LSU figures to get the maximal 10 points from super-frosh Mondo Duplantis in the vault. (BRYAN WAYNE)
AS APRIL DRAWS to a close, Dennis Shaver’s Bayou Bengals project as 2-point favorites for the NCAA men’s team title. Clinging right behind is the early-season choice, Florida. The two schools will have plenty of chances to control their own destiny, as they’re currently scheduled to go head-to-head in 7 events: both relays plus the 200, 110H, HJ, LJ & HT. Texas Tech projects as a very strong No. 3 choice at this point.
Florida’s big gun, of course, remains Grant Holloway, the 110H favorite who is also tabbed for 2nd in the long jump and will be a big factor in the placings of the favored 4×1 and second-rated 4×4. Wild and crazy thinking might have him jump into the 200 as well, but Florida sources say that would compromise his chances at the long jump title he seriously wants.
The 10-deep predictions for each event (’ = athlete not eligible for U.S. international teams):
TOP 10 TEAMS
Team
Points
Previous Chart
1. LSU
61
2
2. Florida
59
1
3. Texas Tech
51
3
4. Georgia
35
6
5. Stanford
33
8
6. Texas A&M
31
4
7. Houston
30
5
8. Florida State
28
7
9. Mississippi State
27
9
=10. Alabama
22
10
=10. USC
22
=37
(complete team scores below)
100 METERS
1. Andre Ewers
Florida State
Sr
2. Divine Oduduru’
Texas Tech
Jr
3. Mario Burke’
Houston
Sr
4. Cravon Gillespie
Oregon
Sr
5. Hakim Sani Brown’
Florida
So
6. Demek Kemp
South Carolina State
Sr
7. Micah Larkins
Northwestern Louisiana
Sr
8. Raheem Chambers’
Miami
Jr
9. McKinely West
Sn Mississippi
Sr
10. Rodney Rowe
North Carolina A&T
Sr
200 METERS
1. Divine Oduduru’
Texas Tech
Jr
2. Jaron Flournoy
LSU
Sr
3. Andre Ewers
Florida State
Sr
4. Hakim Sani Brown’
Florida
So
5. Nick Gray
Ohio State
Sr
6. Rodney Rowe
North Carolina A&T
Sr
7. Andrew Hudson
Texas Tech
Sr
8. Kasaun James
Florida State
Jr
9. Mustaqeem Williams
Tennessee
Sr
10. Cravon Gillespie
Oregon
Sr
400 METERS
1. Tyrell Richard
South Carolina State
Sr
2. Kahmari Montgomery
Houston
Sr
3. Trevor Stewart
North Carolina A&T
So
4. Wil London
Baylor
Sr
5. Dwight St. Hillaire’
Kentucky
So
6. Derrick Mokaleng’
TCU
Jr
7. Mar’yea Harris
Iowa
Sr
8. Obi Igbokwe
Houston
Sr
9. Jacory Patterson
Virginia Tech
Fr
10. Tyler Terry
LSU
Jr
800 METERS
1. Marco Arop’
Mississippi State
So
2. Bryce Hoppel
Kansas
Jr
3. Devin Dixon
Texas A&M
Jr
4. Isaiah Jewett
USC
Jr
5. Joseph White
Georgetown
Sr
6. Robert Heppenstall’
Wake Forest
Sr
7. Matt Matternach
Iowa
Jr
8. Cooper Williams
Indiana
Jr
9. Carlton Orange
Texas A&M
Jr
10. Daniel Nixon
Mississippi State
Jr
1500 METERS
1. Oliver Hoare’
Wisconsin
Jr
2. Carlos Villareal
Arizona
Jr
3. Yared Nuguse
Notre Dame
So
4. Sam Worley
Texas
So
5. William Paulson
Arizona State
Sr
6. Justine Kiprotich’
Michigan State
Sr
7. Geordie Beamish’
Northern Arizona
Jr
8. Cameron Griffith’
Arkansas
Sr
9. Waleed Suliman
Mississippi
So
10. George Kusche’
Nebraska
Fr
STEEPLE
1. Obsa Ali
Minnesota
