World record in 110 hurdles stuns crowd on opening session of NCAA champs in Eugene...
EUGENE-- The first of four days of the NCAA Track and Field Championships opened with an unexpected world record in the semifinals of the men's 110 hurdles. Auburn's Ja'Kobe Tharp (Paul Merca photo) , the defending NCAA champion, ran a staggering 12.75 in the second semifinal, to break the previous world record set by American Aries Merritt in 2012. “I knew I was in shape,” said Tharp, a junior whose personal best had been 13.01, last summer when he won the USATF outdoor title. “But that … that’s kind of crazy.” The mark was the first world record set at the NCAA championships in fifty years, when Dwight Stones of Long Beach State set the high jump record in Philadelphia when he cleared 7-7 (2.31m) at the 1976 championships. Ironically, Stones is the lead announcer on ESPN's telecast of the NCAA championships. “I just wanted to go out and send a message to everybody else that I’m here because I know earlier in the season, people ran the same time as me,” he said. “I...
