotal wins in women's tennis, women's water polo and men's basketball. On Thursday (Mar. 13), the No. 10 Bruins defeated the eighth-ranked Trojans 6-1 in a women's tennis match at Marks Stadium. With the win, UCLA claimed the first 2.5-of-5 available points in the sport. The rivals will go at it again on April 19 at the Los Angeles Tennis Center.

UCLA continued its comeback momentum on Friday (Mar. 14) with an 8-7 victory at USC in women's water polo. The top-ranked Bruins recorded their second win over the No. 3 Women of Troy on the season ensuring UCLA the five Lexus Gauntlet points in women's water polo. The two teams could still meet again in postseason play but USC would now need two wins against UCLA to win back points.

On Friday night, USC and UCLA met for third time this season with the Bruins edging the Trojans 57-54 in the semifinal round of the Pac-10 Men's Basketball Tournament at the Staples Center. The victory gave UCLA all 10 Lexus Gauntlet points awarded in the sport. Since the Bruins won two of three meetings this year, they won back five Gauntlet points previously claimed by the Trojans.

After a short hiatus, the Lexus Gauntlet chase will resume April 4-6 with a three-game baseball series at UCLA's Jackie Robinson Stadium. In six years of the competition, UCLA and USC have alternated winning the Lexus Gauntlet trophy. The Bruins captured the rivalry's crown jewel in 2003, again in 2005 and in 2007. The Trojans won the challenge in 2002, 2004 and 2006. The 150-pound, pewter-gilded Lexus Gauntlet is on display at the UCLA Hall of Fame.

The Southern California Lexus Dealers are proud to be the leading sponsors of both UCLA and USC athletic departments as well as the exclusive title sponsor of every USC-UCLA athletic competition. For more than 80 years, these champion rivals have competed for the ultimate city-wide title of number one. Now, based on the practice of knights who challenged each other to duel by throwing their armored gauntlets to the ground, Lexus has issued the absolute challenge: the Lexus Gauntlet competition.