Sr
2. Aidan Tooker
Syracuse
Jr
3. Steven Fahy
Stanford
Sr
4. Daniel Michalski
Indiana
Sr
5. Matt Owens
BYU
So
6. Clayson Shumway
BYU
Jr
7. Noah Affolder
Syracuse
So
8. Nathan Mylenek
Iowa
Jr
9. Riley Osen
Portland
So
10. Johannes Motschman’
Iona
Sr
5000 METERS
1. Grant Fisher
Stanford
Sr
2. Morgan McDonald’
Wisconsin
Sr
3. Amon Kemboi’
Campbell
Jr
4. Joe Klecker
Colorado
Jr
5. Cooper Teare
Oregon
So
6. Thomas Ratcliffe
Stanford
So
7. Edwin Kurgat’
Iowa State
Jr
8. Luis Grijalva’
Northern Arizona
So
9. Theo Quax’
Northern Arizona
Fr
10. Kyle Mau
Indiana
Jr
10,000 METERS
1. Tyler Day
Northern Arizona
Jr
2. Conner Mantz
BYU
So
3. Gilbert Kigen’
Alabama
Sr
4. Clayton Young
BYU
Sr
5. Gilbert Boit’
Arkansas
Jr
6. Vincent Kiprop’
Alabama
Sr
7. Aaron Templeton
Furman
Sr
8. Blaise Ferro
Northern Arizona
Jr
9. Iliass Aouani’
Syracuse
Jr
10. Connor McMillan
BYU
Sr
110 HURDLES
1. Grant Holloway
Florida
Jr
2. Daniel Roberts
Kentucky
Jr
3. Damion Thomas’
LSU
So
4. Trey Cunningham
Florida State
So
5. Isaiah Moore
South Carolina
Sr
6. Eric Edwards
Oregon
Fr
7. Amere Lattin
Houston
Sr
8. Cory Poole
Florida
So
9. John Burt
Texas
Sr
10. LaFranz Campbell’
Clemson
So
400 HURDLES
1. Quincy Hall
South Carolina
Jr
2. Taylor McLaughlin
Michigan
Sr
3. Norman Grimes
Texas Tech
So
4. Amere Lattin
Houston
Sr
5. Infinite Tucker
Texas A&M
Jr
6. Cameron Samuel
USC
So
7. Cory Poole
Florida
So
8. Ilolo Izu
Texas A&M
Sr
9. Robert Grant
Texas A&M
Sr
10. James Smith
Arizona
Fr
4 x 100
1. Florida
Florida
2. LSU
LSU
3. Houston
Houston
4. Texas Tech
Texas Tech
5. North Carolina A&T
North Carolina A&T
6. Florida State
Florida State
7. Ohio State
Ohio State
8. Sam Houston State
Sam Houston St
9. Oregon
Oregon
10. Arkansas
Arkansas
4 x 400
1. Texas A&M
Texas A&M
2. Florida
Florida
3. LSU
LSU
4. Baylor
Baylor
5. Iowa
Iowa
6. USC
USC
7. Houston
Houston
8. South Carolina
South Carolina
9. Western Kentucky
Western Kentucky
10. North Carolina A&T
North Carolina A&T
HIGH JUMP
1. Shelby McEwen
Alabama
Sr
2. Tejaswin Shankar’
Kansas State
So
3. Keenon Laine
Georgia
Sr
4. JuVaughn Harrison
LSU
So
5. Roberto Vilches’
Missouri
Fr
6. Earnie Sears
USC
So
7. Clayton Brown’
Florida
Jr
8. Darryl Sullivan
Tennessee
Jr
9. Darius Carbin
Georgia
Jr
10. Jhonny Victor
Florida
Sr
POLE VAULT
1. Mondo Duplantis’
LSU
Fr
2. Chris Nilsen
South Dakota
Jr
3. Matt Ludwig
Akron
Sr
4. Jacob Wooten
Texas A&M
Sr
5. KC Lightfoot
Baylor
Fr
6. Zach Bradford
Kansas
Fr
7. Sondre Guttormsen’
UCLA
Fr
8. Clayton Fritsch
Sam Houston St
So
9. Adam Coulon
Indiana
Jr
10. Deakin Volz
Virginia Tech
Sr
LONG JUMP
1. Rayvon Grey
LSU
Jr
2. Grant Holloway
Florida
Jr
3. JuVaughn Harrison
LSU
So
4. Jordan Latimer
Akron
Sr
5. Charles Brown
Texas Tech
Sr
6. Fabian Edoki’
Middle Tennessee
Jr
7. Odaine Lewis’
Texas Tech
Sr
8. Yann Randrianasolo’
South Carolina
Sr
9. Jacob Fincham-Dukes’
Oklahoma State
Sr
10. Steffin McCarter
Texas
Sr
TRIPLE JUMP
1. Jordan Scott’
Virginia
Jr
2. Odaine Lewis’
