LSU has long been a familiar face at the top end of NCAA men’s team scoring, but not since ’02 had the Tigers won. All season long the T&FN Formcharts had predicted a big win for Dennis Shaver’s crew and they didn’t disappoint, landsliding host Oregon 84–53. Their 31-point margin was the biggest since Arkansas wiped out UTEP by 38 in ’94.
“It means a lot because there have been so many times we’ve been 2nd at this meet,” said Shaver. “To be able to win it is pretty exciting. We came out here and dominated the meet in a lot of ways and that made it special for us.”
Overall, LSU won 6 titles: 100 (Terrance Laird), 400H (Sean Burrell), 4×1, high jump (JuVaughn Harrison), long jump (Harrison) and Tzuriel Pedigo (javelin). Only the Jesse Owens-powered Ohio State squad of ’36, with 7, tallied more.
Century winner Laird, who also took 2nd in the 200 and ran on the 4×1 for a meet-high 20½ points, said, “We had a razor sharp focus coming into this meet. We got the ball rolling today with the 4 x 100-meter relay. The whole day was the LSU show.” /Roy Conrad/
NCAA MEN’S TEAM SCORES
(8 places scored 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1)
1. LSU 84;
2. Oregon 53;
3. North Carolina A&T 35;
4. Florida 34½;
5. USC 33;
6. tie, Texas & Texas A&M 29;
8. Georgia 25;
9. Arizona State 24;
10. Florida State 23½;
11. Tennessee 21;
12. Iowa 19;
13. tie, Alabama & Stephen F. Austin 18;
15. tie, Kentucky & Mississippi State 17;
17. BYU 16;
18. tie, Auburn & Houston 15;
20. tie, Clemson, Minnesota & Northern Arizona 14;
23. Kansas 13½; 24. tie, Georgetown, Michigan & Tulsa 13; 27. Oklahoma 12½; 28. tie, Arkansas & Virginia 12;
30. tie, Arizona, Middle Tennessee State & Mississippi 10; 33. Iowa State 9; 34. tie, Kansas State & Notre Dame 8; 36. TCU 7; 37. tie, Campbell, Nebraska, Oklahoma State, South Dakota & Virginia Tech 6;
42. tie, Miami/Ohio, Sam Houston, South Carolina, Stanford 5; 46. tie, Colorado State, Montana State, North Dakota State & Washington 4; 50. tie, Hofstra, Idaho, Lipscomb, Long Beach State, Southeastern Louisiana, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi & UCLA 3; 57. tie, North Carolina, Northern Iowa, Ohio State & Wyoming 2; 61. UTEP 1½; 62. tie, Charlotte, Michigan State & Washington State 1; 65. Buffalo ½;
Competed, but didn’t score:
Arkansas State, Army, Baylor, Butler, Cal, Central Arkansas, Cincinnati, Coastal Carolina, Colorado, Coppin State, Drake, East Carolina, Eastern Illinois, Eastern Kentucky, Eastern Michigan, Florida A&M, Furman, Gonzaga, Grand Canyon, Houston Baptist, Illinois, Indiana, Iona, Kennesaw State, La Salle, Lamar, Liberty, Louisiana–Lafayette, Louisville, Marquette, Maryland, McNeese State, Miami, Missouri, Mount St. Mary’s, NC State, New Orleans, Norfolk State, North Texas, Northeastern, Penn State, Pitt, Portland, Providence, Purdue, Rice, Rutgers, Samford, Santa Clara, South Alabama, South Dakota State, South Florida, Southern Illinois, Southern Mississippi, Syracuse, Tennessee State, Texas Southern, Texas State, Texas Tech, UC Irvine, UConn, UCSB, UMass Lowell, UT Arlington, Villanova, Wake Forest, Wichita State, Wisconsin, Youngstown State.