All NCAA University Division members were eligible to qualify for the meet.
In total, 17 teams and 148 individual runners contested this championship.
The individual championship was won by John Lawson, from Kansas State, with a time of 29:24.00.
[2] Given this was the first race at 6 miles, Lawson's time became the meet's distance record.
However, his time would be superseded the following year, 1966, by Gerry Lindgren from Washington State.