Nation's Top Long Jumper Lanae-Tava Thomas Signs To USC


Lanae-Tava Thomas discusses her performance at June's New York state meet with MileSplit.

Lanae-Tava Thomas is the top returning long jumper in the country, a two-time Junior Olympic champion, a national age-group record-holder, and an 11.57 100m dash runner. Now she's also a future USC Trojan.

The Rush-Henrietta senior inked her National Letter of Intent with USC during a ceremony at her school on Tuesday afternoon. She's ranked No. 8 on MileSplit's recruiting big board.

Thomas owns eight New York state titles and joins California hurdler Breanna Bernard-Joseph in the Trojans' class of 2018. Expect her to make an immediate impact for USC, which last won a Pac-12 outdoor title in 1996.