Louisiana State’s Carter Wins 100 and 400 Titles

Xavier Carter can claim one of the greatest performances in the history of college track, one so good that it rivals none other than Jesse Owens.

The Louisiana State sophomore became the first person to win the 100 and 400 meters at the NCAA track and field championships Saturday at Sacramento, running down the competition in races 31 minutes apart.

He finished his day as the anchor of the winning 1,600-meter relay team. Combined with the winning 400 relay team on Friday night, he had a share of four NCAA event titles.

According to meet officials, Carter is the first to achieve four NCAA victories since Owens won both short sprints, the 220-yard low hurdles and long jump for Ohio State in 1935 and ’36.

“It’s really not going to hit me until a few weeks later,” Carter said. “Jesse Owens, he’s a legend. He’s the one who started track and field. I feel honored just being put in the same sentence as Jesse Owens.”

The 6-foot-3, 190-pound sophomore, who also plays football for the Tigers, had personal bests in both individual events -- a school-record 10.09 seconds in the 100, followed by a 44.53 in the 400.

“I pretty much had a good day,” he said.

Carter’s magnificent one-man show wasn’t enough to prevent Florida State from winning its first men’s team title with 67 points. LSU was second with 51 -- 40 of them thanks to Carter. Texas was third with 36.

Auburn won its first women’s crown with 57 points. USC was second with 38 1/2 , and South Carolina third with 38.

COLLEGE BASEBALL

Oregon State Tops

Stanford in First Game

Mitch Canham doubled with two out in the seventh inning to score Bill Rowe for the eventual winning run in Oregon State’s 4-3 victory over Stanford to give the Beavers a 1-0 lead in their best-of-three super-regional series at Corvallis, Ore.

Stanford had tied the score at 3-3 in the fifth inning on a run-scoring single by Jason Castro that scored Chris Minaker.

Dallas Buck pitched eight innings, giving up eight hits and striking out six for the victory. Kevin Gunderson pitched a perfect ninth to close it out for Oregon State, which can clinch a trip to the College World Series with a victory today.

In other super-regionals:

Georgia Tech (50-16) earned a berth to the College World Series with a 12-3 victory over College of Charleston at Atlanta to complete a two-game sweep.

At Tuscaloosa, Ala., Chad Flack hit a three-run homer in the eighth inning and a two-run shot in the ninth, lifting North Carolina (50-13) over Alabama, 8-7, and into the College World Series.

At Clemson, S.C., Clemson (52-14) earned a trip to Omaha with a 6-5 victory over Oral Roberts.

At Athens, Ga., South Carolina homered eight times, including five in a row in the second inning, and routed host Georgia, 15-6, to take a 1-0 lead in the series.

At Oxford, Miss., Zack Cozart and Mark Wright homered to help Mississippi rally from a six-run deficit and defeat Miami, 11-9, in Game 1 of their series.

At Houston, Rice’s Brian Friday and Josh Rodriguez hit consecutive home runs in a four-run first inning to lead the Owls over Oklahoma, 10-4, in the opener of their series.

MISCELLANY

Riptide Is Defeated

by the Cannons, 20-13

The L.A. Riptide dropped a 20-13 decision to the Boston Cannons in a Major League Lacrosse game at the Home Depot Center.

The expansion Riptide (0-3) was unable to overcome a 6-0 deficit to the Cannons (3-1), who scored 37 seconds into the game.

Six-time Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps won the 200-meter butterfly at the Charlotte UltraSwim in North Carolina, and Katie Hoff set her third meet record in winning the 400-meter freestyle.

Phelps won in a time of 1 minute 56.17 seconds, well off his world-record time of 1:53.93 set in 2003. Phelps finished second in the 200 breaststroke. Hoff, 17, set a meet record in the 400 free, winning in 4:07.83.

Orlando and Chicago meet today in the Arena Football League championship game, with a crowd of more than 14,000 expected at Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.