Pennsauken’s Bryce Tucker ran an intermediate hurdles PR and advanced to the quarterfinals at the NCAA Championships Wednesday night.
Tucker, a Rutgers sophomore, ran 50.52 and posted the 10th-fastest time among 48 qualifiers at the East Prelims in Jacksonville.
Tucker won the 4th of six heats to earn an auto qualifier into the second round. The top three finishers in each heat plus the next six-fastest times advanced to Friday and will race at 7:25 p.m. The top three from each of three heats and the next three-fastest advance to the NCAA Championship finals at Hayward Field in Eugene June 11-14.
Tucker will be in Lane 7 Friday in the second of the three quarterfinal races. The top 12 from the East prelims and the top 12 from the West prelims in College Station, Texas, will race in the semis in Eugene at 6:14 p.m. on June 11.
His previous PR was a 50.61 when he won last year’s Big Ten Championships in Ann Arbor, Mich. He ran close to his PR at both the Penn Relays and Big Ten prelims with a season-best 50.79 in both races.
Tucker’s 50.52 is No. 2 in Rutgers history, behind 49.82 by Hunterdon Central’s Jameson Woodell in the 2022 NCAA East prelims in Bloomington, Ind.
He moved up to a tie for the No. 5 spot on the all-time South Jersey alumni list, tied with Martin Booker. His time is fastest by a South Jersey intermediate hurdler since 50.07 at the Clermont (Calif.) Star Athletics Sprint Meet on June 7, 2014.
Tucker is under the B standard of 50.75 for U.S. Nationals this summer. He’s now ranked 45th among U.S. hurdlers. The A standard is 49.75.
Tucker’s high school teammate, Premier Wynn, who also qualified with a 50.70 scratched. He won the MEAC Championships earlier this month in the 400 and PR’d with a 46.00 in the trials but hasn’t run a 400IH race since March. He’s also listed as one of the legs on Norfolk’s 4-by-4 team, which races on Friday.
All-Time 400-Meter Hurdles South Jersey Alumni List
48.37 … Reuben McCoy [Winslow Twp.], June 28, 2008, Eugene, Ore.
48.86 … Fred Sharpe [Paulsboro], May 18, 2003, Knoxville, Tenn.
49.50 … Dwight Ruff [Camden], June 12, 2003, Sacramento
50.04 … Mike Brown [Lenape], June 12, 2002, Holmdel, N.J.
50.52 … Martin Booker [Camden], May 12, 1984, Philadelphia
50.52 … Bryce Tucker [Pennsauken], May 28, 2025, Jacksonville, Fla.
50.58 … Premier Wynn [Pennsauken], June 13, 2024, Eugene, Ore.
50.65 … Aaron Younger [Delsea], May 28, 2010, Greensboro, N.C.
50.69 … Danyne Brown [Camden], May 30, 2003, Fairfax, Va.
50.84 … Nick Brown [Bridgeton], July 16, 2005, New York
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 