The NCAA News - News and Features

March 23, 1998

Arkansas men retain hold on I indoor track

Two years ago, when Arkansas' 12-year title reign came to an end, some within the Division I men's indoor track community probably thought that they had witnessed the end of the Razorbacks' dominance.

Wrong.

While the Razorbacks may not approach the string of titles they earned from 1984 through 1995, they are still dominant.

Getting an expected first-place showing from Robert Howard in the triple jump and an unexpected high-jump title from Kenny Evans, Arkansas breezed to its second consecutive championship March 13-14 at Indianapolis.

The Razorbacks compiled 56 points to win their 14th crown in 15 years. Stanford earned runner-up honors, amassing 361/2 points, the Cardinal's best showing ever.

Clemson and Washington State finished in a dead-heat for third with 26 points, while Southern Methodist rounded out the top five with 23.

Howard, called "Mr. Clutch" by Razorbacks coach John McDonnell, lived up to the nickname in the triple jump. Slowed by a right Achilles' injury that played a role in a fourth-place long-jump finish, Howard soared 16.49 meters (54 feet, 11/4 inches) on his last collegiate indoor attempt to win his third consecutive triple-jump crown.

In winning, Howard joined former Razorbacks Mike Conley (1983-85) and Erick Walder (1992-94) as the only competitors to win the event three consecutive times.

"Can you believe it?" asked McDonnell. "That's got to be one of the best performances at a national meet that we've ever had. He couldn't put any weight on his heel, then there he was. He said he didn't come here to lose, and by God he was right.

"That's the reason that our team is so good. It's people like Robert Howard. He went beyond the call of duty."

If opponents were taking solace in knowing they wouldn't see Howard again, that feeling vanished when Evans, a freshman, grabbed the high-jump title.

Ranked 13th entering the championship, Evans outleaped the field to give the Razorbacks their first high-jump title indoors and only second ever.

"Any time you have something happen like we did with the injury to Robert Howard, you always need someone to step up and provide the impetus," said McDonnell. "This year, it was Kenny Evans. I was excited about his performance. He was a spark plug for us."

While Howard and Evans were sparking the Razorbacks to victory, Sean Kaley, Matt Kerr and Seneca Lassiter were doing yeoman's work in contributing valuable points.

Kaley contributed eight points with a second-place showing in the 5,000-meter run, while Kerr and Lassiter added six points each with third-place finishes in the 3,000-meter and mile runs, respectively.

Arkansas' successful title defense proved contagious as three individuals -- David Krummenacker of Georgia Tech in the 800-meter run, Kevin Sullivan of Michigan in the mile run and Adam Goucher of Colorado in the 3,000-meter run -- repeated as champions.

Goucher's performance was record-breaking as he shaved nearly five seconds off the previous standard with a time of 7:46.03.

Division I men's indoor track

TEAM RESULTS

1. Arkansas, 56; 2. Stanford, 361Ž2; 3. (tie) Clemson and Washington St., 26; 5. Southern Methodist, 23; 6. Michigan, 20; 7. (tie) Baylor, Florida, Georgia Tech and South Caro., 18.

11. Iowa, 17; 12. UCLA, 161Ž2; 13. Washington, 16; 14. (tie) Minnesota, Nebraska and North Caro., 15; 17. Illinois, 14; 18. Arizona, 13; 19. (tie) Colorado, LSU, Miami (Fla.) and Texas A&M, 10.

23. Wisconsin, 9; 24. (tie) Colorado St., Dartmouth, George Mason, Idaho, Kansas, Missouri and Texas, 8.

31. (tie) Eastern Mich., Northwestern St. and Texas Christian, 7; 34. (tie) Auburn, Brown, Houston, Indiana St., Oregon and Texas-Arlington, 6; 40. (tie) Brigham Young, Cal St. Northridge, Kent, Purdue and Villanova, 5.

45. (tie) Boston U., Central Mich., Long Beach St., Mt. St. Mary's (Md.), Oklahoma, Penn St. and UTEP, 4.

52. (tie) Coppin St., Fresno St., Georgetown, Iowa St. and Rice, 3; 57. (tie) Manhattan, Texas Tech and William & Mary, 2; 60. (tie) James Madison, Kentucky, Michigan St., Notre Dame, Portland and Wyoming, 1.

