In his first college race, Riverside graduate Jamir Brown smashed Rowan’s 60-meter hurdles school record, and he broke a record held by an NCAA champion.
In the trials of the FastTrack Season Opener at Ocean Breeze, Brown led all qualifiers for the finals in 7.86. He broke the school record of 7.93 set by Kwaku Nkrumah when he won the finals of the New JerseyAthletic Conference meet on the same track last February. Nkrumah went on to win the outdoor NCAA Division 3 title in 13.77 this past May in Myrtle Beach, S.C.
This was Brown’s first race ever over 42-inch hurdles.
Brown’s time makes him the 7th-fastest performer in NCAA Division 3 history, according to the USTFCCCA all-time lists.
It appears that Brown’s time is fastest ever by an NCAA Division 3 freshman. The fastest listed freshman time is a 7.99 by Deyton Love of Wartburg in 2022 in Waverly, Iowa. Several athletes are listed without a grade, but I checked every one who ran faster than 7.86 who doesn’t have a grade listed and none were freshmen.
Brown had a huge senior year last spring for Riverside, placing 2nd in the Meet of Champions in the 110-meter hurdles and winning state titles in both hurdles races and the long jump.
Nkrumah ran 8.04, the second-fastest time in the trials. Willingboro’s Anaias Hughes, a junior, ran 8.31 and also advanced to the final. We’ll have more after the final!
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 