For the ninth time in the competition’s 13 years, USC has captured the Crosstown Gauntlet Trophy, the head-to-head, all-sports competition with crosstown rival UCLA.

USC scored 60 points in the 2013-14 competition to UCLA’s 55. It was the tightest race since the Trojans won it in 2003-04 by five points. It also helped Troy reclaim the trophy from the Bruins, who won it in 2012-13 to snap USC’s unprecedented five-year winning streak.

Points are awarded to the winner of each Trojan-Bruin contest throughout the year and the Crosstown Gauntlet Trophy is presented to the school with the most points at year’s end. A minimum of 60 points is required to win the trophy outright.

USC’s 2014 spring sports teams made a charge to help the Trojans overcome the Bruins. As of Feb. 10, UCLA led the competition by a score of 40-20, and as of March 10, UCLA held a 47.5-30 lead. Since March 10, USC scored 30 points to UCLA’s 7.5, aided by key springtime victories by Trojan baseball, women’s track, men’s and women’s golf, women’s sand volleyball, women’s rowing and men’s volleyball. USC also got key points earlier in the year from women’s volleyball, women’s basketball and women’s swimming.

The winner of the Crosstown Gauntlet Trophy had alternated for the first six years of competition. After USC captured the inaugural trophy in 2001-02, UCLA won it in 2002-03, USC recaptured it in 2003-04, UCLA won it back in 2004-05, USC claimed it in 2005-06 and then UCLA won it in 2006-07. USC then went on a five-year winning run from 2007-08 to 2011-12 before UCLA won it in 2012-13.

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