From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank

Sincere Rhea destroyed his high hurdles PR Friday in the prelims of the ACC Championships in Raleigh, N.C., and recorded the 2nd-fastest time in Miami Hurricanes history and one of the fastest times by an American this year.

Rhea, a junior at Miami and a former national scholastic champion at St. Augustine in Richland, Atlantic County, ran a wind-legal 13.48, the 4th-fastest qualifying time into the final at 5:50 p.m. Saturday.

The only faster time in Miami history was recorded by Trenton High graduate Devon Hill, who set the school record of 13.35 when he won the 110 highs at the 2012 ACC Championships in Charlottesville, Va.

Rhea, from Maurice River Township, Cumberland County, was one of four hurdlers that ran between 13.43 and 13.48 and advanced automatically to the final by winning their heat.

Rhea’s time makes him the 4th-fastest hurdler ever from South Jersey and fastest since Willingboro’s Isaac Williams ran 13.43 at the 2016 Mt. SAC Relays in Walnut, Calif.

Only nine U.S. hurdlers had run faster than 13.48 going into Friday’s meets. The A standard to qualify for U.S. Nationals in Eugene July 6-9 is 13.50, so Rhea can run in his first nationals if he chooses.

Rhea’s previous PR was a 13.72 from two weeks ago in Jacksonville. He had run between 13.72 and 13.74 in each of his last four meets after coming into the season with a PR of 13.89 from last spring in Baton Rouge, La. That was also his PR at Penn State from the 2021 Big Ten Championships in Champaign, Ill.

Deptford’s Naseem Smith, a sophomore at Syracuse, also qualified for the final with a PR 14.02 in the same heat as Rhea. His previous PR was a 14.38 in a meet last month in Cortland, N.Y.

This is my best attempt at an all-time New Jersey 110-meter hurdles top-10:

12.93 … Renaldo Nehemiah [Scotch Plains-Fanwood], Aug. 19, 1981, Zürich
12.94 … Jack Pierce [Woodbury], June 22, 1996, Atlanta
13.08 … Jeff Porter [Franklin Twp.], June 30, 2012, Eugene, Ore.
13.12 … Anwar Moore [Camden], May 5, 2007, Modesto, Calif.
13.35 … Devin Hill [Trenton], April 21, 2012, Charlottesville, Va.
13.36 … Todd Matthews [Notre Dame], July 12, 2012, Budapest, Hungary
13.43 … Isaac Williams [Willingboro], April 16, 2016, Walnut, Calif.
13.48 … Sincere Rhea [St. Augustine], May 12, 2023,
13.51 … Martin Booker [Camden], June 7, 1986, Indianapolis
13.53 … Dudley Dorival [Ewing], July 29, 1995, Colorado Springs, Colo.