When Coach Harry Groves took nineteen members of the men's track and field team to Gainesville, Fla., he did not concentrate on the team score as much as getting more athletes qualified for the IC4A Championships.

But the Lions placed third out of thirteen teams at the Barnett Banker's Invitational on Sunday. Florida took the team title with 99 points and defending NCAA champion LSU finished only three points ahead of the Lions' total of 74.

The Lions qualified several members for the IC4A Championships and placed high in a number of events. Shot putters C.J. Hunter and Phil Caraher placed first and second, respectively in the event. Hunter broke the school record with his toss of 63'3½. Caraher tossed 58'10¾".

Doug Walter and Aidan O'Reilly placed first and second, respectively in the 1,600. The race included a pace setter -- a person who does not compete in the race, but runs to set the pace of the race. The pace setter ran for about the first three-fourths of a mile and then dropped off. O'Reilly held the lead for the lap after the pace setter dropped off the track, then Walter took the lead.

Walter said it was a competitive race with about five runners finishing under 4:10. O'Reilly and Walter provisionally qualified for the NCAA Championships with their times, 4:03.62 and 4:05.23. Both athletes ran their personal bests in that race.

Despite their excellent times, Walter and O'Reilly need to run a race of 4:02 to qualify non-provisionally.

"We both have a reasonable chance of making it," Walter said.

He said that as far as he knows, no one has qualified at the 4:02 standard.

"They make it really hard (to qualify). They really only want 12 to 15 people," Walter said.

Meson Ternay placed second in the pole vault at a height of 16'6½". Ternay's finishing vault was tied with the first place height, but he got second place after missed attempts were considered.

Ricardo Hall and Tim Webb placed second and third, respectively in the triple jump. Hall jumped 50'6¼" and Webb 47'4¼". Webb's jump qualified him for IC4As, while Hall had qualified previously.

Mark Anderson ran 1:52.73 for third place in the open 800-meter, which qualifies him for IC4As. Steve Brown ran a personal best (14:05.43) in the 5,000. The two leading times belonged to LSU runners at 13:41 and 13:43, times which are among the best in the country.

The 3,200 relay team of O'Reilly (1:53.25), Walter (1:55.3), Jon Strange (1:58.01) and Anderson (1:53.11) placed fifth. The team's overall time was 7:41.32. A mishap with the handling of the baton on the second leg caused the slower time.

Joe Stegbauer also qualified for IC4As in the 800 with a time of 1:53.93. Andy Scott placed seventh in the 1,600 with 4:12.70 and qualified for IC4As and Greg Rogers ran a personal best of 7.58 in the 55-meter high hurdles. Jeff Novak finished the 3,000 in seventh place.