Track and Field : Conley Leads Arkansas to NCAA Title

Mike Conley won both the long jump and triple jump for the third straight year Saturday to lead Arkansas to its second straight team title in the NCAA Indoor track and field championships at Syracuse, N.Y.

Esmerelda Garcia set a world best of 44 feet 4 inches in the women’s triple jump to lead Florida State to the women’s team championship.

Two other indoors bests were established at Syracuse University’s Carrier Dome. Willie Caldwell of Baylor clocked 1:01.24 in the 500 meters and Villanova’s 3,200-meter women’s relay team ran 8:33.60.

Conley, Olympic silver medalist in the triple jump, won the long jump at 25-10 and came back to take the triple jump at 55-11 3/4. His 20 points helped Arkansas to a team total of 70 points.

Tennessee placed a distant second with 29 points, Baylor was third with 25 and Southern Methodist came in fourth with 23.

Florida State took the women’s title with 34 points, with Texas finishing with 32. LSU was third with 28 while defending champion Nebraska, which was hurt by the loss of Angela Thacker due to a knee injury, was fourth with 26.

Paul Donovan was Arkansas’ other individual champion, taking the 1,500 meters in 3:43.48 to break the meet record he set during Friday’s trials. The Razorbacks also took 1-2 in the long jump as Joey Wells finished behind Conley at 25-3.

A pair of Olympic medalists also accounted for meet records. Tennessee’s Sam Graddy, winner of a gold and silver in Los Angeles, clocked 6.12 in the 55-meter dash and Earl Jones of Eastern Michigan overwhelmed the 800-meter field in 1:47.26, also a collegiate record.

Joe Dial of Oklahoma State repeated as pole vault champion and established a meet record of 18-6. USC’s Doug Wicks was second at 17-8.

Records were set in both men’s relays, as Wisconsin clocked 9:39.40 in the distance medley and SMU broke the tape in the 1,600 in 3:08.50.

Kevin King of Georgetown broke his day-old NCAA mark in the 3,000 with a time of 7:51.46. Michael Franks held off defending champion Antonio McKay in the 400, finishing in the meet record time of 46.27.

Soren Tallhem of BYU tied the meet record in the shotput with a heave of 69-8 1/2.

Olympic gold medalist Lillie Leatherwood accounted for one of the women’s meet records with a time of 53.12 in the 400. Defending champion Mary Moore of Washington State set a new mark in the high jump at 6-3.

Other meet records were set by Christine McMiken of Oklahoma State in the 3,000 in 8:58.68, Tina Krebs of Clemson in the 1,500 in 4:17.85, Cynthia Green of Grambling in the 500 in 1:10.46 and Christine Slythe of LSU in the 1,000 in 2:42.23.

Regina Cavanaugh of Rice won her second consecutive championship in the shotput with a throw of 54-1 3/4. American record holder Carol Lewis of Houston won the long jump at 21-9 1/2.