INDIVIDUAL RESULTS

55-meter dash: 1. Ja Warren Hooker, Washington, 6.13; 2. Corey Bridges, South Caro., 6.21; 3. Ronnie Powell, Northwestern St., 6.22; 4. Felix Andam, Brigham Young, 6.24; 5. Ronald Promesse, UTEP, 6.27; 6. Ephion Jackson, Fresno St., 6.27; 7. Jarmiene Holloway, Texas Christian, 6.30; Wayne Johnson, UTEP, did not finish.

200-meter dash: 1. Shawn Crawford, Clemson, 20.69; 2. Milton Campbell, North Caro., 20.79; 3. Elston Cawley, Texas-Arlington, 20.85; 4. Joe Criner, Cal St. Northridge, 20.95; 5. Bobby Cruse, Kent, 20.98; 6. Daymon Carroll, Florida, 21.04; 7. Damian Allen, UCLA, 21.06; 8. Ja Warren Hooker, Washington, 21.14.

400-meter dash: 1. Davian Clarke, Miami (Fla.), 45.86; 2. Brandon Couts, Baylor, 45.90; 3. Angelo Taylor, Georgia Tech, 46.12; 4. Milton Campbell, North Caro., 46.38; 5. Clement Chukwu, Eastern Mich., 46.55; 6. Fabian Rollins, Eastern Mich., 46.86; 7. Rohan McDonald, Texas Tech, 46.94; 8. Matt Rodgers, Wisconsin, 47.34.

800-meter run: 1. David Krummenacker, Georgia Tech, 1:47.52; 2. Derrick Peterson, Missouri, 1:48.71; 3. Robert True, Illinois, 1:49.16; 4. Khadevis Robinson, Texas Christian, 1:49.74; 5. Roman Oravec, Southern Methodist, 1:49.84; 6. Ian Roberts, Coppin St., 1:50.78; 7. Trinity Gray, Brown, 1:51.36; 8. Kevin Murphy, Boston U., 1:51.53.

Mile run: 1. Kevin Sullivan, Michigan, 4:03.54; 2. Bryan Berryhill, Colorado St., 4:03.56; 3. Seneca Lassiter, Arkansas, 4:03.60; 4. Jonathon Riley, Stanford, 4:05.03; 5. Daniel Kinyua, Mt. St. Mary's (Md.), 4:05.28; 6. Clyde Colenso, Southern Methodist, 4:05.79; 7. Phil Price, Arkansas, 4:06.61; 8. Todd Davis, Portland, 4:07.40.

3,000-meter run: 1. Adam Goucher, Colorado, 7:46.03 (meet record; old record, 7:50.90, Josephat Kapkory, Washington St., 1994); 2. Bernard Lagat, Washington St., 7:46.45; 3. Matt Kerr, Arkansas, 7:53.89; 4. Gabe Jennings, Stanford, 7:59.46; 5. Steve Fein, Wisconsin, 7:59.70; 6. Matthew Smith, Boston U., 7:59.89; 7. Matthew Lane, William & Mary, 8:00.40; 8. Michael Power, Arkansas, 8:01.69.

5,000-meter run: 1. Brad Hauser, Stanford, 13:58.50; 2. Sean Kaley, Arkansas, 13:58.87; 3. Mebrahtom Keflezighi, UCLA, 14:00.00; 4. Brent Hauser, Stanford, 14:00.62; 5. John Mortimer, Michigan, 14:02.25; 6. Saul Lempirikany, Iowa St., 14:06.28; 7. Abdi Abdirahman, Arizona, 14:06.38; 8. Jim Jurcevich, Michigan St., 14:12.44.

55-meter high hurdles: 1. Larry Wade, Texas A&M, 7.11; 2. Jeremichael Williams, Clemson, 7.18; 3. Aubrey Herring, Indiana St., 7.19; 4. Kareem Archer, Villanova, 7.28; 5. Dion Trowers, Iowa, 7.31; 6. Arend Watkins, Washington St., 7.33; 7. Greg Hines, Clemson, 7.34; 8. Errol Williams, Notre Dame, 7.38.

1,600-meter relay: 1. Baylor (Mario Watts, Damian Davis, Stephan Bragner, Brandon Couts), 3:06.38; 2. Illinois, 3:08.75; 3. Clemson, 3:09.00; 4. Florida, 3:09.07; 5. Oklahoma, 3:09.69; 6. Iowa, 3:10.01; 7. Georgia Tech, 3:10.35; 8. Washington, 3:10.60.

