Teams Repeat;Yasen Jumps To 6th

Arkansas and LSU took their usual divergent paths to NCAA track championships Saturday, the Razorbacks winning their fourth straight men’s title with a team featuring distance runners and jumpers, and LSU its ninth consecutive women’s crown with a magnificent sprint brigade.

Meanwhile, UCLA’s John Godina shattered the collegiate record in the shot put with a heave of 72 feet, 2 1/4 inches, the longest throw in the world this year, and Michigan’s Kevin Sullivan won the men’s 1,500-meter race in 3 minutes, 37.57 seconds.

In the women’s high jump, Purdue’s Corissa Yasen, a Coeur d’Alene High graduate, finished sixth with a jump of 5 feet, 11 1/4 inches. Champion Amy Acuff of UCLA cleared 6-5.

The final 19-event program of the four-day championships produced some of the year’s most impressive performances.

Among the men, Kentucky’s Tim Harden had a collegiate-best 10.05 in the 100; George Mason’s Greg Haughton went 44.62, the second-fastest in the world this year, in the 400; and Clemson’s Duane Ross finished 13.32, also No. 2 in the world, in the 110-meter hurdles.

The leading women’s performances included George Mason’s Diane Guthrie-Gresham’s 6,527 points, the second-best collegiate total ever, in the heptathlon; Eastern Michigan’s Sevatheda Fynes’ 22.63, the season’s best by a collegian, in the 200; Miami’s Gillian Russell with 12.99, a 1995 collegiate best, in the 100 hurdles; Nebraska’s Nicola Martial with 45-1, No. 1 among collegians, in the triple jump; and Wisconsin’s Amy Wickus with 4:14.53, the year’s collegiate best, in the 1,500.

Among the teams, Arkansas completed its fourth consecutive sweep of the men’s NCAA indoor and outdoor titles, with 61 points in 21 events.

The Razorbacks’ big producer was Godfrey Siamusiye. The Zambian native won the 10,000 meters Wednesday night and finished third in the 5,000 Saturday.

UCLA was second with 55 points, sparked by a 1-3-4 finish in the shot put, with Mark Parlin and Jon Ogden finishing behind Godina and Georgia’s Brent Noon; and victories by Ato Bolden in the 200 (20.24 Saturday), Godina in the discus and Greg Johnson in the javelin earlier in the meet.

LSU’s women scored all of their 69 points in events in which no athlete ran more than 400 meters. The Tigers’ best event was the 100, as D’Andre Hill won in 11.11, Zundra Feagin was fourth and Kwajalein Butler sixth for 18 points.

UCLA was also runner-up (58 points) in the women’s race.