What do Ma's apple pie, Geoff Stiles, John Chafee, Adam Dixon, hot dogs, Thad McNulty and John Murphy have in common? They are all All-American.

Stiles' first-place performance in the pole vault, along with the two-mile relay team's third-place effort, boosted Harvard to an awesome seventh place overall finish at the NCAA indoor track championships at Detroit this weekend.

Villanova, with 52 points, squeaked by the University of Texas-El Paso to top the field of about 75 colleges. Auburn Tennessee and Kansas (ties), and Maryland followed (in that order), while Harvard settled comfortably in the seventh slot with 16 points.

All five Crimson representatives received All-American honors for their outstanding performances.

"It was a great day for Harvard track," associate coach Ed Stowall said yesterday, adding that Geoff Stiles "did a remarkable job at competing."

Stiles' winning vault of 17-ft. 3-in. bested his IC4A record-setting jump by two inches and established new Ivy League, New England and Harvard records.

"Geoff is a very level-headed consistent performer in an event categorized by erratic performances," Stowell said.

Stiles, however, had his share of erratic vaults. After clearing 16-ft. 8-in. without any difficulty to qualify on Friday, Stiles missed his first two attempts at 16-ft. 6-in. in the finals the next day.

"I panicked, I really panicked," Stiles said, adding that he had to revert to a vaulting form he has developed in practice over the year which concentrates on speed and aggressiveness.

The third try was successful, and the bar went up to 17-ft. even. Once again Stiles waited until the third shot to sail over and become one of the four remaining competitors at 17-ft. 3-in.

Stiles cleared in his first attempt and watched as Brian Goodman from Washington State and Brian Kimball from Indiana dropped out while Jeff Buckingham made it over on his second try.

"The pressure was off at 17-ft. 6-in. since I knew I would come in either first or second," Stiles said yesterday.

Both Stiles and Buckingham failed to make the next height, and before 10,000 people, the California co-captain who had cleared 17-ft. 3-in. in fewer tries became the first Harvard student to win an event at the NCAAs since 1970.

NCAA Top 20

1. Villanova 52; 2. Texas-El Paso 51; 3. Auburn 27; 4. (tie) Tennessee and Kansas 24; 6. Maryland 22; 7. Harvard 16; 8 (tie) Dartmouth, Wisconsin, Missouri, Indiana 14; 12. Texas A&M 12 3/5; 13. (tie) Houston, Southern lllinois, Nebraska 12; 16. Washington 11 3/5; 17 (tie) Florida, Mississippi College, Prairie View A&M 10; 20 (tie) Middle Tennessee, Eastern Michigan 9.