NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships : Arkansas Men Take Sixth Consecutive National Title; LSU Women Win

Dawn Sowell led Louisiana State to its second women’s title in three years and a relay world best, and Edrick Floreal carried Arkansas to a record sixth straight men’s title Saturday night in the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships.

World bests were set by LSU’s women’s team in the 1,600-meter relay and by Clemson in the 3,200 relay. Hollis Conway, the 1988 Olympic silver medalist in the men’s high jump, set an American record of 7 feet 9 1/4 inches.

Sowell won the 200 meters Friday night in a meet-record 22.96 seconds, then came back Saturday night and took the 55 in 6.62 before anchoring LSU’s relay team that clocked 3:33.98.

However, since the team included Opal Cunningham of Jamaica, LSU’s time cannot be submitted for a world record under international rules that stipulate all runners must be from the same country.

LSU’s time was far superior to the world record of 3:34.38 set by West Germany in 1981.

With four first-place finishes, including Tananjalyn Stanley’s victory in the 55-meter high hurdles Friday in a meet-record 7.47, one second place, two thirds and a sixth, LSU finished with 61 points.

The Lady Tigers beat runner-up Villanova by 27 points, the biggest margin since women joined the NCAA in 1983.

Villanova’s 34 points put the Wildcats 10 ahead of 1988 champion Texas and Alabama, which tied for third with 24 apiece. Indiana finished fifth with 21.

Arkansas which has won every men’s title since 1984, collected only 34 points in edging Florida, which had 31.

Floreal, a Canadian, accounted for more than half the Razorbacks’ points. After finishing second in the long jump Friday night, he won the triple jump Saturday at 56-2 3/4. He needed to finish first or second in the triple jump for Arkansas to win.

Arkansas scored in two other events, Joe Falcon repeating as mile champion in 3:58.06 and Reuben Reina placing third in the 5,000.

Clemson’s time of 7:17.45 in the men’s relay went under the accepted world record of 7:17.8 set by the Soviet Union in 1971. But the Tigers’ team included Phil Greyling of South Africa and Dennis Hines of Jamaica.

Conway cleared 7-3, 7-5 and 7-7 on his first attempts, before breaking Jimmy Howard’s American record of 7-8 3/4, also on his first try. He had the bar moved to 7-10 1/2, but missed three times.