Rowan sophomore Kwaku Nkrumah ran one of the fastest 110-meter hurdles time in NCAA Division 3 history under any conditions Friday and led all qualifiers into the final.
In the first of three semifinals at the NCAA Division 3 Championships at Doug Shaw Memorial Stadium in Myrtle Beach, S.C., Nkrumah ran 13.73, which would have been the 2nd-fastest time in NCAA Division 3 history had it not been aided by a 2.3 meters-per-second tailwind. Any race of 200 or shorter assisted by more than a 2.0 tailwind is not eligible for record purposes.
But USTFCCCA does track all times, and Nkrumah’s 13.73 is 4th-fastest among races in all wind readings. And according to the wind-correction calculator, it converts to a 13.89 with no wind, which equals the 5th-fastest time ever run in Division 3 with all wind readings adjusted to 0.0.
Nkrumah’s wind-legal PR is 14.00 from last week at the AARTFC Championships in Cortland, N.Y. Nkrumah ran high school track at the same high school as your humble scribe – Teaneck, in Bergen County.
Although Rowan’s web site lists Garry Moore – an Overbrook graduate – as the school record holder with a 13.40 in 1982, that never happened. Just one of many errors on the Rowan track web site. Moore’s fastest fat time was 13.90 in the qualifying rounds of NCAA Division Nationals in Naperville, Ill., and that remains the school record, although Nkrumah certainly seems ready to make a run at it if he can get a legal wind reading.
Interestingly, in that qualifying race where Moore ran 13.90, the 2nd-place runner was Mark Tankersley of Delaware Valley College, who went to Rancocas Valley.
In the 1982 final, Moore won in 13.99, Glassboro State teammate Robert Abdullah from Paulsboro was 2nd in 14.22 and Tankersley was 5th in 14.50, giving South Jersey three of the top-five finishers.
On Friday, Rowan sophomore Jason Agyemang from North Plainfield ran 13.95 in the 2nd of three heats with a legal 2.0 wind and was the 3rd-fastest qualifier Friday. So although he wasn’t the fastest Rowan hurdler in the race, he does get credit for the fastest time by a Glassboro / Rowan hurdler in 42 years. Agyemang’s previous PR was 14.12 last week in Cortland, N.Y.
Among legal times, Agyemang is 2nd-fastest in D-3 this year, behind Dontre Sinegal of McMurry University of Abiline, Texas, who ran 13.86 in the one wind-legal semifinal.
Rowan senior Marquise Young from Sterling ran 14.09 [with a 3.2 tailwind] and was the 6th-fastest qualifier. So Rowan had as many hurdlers run sub-14.10 as every other NCAA Division 3 school combined.
Sophomore Anaias Hughes from Willingboro ran 14.50 with a legal 2.0 wind in that second heat. His PR is 14.31, also from last week in Cortland. He missed advancing to the final by 22-100ths of a second and wound up 15th in all of Division 3.
Rowan does not have an all-time performance list on its web site, but the USTFCCCA web site does have deep all-time Division 3 performance lists, and that allowed me to put together at least a five-deep all-time Rowan wind-legal list:
13.90 … Garry Moore, 1982
13.95 … Jason Agyejmang, 2024
14.00 … Kwaku Nkrumah, 2024
14.01 … Marquise Young, 2024
14.01 … Stanley Moore, 1983
Rowan had David Benjamin run 14.00 in 2017 and Bobby Cooks 14.05 in 2018 but both were wind-aided.
The final is scheduled for 5 p.m. Saturday. Young will be in Lane 3, Nkrumah in Lane 4 and Agyemang in Lane 6.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 