Texas Tech
Sr
3. Chengetayi Mapaya’
TCU
So
4. Tuomas Kaukolahti’
Cal
Jr
5. John Warren
Sn Mississippi
Sr
6. Armani Wallace
Florida State
Sr
7. Clayton Brown’
Florida
Jr
8. O’Brien Wasome’
Texas
Jr
9. Papay Glaywulu’
Oklahoma
So
10. Ade Mason
Oklahoma
Jr
SHOT
1. Payton Otterdahl
North Dakota State
Sr
2. Tripp Piperi
Texas
So
3. Jordan Geist
Arizona
So
4. Denzel Comenentia’
Georgia
Sr
5. Dotun Ogundeji
UCLA
Sr
6. Oghenakpobo Efekoro’
Virginia
Sr
7. Andrew Liskowitz
Michigan
Jr
8. Brett Neelly
Kansas State
Sr
9. Jonah Wilson
Washington
So
10. Matt Katnik
USC
Jr
DISCUS
1. Payton Otterdahl
North Dakota State
Sr
2. Greg Thompson’
Maryland
Sr
3. Eric Kicinski
Texas Tech
Sr
4. Roje Stona’
Clemson
Fr
5. Reno Tuufuli
Iowa
Sr
6. Kord Ferguson
Alabama
Sr
7. Dotun Ogundeji
UCLA
Sr
8. Elijah Mason
Washington
Fr
9. Kai Schmidt
Abilene Christian
Sr
10. George Evans’
Kansas
So
HAMMER
1. Denzel Comenentia’
Georgia
Sr
2. Daniel Haugh
Kennesaw State
Sr
3. Gleb Dudarev’
Kansas
Jr
4. Morgan Shigo
Penn State
Sr
5. Anders Eriksson’
Florida
Sr
6. Thomas Mardal’
Florida
So
7. Jake Norris’
LSU
So
8. Hilmar Jonsson’
Virginia
Sr
9. Brock Eager
Washington State
Sr
10. A.J. McFarland
Florida
Sr
JAVELIN
1. Anderson Peters’
Mississippi State
So
2. Ahmed Magour’
Georgia
Jr
3. Curtis Thompson
Mississippi State
Sr
4. Sindri Gudmundsson’
Utah State
Jr
5. Liam Christensen
Stanford
Fr
6. Chris Mirabelli
Rutgers
Sr
7. Aaron True
Wichita State
Sr
8. Sam Hardin
Texas A&M
Sr
9. Trevor Danielson
Texas
Sr
10. Werner Bouwer’
Texas Tech
Jr
DECATHLON
1. Harrison Williams
Stanford
Sr
2. Ayden Owens’
USC
Fr
3. Johannes Erm’
Georgia
So
4. TJ Lawson
Kent State
Jr
5. Nathan Hite
Texas A&M
Sr
6. Max Vollmer’
Oregon
Fr
7. Gabe Moore
Arkansas
Sr
8. Nick Guerrant
Mississippi State
Jr
9. Trent Nytes
Wisconsin
Sr
10. Jack Lint
Michigan
Sr
COMPLETE TEAM SCORES
1. LSU
61
2. Florida
59
3. Texas Tech
51
4. Georgia
35
5. Stanford
33
6. Texas A&M
31
7. Houston
30
8. Florida State
28
9. Mississippi State
27
=10. Alabama
22
=10. USC
22
=12. BYU
20
=12. North Dakota State
20
14. Wisconsin
18
15. Kansas
17
16. South Carolina
16
17. Oregon
15
=18. Arizona
14
=18. Baylor
14
=18. Northern Arizona
14
=18. Texas
14
=18. Virginia
14
=23. Iowa
13
=23. North Carolina A&T
13
=23. South Carolina State
13
26. Kentucky
12
27. Akron
11
=28. Michigan
10
=28. Minnesota
10
=28. Syracuse
10
=31. Kansas State
9
=31. TCU
9
=33. Kennesaw State
8
=33. Maryland
8
=33. South Dakota
8
=33. UCLA
8
37. Arkansas
7
=38. Campbell
6
=38. Indiana
6
=38. Notre Dame
6
=38. Ohio State
6
=42. Cal
5
=42. Clemson
5
=42. Colorado
5
=42. Kent State
5
=42. Penn State
5
=42. Utah State
5
=48. Arizona State
4
=48. Georgetown
4
=48. Missouri
4
=48. Sn Mississippi
4
=52. Michigan State
3
=52. Middle Tennessee
3
=52. Rutgers
3
=52. Wake Forest
3
=56. Furman
2
=56. Iowa State
2
=56. Northwestern Louisiana
2
=56. Sam Houston St
2
=56. Wichita State
2
=61. Miami
1
=61. Tennessee
1
=61. Washington
1