Conley Soars; Razorbacks Complete Triple Crown

Mike Conley saved his best for last.

In 1985, Conley scored 28¾ points to lead Arkansas to its first outdoor team title, which completed the vaunted “Triple Crown,” as the program also captured the cross country and indoor titles already in the academic year.

Conley’s four-day schedule was busier than he’d ever experienced. The defending NCAA outdoor champion in the long and triple jumps was also on the 4×100 relay, plus he would be adding the 200 meters at the national meet for the first time.

His busiest day was Friday with three finals. Conley somehow made them look easy by matching his own meet record in the long jump of 8.28m (27-8) and then running the third leg on the sixth-place 4×100 team (39.48). A strong turn runner, he finished that evening’s 200 coming into the straightaway with the lead, before finishing second to Houston’s Kirk Baptiste, who was the silver medalist in the event from the previous summer’s Los Angeles Olympic Games.

Conley also had a silver medal from that same Olympics — but his came from the triple jump. However, by the time Saturday’s NCAA final came, Conley felt fatigued and in round four, he lost his lead to Tennessee’s John Tillman, who went 16.94m (55-7).

A consummate competitor, Conley responded fiercely with a three-foot improvement to 17.54m (57-6½), just an inch short of the American record held by Willie Banks. Conley then bounded a wind-aided 17.72m (58-1¾) on his fifth attempt. Both of those marks remain among the top-4 under any conditions on the all-time collegiate list.

“Tillman’s jump did it,” Conley told Dave Johnson of Track & Field News. “Whether I was tired or not, I had to jump. It was like a slap in the face. It woke me up.”