AFTER THE MEET Texas Tech head West Kittley analyzed his team’s top-of-the-podium success by saying, “Once you fail once or twice, you kind of learn from it, and I think we really learned how to handle the moment better on the first day. Learning how to run on Wednesday—because Wednesday’s really the most important day—you have to make the finals, and we filled up lanes on that Wednesday. That’s something in the past that we have not done, and I really emphasized with our coaching staff and our kids that we have to be ready to go on Wednesday.”
Our formchart coming in had the Red Raiders as a 10-point favorite over LSU, 62–52, with Florida another 7 back at 45 and Houston tied for 6th at 30. The chart required some significant emendation before Friday’s finals kicked off, as Tech took some minor hits, Florida had some minor gains and Houston really surged. When the day began the chart said Texas Tech 56, Houston 55, Florida 40; when it ended it was Tech 60, Florida 50, Houston 40. Credit Divine Oduduru for most of the Tech gain. Projected as 3rd in the 100, he won, and as expected also won the 200 and played an important role on the 3rd-place 4×1. Houston’s big hit came in the 100/200 where it picked up only 8 points instead of our projected 18.
“I’m so proud for Texas Tech,” concluded Kittley after marking his 20th season as boss of the Red Raiders. “That is just everything to me. They’d never won a national championship on the men’s side, and to be able to bring that back to Lubbock, Texas, the greatest place on Earth I think, it’s just great and special for me.”
NCAA MEN’S TEAM RESULTS
(8 places scored 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1)
1. Texas Tech 60;
2. Florida 50;
3. Houston 40;
4. Georgia 32½;
5. Stanford 32;
6. Texas A&M 29;
7. LSU 28;
8. BYU 27;
9. Texas 26;
10. Alabama 25;
11. Mississippi State 24;
=12. Oregon 23;
=12. South Carolina 23;
14. Kansas 21;
=15. Arkansas 19;
=15. North Carolina A&T 19;
17. Florida State 18;
=18. Oklahoma State 16;
=18. UCLA 16;
=18. Virginia 16;
=18. Wisconsin 16;
=22. Arizona 14;
=22. Baylor 14;
=24. North Dakota State 13;
=24. Southern Mississippi 13;
=26. Kansas State 12;
=26. Michigan 12;
=28. Iowa State 10;
=28. Kennesaw State 10;
=28. Notre Dame 10;
=28. South Dakota 10;
=28. TCU 10;
33. Indiana 9;
=34. Kentucky 8;
=34. Michigan State 8;
36. Purdue 7;
=37. Middle Tennessee State 6;
=37. Sam Houston State 6;
=37. USC 6;
=40. Iowa 5;
=40. Liberty 5;
=40. Minnesota 5;
=40. St. Francis 5;
=40. Utah State 5;
45. Southern Utah 4½;
=46. Arizona State 4;
=46. Arkansas State 4;
=46. Coppin State 4;
=46. Wichita State 4;
=50. Air Force 3;
=50. Alabama State 3;
=50. Harvard 3;
=50. Northern Arizona 3;
=50. Washington 3;
=55. Houston Baptist 2;
=55. Illinois 2;
=55. Illinois State 2;
=55. Long Beach State 2;
=55. Louisville 2;
=55. Penn State 2;
=61. Akron 1;
=61. Cal 1;
=61. Tennessee 1;
=61. Villanova 1.
