USC sprinter Dajaz DeFrand, who won two event titles in her first Big Ten Conference Meet, was named the Big Ten Women’s Indoor Track Athlete of the Year today (March 19).
The Trojan junior transfer DeFrand won both the 60m and 200m dash titles at the Big Ten Indoor Championships on Feb. 28-March 1. She won the Big Ten 60m title with a meet-record time of 7.10 and then the 200m dash title with a PR of 22.62. She was named Women’s Athlete of the Big Ten Meet.
DeFrand went on to win the 2025 NCAA Indoor Championships 60m dash title with a personal-best time of 7.09. Her time moved her into a second-place tie on USC’s all-time list with Angela Williams and TeeTee Terry, the only other USC women to win the NCAA 60m dash title (Williams -2002, Terry – 2019). DeFrand also placed fourth in the 200m dash final with a time of 22.70, earning first-team All-America honors in both events.
DeFrand has outdoor PRs of 10.94 in the 100m and 22.34 in the 200m. She was a 2023 All-American in the 100m and a 2024 All-American in the 200m.
The native of Aurora, Colo. competed her first two seasons at Florida State.