Distance medley relay: 1. Washington St. (Eric Kamau, Guillermo Macias, Rasto Kiplanget, Bernard Lagat), 9:29.54 (meet record; old record, 9:30.07, Arkansas [Niall Bruton, Calvin Davis, Brian Baker, Graham Hood], 1994); 2. Arkansas, 9:30.45; 3. Michigan, 9:36.84; 4. Stanford, 9:38.19; 5. Brown, 9:39.44; 6. Georgetown, 9:40.03; 7. UCLA, 9:42.23; 8. James Madison, 9:43.54.

High jump: 1. Kenny Evans, Arkansas, 2.29 (7-6); 2. Mark Boswell, Texas, 2.26 (7-5); 3. Shane Lavy, Nebraska, 2.26 (7-5); 4. Staffan Strand, Minnesota, 2.23 (7-3 3Ž4); 5. Jeremy Fischer, Wisconsin, 2.20 (7-21Ž2); 6. Mustapha Raifak, Southern Methodist, 2.20 (7-21Ž2); 7. Eric Bishop, North Caro., 2.20 (7-21Ž2); 8. Mike Caza, Kent, 2.20 (7-21Ž2).

Pole vault: 1. Vesa Rantanen, Minnesota, 5.55 (18-21Ž2); 2. Dominic Johnson, Arizona, 5.55 (18-21Ž2); 3. Piotr Buciarski, Oregon, 5.55 (18-21Ž2); 4. Randy Miller, Purdue, 5.55 (18-21Ž2); 5. Jason Hinkin, Long Beach St., 5.45 (17-101Ž2); 6. Russ Buller, LSU, 5.45 (17-101Ž2); 7. Toby Stevenson, Stanford, 5.45 (17-101Ž2); 7. Scott Slover, UCLA, 5.45 (17-101Ž2).

Long jump: 1. Bashir Yamini, Iowa, 7.93 (26-01Ž4); 2. Maurice Wignall, George Mason, 7.77 (25-6); 3. Dominick Millner, Florida, 7.76 (25-51Ž2); 4. Robert Howard, Arkansas, 7.64 (25-03Ž4); 5. Stephen Pina, Florida, 7.59 (24-11); 6. Chris Wright, Nebraska, 7.53 (24-81Ž2); 7. John Gorham, Penn St., 7.52 (24-81Ž4); 8. Andrew Channer, Kentucky, 7.50 (24-71Ž4).

Triple jump: 1. Robert Howard, Arkansas, 16.49 (54-11Ž4); 2. Chris Kwaramba, Idaho, 16.30 (53-53Ž4); 3. Andre Scott, Auburn, 15.97 (52-43Ž4); 4. Levar Anderson, LSU, 15.95 (52-4); 5. Samuel Okantey, Central Mich., 15.80 (51-10); 6. Drexell Owusu, Rice, 15.79 (51-93Ž4); 7. Christian Haar, Manhattan, 15.77 (51-9); 8. Kenta Bell, Northwestern St., 15.70 (51-61Ž4).

Shot put: 1. Brad Snyder, South Caro., 20.22 (66-41Ž4); 2. Adam Nelson, Dartmouth, 19.86 (65-2); 3. John Davis, Houston, 19.68 (64-7); 4. Ian Waltz, Washington St., 19.34 (63-51Ž2); 5. Ben Lindsey, Washington, 19.04 (62-53Ž4); 6. Chima Ugwu, Arizona, 18.86 (61-101Ž2); 7. Gunnar Pfingsten, LSU, 18.79 (61-73Ž4); 8. Travis Haynes, UCLA, 18.45 (60-61Ž2).

35-pound weight throw: 1. Libor Charfreitag, Southern Methodist, 21.23 (69-8); 2. Scott Russell, Kansas, 20.58 (67-61Ž4); 3. Scott Warren, Nebraska, 20.53 (67-41Ž4); 4. Adam Connolly, Stanford, 20.30 (66-71Ž4); 5. Luke Sullivan, UCLA, 20.01 (65-73Ž4); 6. Xavier Tison, Southern Methodist, 20.00 (65-71Ž2); 7. Neal McNutt, Penn St., 19.67 (64-61Ž2); 8. Kevin Mannon, Wyoming, 19.65 (64-53Ž4).