2019 NCAA Men’s Formchart #5 — Texas Tech Takes Over
May 28, 2019by John Auka
The sprint talents of Divine Oduduru are crucial to the Red Raider team hopes. (ERROL ANDERSON/THE SPORTING IMAGE)
IN OUR FIRST chart of the year, Florida was an 8-point favorite over SEC rival LSU for the team title. Chart 2 had it LSU over Florida by just 2, then Chart 3 was LSU by 11 over Texas Tech, Chart 4 was LSU by 10 over Tech and now No. 5—the post-Regionals crystal-balling—finds Tech on top by 10 over LSU. Wes Kittley’s Red Raiders had a good weekend, with LSU (losing the No. 2-rated 4×4) not so much. Florida remains at No. 3, not completely out of it.
Sprinter Divine Oduduru, projected for 2 in the 100, 1 in the 200 and on the 4-rated 4×1, is obviously the key to Texas Tech’s hopes, but he’s got a good supporting cast. Other Red Raiders projected to score: Andrew Hudson (2 in the 200), Jonah Koech (7 in the 800), Norman Grimes (3 in the 400H), Odaine Lewis (3 in the LJ, 3 in the TJ), Charles Brown (5 in the LJ), Duke Kicinski (4 in the DT) & Axel Hubert (7 in the dec).
All in all, the formchart held up pretty well at the Regionals. Here’s the list of people who were in the Top 10 in Chart 4 but won’t be advancing to Nationals (in that event, at least):
100—3. Andre Ewers (Florida State), 5. Raymond Ekevwo (Florida); 200—10. Keitavious Walter (Alabama); 400—4. Tyrell Richard (South Carolina State); 800—1. Marco Arop (Mississippi State), 5. Joseph White (Georgetown), 10. Dominic Perretta (Penn State); 1500—10. Theo Quax (Northern Arizona); Steeple—9. Riley Osen (Portland); 5000—8. Gilbert Boit (Arkansas), 10. Cole Rockhold (Colorado State); 10,000—10. Blaise Ferro (Northern Arizona); 110H—5. Trey Cunningham (Florida State), 9. John Burt (Texas), 10. Omotade Ojora (USC); 400H—9. Ilolo Izu (Texas A&M); 4×1—3. Houston, 10. Ohio State; 4×4—2. LSU, 10. Rutgers; HJ—7. Darryl Sullivan (Tennessee); PV—none; LJ—3. Ja’Mari Ward (Missouri), 10. Fabian Edoki (Middle Tennessee); TJ—none; SP—7. Jalil Brewer (Purdue), 8. Brett Neelly (Kansas State); DT—9. George Evans (Kansas); HT—7. Jake Norris (LSU), 10. Adam Kelly (Princeton); JT—8. Liam Christensen (Stanford); Dec—8. Nick Guerrant (Michigan State)
There is only a single new predicted event winner since chart #4: Bryce Hoppell (Kansas) in the 800.
The 10-deep predictions for each event (’ = athlete not eligible for U.S. international teams):
TOP 10 TEAMS
Team
Points
Previous Chart
1. Texas Tech
62
2
2. LSU
52
1
3. Florida
45
3
4. Texas A&M
34
5
5. Oregon
31
4
=6. Houston
30
8
=6. Stanford
30
6
8. Texas
29
13
=9. Georgia
27
10
=9. USC
27
11
(complete team scores after individual by-event top 10s)
