In our women’s predictions we noted that things don’t get much closer, as that team race will go down to the final event before the winner is known. The men’s competition looks to be even closer, with current crystal-balling seeing a tie. That would be the first knotting since ’13.
The way our first formchart of the year sees things, the meet will go into the ultimate race with Texas Tech holding a 45–44 lead over Texas A&M. LSU is another point back, but doesn’t appear to have a strong 4×4. A&M meanwhile, is projected to take 3rd, with Tech 4th, which will leave them tied for the crown, with another 6 back to LSU.
Successful individual defenses of ’23 wins look to be hard to come by as 10 of 19 champions return, but only 5 are picked to repeat their wins: 110H—Phillip Lemonious (Arkansas), 400H—Chris Robinson (Alabama), HJ—Romaine Beckford (Arkansas), HT—Kenneth Ikeji (Harvard), Dec—Leo Neugebauer (Texas).
The 10-deep predictions for each event (‘ = athlete not eligible for U.S. international teams):
TOP 10 TEAMS | ||
=1. Texas A&M | 50 | |
=1. Texas Tech | 50 | |
3. LSU | 44 | |
4. Arkansas | 41 | |
5. Florida | 39 | |
6. Texas | 32 | |
7. Alabama | 30 | |
8. Georgia | 28 | |
9. Washington | 26 | |
10. Auburn | 23 | |
(complete team scores below event picks) |
100 METERS | ||
1. Terrence Jones’ | Texas Tech | Sr |
2. Godson Oghenebrume’ | LSU | Jr |
3. Shaun Maswanganyi’ | Houston | Sr |
4. Favour Ashe’ | Auburn | Jr |
5. Kalen Walker | Iowa | Jr |
6. Da’Marcus Fleming | LSU | Sr |
7. Robert Gregory | Florida | Sr |
8. Javonte Harding | Tennessee | Sr |
9. Davonte Burnett’ | Houston | Sr |
10. Ismael Kone’ | Florida State | Sr |
200 METERS | ||
1. Terrence Jones’ | Texas Tech | Sr |
2. Robert Gregory | Florida | Sr |
3. Cheickna Traore’ | Penn State | Jr |
4. Tarsis Orogot’ | Alabama | Jr |
5. Shaun Maswanganyi’ | Houston | Sr |
6. Cameron Miller | Purdue | So |
7. Javonte Harding | Tennessee | Sr |
8. Lance Lang | Arkansas | Sr |
9. Kennedy Lightner | Kentucky | Sr |
10. Jordan Ware | Mississippi State | Fr |
400 METERS | ||
1. Christopher Morales Williams’ | Georgia | So |
2. Auhmad Robinson | Texas A&M | Jr |
3. Judson Lincoln | Virginia Tech | So |
4. JeVaughn Powell’ | Florida | Sr |
5. Samuel Ogazi’ | Alabama | Fr |
6. Kennedy Lightner | Kentucky | Sr |
7. William Jones | USC | So |
8. Khaleb McRae | Alabama | Sr |
9. Emmanuel Bynum | Tennessee | Sr |
10…. |
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