2019 NCAAs: Grant Holloway’s 12.98 NCAA 110 Hurdles Record & Divine Oduduru’s 9.86/19.73 Double Highlight An Incredible Night of Sprinting

By Jonathan Gault with additional reporting by Robert Johnson
June 7, 2019

AUSTIN, Tex. — Outside of World Championships and the Olympics, you won’t see many better nights of sprinting than what unfolded at tonight’s NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships.

You know what? Scratch that.

You won’t see many better nights of sprinting, period.

Check out the winning times in the men’s 100, 200, and 110 hurdles at NCAA, the 2017 Worlds, and 2016 Olympics.

After two hot, oppressive days to begin the meet, tonight’s conditions were perfect for sprinting, with temps in the upper 80s but humidity below 50%. That allowed supreme talents Divine Oduduru of Texas Tech and Grant Holloway of Florida to do their thing on the track.

Holloway, a 21-year-old junior from Chesapeake, Va., began things in the first running event of the night, the 4×100 relay, running the third leg for a Florida squad that clocked 37.97 to break Houston’s year-old collegiate record of 38.17 (runners-up Florida State, who ran 38.08, were also under the previous mark).

3️⃣7️⃣.9️⃣7️⃣ COLLEGIATE RECORD!!!!! ???

CHOMP CHOMP
The Gators eat up the competition & take the 4x100m ?! #ncaaTF pic.twitter.com/REtiRTEFxb

— NCAA Track & Field (@NCAATrackField) June 8, 2019

Holloway returned 40 minutes later for the 110 hurdles final and his showdown with Kentucky’s Daniel Roberts, a race track fans have been salivating over for months. And it delivered, Holloway holding off Roberts to win, 12.98 to 13.00.

WOW WOW WOW ???

1️⃣2️⃣.9️⃣8️⃣ ??? pic.twitter.com/7y9pwpNgq8

— NCAA Track & Field (@NCAATrackField) June 8, 2019

The time was a personal best by .09 for Holloway, a 2019 world leader, and clinched his third straight 110 hurdles title, something no collegian had accomplished for 66 years. Holloway also did something no collegian had accomplished, ever: break 13 seconds.

All year, Renaldo Nehemiah’s legendary 13.00 collegiate record from 1979 has been on Holloway’s mind. It was one of the reasons Holloway, who could easily have turned professional last year, decided to return to Florida for his junior season.

“Renaldo Nehemiah has been on top of that 110 hurdles record board too long,” Holloway wrote when he announced his return in June 2018. “Records are meant to be broken. I’m after him. I’m after that record. That’s my main goal next year.”

As it turns out, Holloway had to break Nehemiah’s record just to win the race. That’s how good Roberts was.

With the hurdles over, it was time for Divine Oduduru to live up to his name. In the 100, he smoked a 9.86 — the second-fastest time ever run by a collegian — to win and tie the 2019 world lead in the process. Behind him, there was incredible depth, with Oregon’s Cravon Gillespie running 9.93 and Florida’s Hakim Sani Brown clocking a Japanese record of 9.97 in third; the top five men all ran PRs.

COLLEGIATE LEADER ✅
WORLD LEADER ✅#ncaaTF Champion ✅

9️⃣.8️⃣6️⃣ pic.twitter.com/nXDx3vWDiQ

— NCAA Track & Field (@NCAATrackField) June 8, 2019

Forty-five minutes later, we essentially saw a re-run in the 200 final. Again, Oduduru, Gillespie, and Sani Brown went 1-2-3 in that order, and again each man set a personal best, 19.73 for Oduduru, 19.93 for Gillespie, and 20.08 for Sani Brown. And, just as in the 100, Oduduru’s 19.73 makes him the second-fastest collegian of all time. It would also have gone down as a world leader had he run it two days earlier (Michael Norman clocked 19.70 in Rome yesterday).

If you add up Oduduru’s 100 and 200-meter times on the day, they total 29.59, making it the second-greatest single-day 100/200 double in the history of the sport.

Top 3 Single Day 100/200 Doubles, with wind readings (Full list here)
29.48 – Justin Gatlin (9.77 +.6, 19.71 0) – September 5, 2014 – Brussels
29.59 – Divine Oduduru (9.86 +.8, 19.73 +.8) – June 7, 2019 – Austin
29.67 – Ato Boldon (9.90 0, 19.77 +.7) – July 13, 1997 – Stuttgart

Behind Oduduru, Gillespie became the 11th man to run sub-10 and sub-20 on the same day.

In the final race of the night, Holloway stepped onto the track for the anchor leg of the 4×400. Did he have any more magic in those legs for the final race of his collegiate career?

It’s Grant Holloway. Of course he did.

Holloway split 43.75, the only man under 44 on the night, to vault the Gators from 4th to 2nd in 2:59.60, behind only Texas A&M, who finished just .05 off the collegiate record with a 2:59.05. Devin Dixon, who finished a heartbreaking second in the 800 earlier tonight, rebounded with a stellar 44.12 anchor — fastest leg, non-Holloway division — to deliver the Aggies the victory.

43.75. From a guy who has won the last three NCAA hurdle titles, also qualified for NCAAs in the long jump, and won the flat 60 meters indoors. A fitting end for a unique, otherworldly talent.

“It’s time for him to move on,” said Florida coach Mike Holloway, acknowledging what has been an open secret in the track & field world — Grant is now turning professional. “He’s done enough for Florida track & field. Grant’s gotta take care of Grant now. He will be one of the all-time Gator greats forever. We’ve never seen anything like him.”

Results.

Post-race interviews appear below

Grant Holloway after breaking 13.00 for the first time

Divine Oduduru on his incredible evening of sprinting

Divine Oduduru reacts to being told he ran the 2nd best 100/200 double in history

Cravon Gillespie after joining the single-day sub-10/sub-20 club

Hakim Sani Brown says he’s intending on going back to Florida next year to compete