You are correct, they were very much in the picture but was not Nyambui an unknown? The story I recall, after the fact, was that he had only arrived in El Paso few weeks before the championships.
In context I went out with my friends the night before the guy on the team (didn't run top 7) and our talk was could Wisconsin win it? And wow isn't Oregon a great team. We were at a sports bar/burger place and on the 10 o'clock news they interviewed Dan McClimon (the late Wisco coach) who was hosting the meet and hoping for a win, and Bill Dellinger. They did not interview Ted Banks.
I do like George Thorogood and actually saw him at a concert in a pretty small venue.
One more correction, I mentioned running D3 regionals a couple days earlier. It was actually 9 days before. In those days D3 and D2 nationals were on the Saturday before D1, and regionals a week before that. The top runners from those meets got a trip and entry to D1. Dan Henderson from Wheaton won nationals on Saturday and two days later placed 10th in Madison.
Finally, per wejo's follow up. Henry never had a big lead. He was in the lead group.