Arkansas’ Brown Notched All-Time 100H Mark

If you didn’t see Janeek Brown’s jaw-dropping performance coming from 100 meters away at the 2019 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships, then you weren’t paying attention. Or, the 10 hurdles that Brown expertly cleared over the course of that distance in 12.40 seconds to become the second-fastest performer in collegiate history obstructed your vision. 

Whatever the case might be, Brown’s rise to superstardom in Austin, Texas, wasn’t a shock. 

Brown improved in the 100H each time out: 12.97 (+1.3) in her opener at the Texas Relays; 12.91 (+0.5) at The Reveille Meet; 12.57 (+1.6) at the National Relay Championships; a world-leading 12.55 (+1.3) at the SEC Outdoor Championships one month before the NCAA meet. 

The Razorback standout went 12.53 (+1.1) in the NCAA semifinals for another PR and the second-fastest qualifying mark in collegiate history. Only Brianna Rollins of Clemson ran faster back in 2013 when she broke the collegiate record by 0.01 seconds with her 12.47 clocking at the NCAA Championships in Eugene, Oregon.

Brown wanted to run even faster still, just like Rollins had six years earlier. The Jamaican set her sights on Rollins’ CR of 12.39, which came in the 2013 final and resulted in the future winner of The Bowerman tying the largest margin of victory in meet history at 0.40 seconds. 

A quick start begets a first-hurdle lead that Brown never relinquished. Brown continued to pour it on over the next nine barriers, and by the time she cleared the tenth, all eyes were on the clock. It read 12.40, agonizingly close to Rollins’ all-time best – 0.01 seconds shy. 

Those 10 points from Brown also helped propel the Razorbacks to their second team title in program history, a seven-point victory over defending champion Southern California.