Sincere Rhea matched his season-best time in the high hurdles Thursday, qualifying comfortably for the finals of the 60-meter hurdles at the Big Ten Championships.
Rhea ran 7.88 – the fourth time in his college career he’s run exactly 7.88 – and matched the third-fastest time going into Saturday’s final.
Josh Braverman of Iowa won the first of three hears in 7.85 and Rhea, a Penn State sophomore, was just behind with his 7.88. Five hurdlers ran between 7.85 and 7.88. The winner of each heat plus the next six-fastest hurdlers qualified for the final. The cutoff was 7.98.
Rhea, a St. Augustine graduate and native of Maurice River Township in Cumberland County, ran 7.88 at the Nittany Lion Opener in January, and also at the Penn State Invitational, also last month. He also ran 7.88 last year at the Tiger Paw Invitational at Clemson.
His PR is 7.76 from the trials of last year’s Big Ten Championships at SPIRE. He went on to place third in 7.82.
This this year’s final is scheduled for 11:45 a.m. Saturday.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 