Track and Field : 2 NCAA Titles, and Counting, for UCLA Team

It would be premature to say that UCLA is building a dynasty in men’s track and field, but for the present, the Bruins are apparently unbeatable.

Bob Larsen’s team has run away with the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. meet for two years by scoring 81 and 82 points, with winning margins of 53 and 41 points, respectively.

UCLA will be heavily favored to win its third straight title, and ninth overall, next year with returning athletes having earned 69 1/2 points in the recent national meet at Eugene, Ore.

Kevin Young, a senior who won the 400 intermediate hurdles and ran a leg on the 1,600-meter relay team, is the only non-returning athlete who scored in the NCAA meet.

Larsen still has his accomplished sprint corps of Danny Everett, Steve Lewis, Henry Thomas and Mike Marsh, in addition to weight men Dave Wilson, Peter Thompson and Brian Blutreich, who contributed an unexpected 25 points to UCLA’s winning total.

Moreover, other athletes who were redshirted, such as weight men Kamy Keshmiri and Dave Bultman, long jumper Chuckie Brooks and distance runner Jim Ortiz could make an impact on the national level next year. High hurdler Derek Knight and long jumper-sprinter McArthur Anderson are other athletes who figure to contribute.

UCLA has also won 36 straight dual meets over four years and that string will most likely not be interrupted soon.

The sprinters contributed 57 points to UCLA’s winning total of 82 points at Oregon, ranging from the 100 meters to 400 meters and both relays.

“Realistically, you win with quarter-miler-type athletes,” Larsen said. “They have the flexibility to go down to events such as the 200, or 100, or even move up to the 800. They are able to run more than one event.

“We also thought it was important to develop a 1,600-meter relay team. It is one of the most exciting events in track, one that ends a meet.”

UCLA ended the NCAA meet with a flourish as the 1,600-meter team broke its own collegiate record with a time of 2:59.91, the first college team to break 3 minutes.

Even though UCLA was favored in the last two NCAA meets, it exceeded expectations by scoring in the 80s.

“People sometimes stub their toes in the NCAA meet, and it was gratifying that in the past two meets we came up to form, or surpassed it in almost every event,” Larsen said.

Carl Lewis will compete in the 100, 200 and long jump in the Olympic trials July 15-23 at Indianapolis, but he has yet to race in the 200 this season. He’s the American record-holder at 19.75 seconds.

That matter may be attended to June 18 in an all-comers meet at Occidental College, according to Lewis’ manager, Joe Douglas.

The low-key Occidental meet coincides with the The Athletics Congress meet June 15-18 at Tampa, Fla.

Douglas said that Lewis will not compete in the national meet, nor will any of his Santa Monica Track Club teammates. It’s difficult to get a reading as to who will be at Tampa.

In an Olympic year, the TAC meet loses some of its appeal to athletes, who are gearing for the Olympic trials.

Many of the best American athletes reason that they can make some money in Europe before the trials, so the TAC meet isn’t on their agenda.

As for Lewis’ schedule before the trials, he plans to long jump at Lausanne, Switzerland, June 24; run a 100 at Paris June 27, followed by another 100 at Leverkusen, West Germany, June 28.

Track and Field Notes

Mary Decker Slaney will try to break the world record in the seldom-contested 2,000-meter run at the Michelob Invitational June 25 in San Diego. Romania’s Maricica Puica is the world record-holder at 5 minutes 28.69 seconds. Brazil’s Joaquim Cruz, the 1984 Olympic gold medalist in the 800 meters, will run that distance in the same meet and Roger Kingdom and Greg Foster will be rematched in the 110-meter hurdles. Kingdom beat Foster last Sunday in the Pepsi Invitational in 13.30 seconds, best time in the world this year.

Cuba’s Roberto Hernandez reportedly was timed in 44.22 in the 400 in a recent meet at Mexico City. That’s a high-altitude site, where Lee Evans set the world record of 43.86 in the 1968 Olympic Games. Hernandez’s time makes him the fifth-best all-time performer in the event. . . . Johnny Gray was timed in 1:43.70 for 800 meters Sunday in a meet in Vancouver, Canada, fastest time in the world this year.

Embarrassing moments: After winning the 1,500 in the NCAA meet, Arkansas’ Joe Falcon turned toward the grandstand and acknowledged the applause. Then, he tripped and fell. Falcon, who is probably America’s best young middle-distance runner, will concentrate on the 5,000 in the Olympic trials. He has great range from 1,500 to 10,000 meters.

Mississippi State’s Lorenzo Daniel, who finished eighth in the 200 in the 1986 and 1987 NCAA meets, redeemed himself in Eugene, Ore., by winning in 19.87 seconds. Only four other sprinters have ever run faster. “Carl Lewis was my idol in high school,” Daniel said. “Now he’s my competitor.”