TRACK AND FIELD / NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS : Watts’ World-Best in 400 Helps USC Finish Third

USC’s six-man team gave it the old college try at the NCAA track and field championships Saturday, using outstanding performances by Quincy Watts and Mark Crear for a third-place finish.

Watts won the 400 meters in 44.00 seconds, the eighth-fastest ever and the fastest in the world this year, and anchored the Trojans’ 1,600-meter relay team to second place with a 43.6 leg.

Crear won the 110-meter high hurdles in 13.49 seconds, Travis Hannah was fourth in the 400 meters and Jeff Laynes finished fifth in the 100 as the Trojans finished with 41 points. Arkansas won the men’s competition with 60.32 points, with Tennessee second at 46 1/2.

USC’s 1,600-meter relay team of Watts, Hannah, Curtis Conway and Martin Cannaday finished second to Georgia Tech in a school-record 3:00.58.

The six Trojan men ran 33 races in four days to help the school to its best finish since a third place in 1977.

UCLA’s best finish was a second by Marty Beck in the 400 intermediate hurdles in 49.80.

A 1-2 finish by triple jumpers Brian Wellman and Gary Johnson helped Arkansas win the men’s title and Louisiana State, led by its sprinters, took its sixth consecutive women’s title.

Texas-El Paso’s Olapade Adeniken won the men’s 100 (10.09) and 200 (20.11), making him the meet’s only individual double champion.

Wellman continued Arkansas’ remarkable string of success in the triple jump at the outdoor championships, winning his second consecutive title with a wind-aided leap of 56 feet, 9 1/4 inches.

Watts’ showing in the 400 put him in impressive company. Only Butch Reynolds, Lee Evans, Steve Lewis, Larry James and Danny Everett--all Americans--have run faster. Reynolds, who set the world record of 43.29 in 1988, has broken 44 three times.

“I picked it up at the 160 (meter) mark and hit the curve hard,” Watts said. “After the curve, I just maintained my form all the way to the tape.

“This race benefits me going into the Olympic trials (at New Orleans June 19-28).”

Watts’ time also broke the meet record of 44.12, set by Ohio State’s Reynolds in 1987.

In the relay, Watts’ strong leg fell just short of catching Georgia Tech’s Derek Mills, as the Yellow Jackets won in a sensational 2:59.95, the fastest in the world this year and only .04 seconds short of UCLA’s collegiate record.

Southern Illinois’ Darrin Plab won the high jump for the second consecutive year with a stadium-record 7-8, the best outdoor performance in the world this year. He missed three times at the world record of 8-0.

LSU, which began its domination of the women’s competition in 1987, finished with 87 points. Florida was runner-up with 81 points and Nebraska third with 30.

USC’s women had problems. Inger Miller scratched from the 100 and 200 because of a strained right hamstring suffered Friday and Michelle DeCoux fell in the 400 intermediate hurdles final after the fifth hurdle and didn’t finish.

UCLA’s Dawn Dumble was fourth in the women’s shotput in 52-3 1/4.

Team Scores

MEN

1. Arkansas: 60.32 points

2. Tennessee: 46.5

3. USC: 41

4. Oregon: 39

5. Texas El Paso: 35

WOMEN

1. Louisiana State: 87

2. Florida: 81

3. Nebraska: 30

4. Stanford: 28

5. Alabama: 27