ONE MIGHT SAY that Houston sprinter Louie Hinchliffe is a Cougar through and through. After transferring from one big cat school (Washington State) to another (Houston), the soph entered the Championships at No. 4 on the T&FN formchart after posting a windy 9.84 (2.5) to win the West Region, in addition to a legal 10.00 from the same meet.
It wouldn’t be easy for the man from Sheffield, England, but when you’re hot, you’re hot, and when you know it your confidence soars. Plus, when it’s the NCAA Championships and you have a head coach who knows a thing or two about winning like Carl Lewis, the odds might have shifted from being against you to favorable.
The heats would see some close calls for several of the contenders. In heat 1, Auburn’s Favour Ashe (chart No. 1) finished 3rd in 10.13 behind teammate Kanyinsola Ajayi (10.09) and Northwestern Louisiana’s Zachaeus Beard (10.12).
Hinchliffe took heat 2 in 10.09, 0.05 ahead of teammate Shaun Maswanganyi (No. 2) in 10.14, Wanya McCoy (No. 5) from Florida (10.15) and Arkansas’s Lance Lang (10.22).
South Florida’s Abdul-Rasheed Saminu (No. 6) took heat 3 in 10.14, followed by LSU’s Godson Oghenebrume (No. 3) in 10.23.
The final found Hinchliffe front and center in 5, with Saminu to his left in 4 and Ajayi on his right in 6. Lang started in 1, with Ashe in 2, Maswanganyi 3, Beard 7, Oghenebrume 8 and McCoy 9.
At the gun, Ashe had a step on the field, with Maswanganyi, Saminu, Beard and Hinchliffe in tow.
Midway it appeared as if Ashe might pull away, but as everyone else kept their place, Hinchliffe found another gear and was gaining.
A final surge over the last 20 launched Hinchliffe to the line where he topped Ashe 9.95–9.99, followed by a blanket finish for 3rd with Ajayi (10.01) prevailing over Oghenebrume (10.02), Saminu (10.02), McCoy (10.03) and Maswanganyi (10.05).
Hinchliffe said after the race, “It was just a fight to the end. The minute the gun went off, it was just full throttle. I gave it everything today, it’s what I’ve been working for the whole year. It means a lot.”
In addition to being the first European to win the title, Hinchliffe now joins fellow Cougars Lewis, Stanley Floyd, Joe Deloach, Leroy Burrell, Sam Jefferson and Cameron Burrell as NCAA 100 champions.
He will now focus upon making the British sprint squad for Paris.
“I’ve got to forget about this now and focus on the job at hand,” he said. “The main job is the Olympics so just forget about all of this and shift my focus to the Olympic Trials.”
MEN’S 100 RESULTS
FINAL
(June 07; wind +0.2)
1. **Louie Hinchliffe’ (Hous-GB) 9.95 PR;
2. *Favour Ashe’ (Aub-Ngr) 9.99;
3. ***Kanyinsola Ajayi’ (Aub-Ngr) 10.01 PR;
4. *Godson Oghenebrume’ (LSU-Ngr) 10.02;
5. **Abdul-Rasheed Saminu (SFl-Gha) 10.02 PR;
6. *Wanya McCoy’ (Fl-Bah) 10.03;
7. Shaun Maswanganyi’ (Hous-SA) 10.05;
8. Zachaeus Beard (NWnLa) 10.10;
9. Lance Lang (Ar) 10.15.
SEMIS
(June 05)
I(0.3)–1. Ajayi’ 10.09; 2. Beard 10.12; 3. Ashe’ 10.13; 4. **Pj Ize-Iyamu (Or) 10.28; 5. **Jamarion Stubbs (AlSt) 10.31; 6. **James Crawford (CSN) 10.33; 7. **Max Thomas (USC) 10.36; 8. ***Malachi Snow (SJSt) 10.60.
II(0.3)–1. Hinchliffe’ 10.09; 2. Maswanganyi’ 10.14; 3. McCoy’ 10.15; 4. Lang 10.22; 5. Da’Marcus Fleming (LSU) 10.24; 6. ***Jehlani Gordon’ (Ga-Jam) 10.24; 7. *De’montray Callis (Bay) 10.27; 8. Jamal Miller’ (Camp-Jam) 10.35.
III(-0.3)–1. Saminu’ 10.14; 2. Oghenebrume’ 10.23; 3. *David Foster (Cal) 10.28; 4. **T’Mars McCallum (Tn) 10.29; 5. ***Nyck Harbor (SC) 10.30; 6. Marcellus Moore (Tx) 10.32; 7. Trayvion White-Austin (Az) 10.42; 8. Nolton Shelvin (Tx) 10.42.
