Pennsauken’s Bryce Tucker – in 7th place coming off the last hurdle – passed four runners in the 40 meters between Hurdle 10 and the finish line and placed 3rd in the 400-meter intermediates Sunday at the U.S. Under-20 Championships.
Tucker ran 52.00 at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore., finishing just 11-100ths of a second out of 2nd place. The top two finishers earn a spot on the U.S. team that will go to Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, next month for the Pan Am Under-20 Championships.
Tucker, who will be a freshman at Rutgers this fall, had a remarkable senior year at Pennsauken, winning his 3rd straight Meet of Champions title, finishing 2nd at West Philly Nationals, 3rd at Under-20 Nationals and running 50.96 at the MoC – 3rd-fastest in meet history, No. 5 in state history and No. 1 among U.S. high school runners this spring.
Only four Rutgers hurdlers have ever run as fast as Tucker did this year, including Delsea graduate Aaron Younger, who ran all-time Rutgers No. 2 50.65 at 2010 NCAA Regionals in Greensboro, N.C.
Three New Jersey runners have won the Under-20 intermediate hurdles: Chris Person of Plainfield in 1978 in Bloomington, Ind. [51.0], Dwight Ruff of Camden in Richmond in 2001 [50.37] and Reuben McCoy of Winslow in Carson, Calif., in 2005 [50.69].
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 