June 25, 2005

Columbia, S.C. - USC track and field's freshman All-American Shalonda Solomon was named to the 2005 SEC Good Works Team, announced last week by the SEC.

The conference sponsors Good Works Teams for all 20 league sponsored sports. The Good Works Team looks to highlight an athlete from each school who gives back to his or her community in superior service efforts.

Solomon, a freshman from Inglewood, Calif., was a volunteer for the Junior League of Columbia/Athletics Department Book Drive and has been a member of the Lunch Buddies Program. She also served this year as a monthly mentor for a group of elementary school girls and was also a Dance Marathon "5K for Kids" volunteer.

"This is very typical for Shalonda Solomon. She is a giving and caring person," said USC Head Coach Curtis Frye. "She wants to be a nurse and she's a solid Christian young lady that possesses all the characteristics of such. She cares about her teammates and she cares about humanity. We're proud that such a great student-athlete has chosen to come to the University of South Carolina."

Aside from being an exceptional student-athlete in the community, Solomon earned four All-American honors this year, two indoors and two outdoors. She ran on the 2005 NCAA Indoor 4x400m relay that won the national title. She also ran on two winning relays at the 2005 Penn Relays, she was the 2005 SEC Outdoor 200m Champion and she finished runner-up in the 200m dash at NCAA Outdoors. Solomon is currently competing in Carson, Calif. at the USATF Senior Outdoor Championship, hoping to earn a spot on the USA National Team.

"Along with being a caring student, she is an incredible athlete," Frye added. "Earning this recognition as a freshman shows that she will continue to maintain all the values her family instilled in her as exemplified through high school and now college."