PERHAPS WE SHOULD have seen it coming. After all, 2 days before the final Sha’Carri Richardson laid down a PR-equaling 10.99 for the fastest 100 semi, then 50 minutes prior to this final ran a blazing 4×1 leg. But c’mon—does anyone ever really foresee a 19-year-old college frosh PRing by 0.24 and jumping to =No. 9 on the all-time world list?
That’s just one of the noteworthy things Richardson accomplished in just 10.75 seconds. More importantly, she also notched the Collegiate and World Junior Records (the latter being just her first of the day—she’d do it again 45 minutes later in the 200). That removed a pair of longstanding marks from the recordbooks: the altitude-aided 10.78 of her fellow Tiger Dawn Sowell (’89) from the college books and the 10.88 of East Germany’s Marlies Göhr (’77).
About 65m in, any of 5 different runners seemed to be possible threats to Richardson, but then she lifted onto another plane. Suddenly, her platinum blonde tresses emerged from the pack and an even race quickly became nearly a 2m lead over the 10.95 of North Carolina A&T’s Kayla White and 10.98 of USC’s ’18 USATF Junior champ, Twanisha Terry, who had been favored coming into the meet. Her lead was comfortable enough that she was already celebrating, hands fully raised, with some 5m to go.
The 8-time Texas HS state champ may have entered the race thinking title, but not necessarily record. “Not at all,” she said. “I never give myself a time, because I say if you give yourself a goal, you limit yourself. As long as you expect greatness out of yourself, you’ll deliver greatness. I was just coming in thinking about what me and my team did in the 4 x 100m, it was really motivation to just come in and execute the race for everyone who supports me, everyone who’s against me, it was all just motivation to execute my best in the 100m. I just wanted to continue the [LSU] legacy, so I’m happy I was able to do something for my team.”
NCAA WOMEN’S 100 RESULTS
FINAL
(June 08; wind +1.6)
1. ***Sha’Carri Richardson (LSU) 10.75 CR, WJR, AJR (old CR 10.78[A] Dawn Sowell [LSU] ’89; old-low-altitude CR 10.85 Aleia Hobbs [LSU] ’17; old WJR 10.88 Marlies Göhr [EG] ’77; old AJR 10.98 Candace Hill [GaHS] ’15), (WL, AL) (=9, x W; 5, x A) (MR);
2. Kayla White (NCAT) 10.95 PR (=5 =10 C; 5, 10 AmC; 4, 4 NCAA);
3. **Twanisha Terry (USC) 10.98 PR (=10, x AmC; =8, x NCAA);
4. Teahna Daniels (Tx) 11.00;
5. Kiara Parker (Ar) 11.02 PR;
6. **Kiara Grant’ (Norf) 11.04 PR (=10, x WJ);
7. *Angie Annelus (USC) 11.12;
8. **Ka’Tia Seymour (FlSt) 11.65.
(best-ever mark-for-NCAA-place: 1–7)
SEMIS
(June 06)
I(0.6)–1. Annelus 11.06 PR; 2. Terry 11.08; 3. Seymour 11.11; 4. Parker 11.14;
5. Caitland Smith (ArSt) 11.26; 6. Courtne Davis (LBSt) 11.42; 7. *Chelsea Francis (SMU) 11.57; 8. ***Amira Young (Mn) 11.57.
II(0.6)–1. Richardson 10.99 =PR (=4, =4 WJ; =2, =2 AJ; 8, 8 NCAA); 2. White 11.01 (=10, x NCAA);
3. ***Lanae-Tava Thomas (USC) 11.16 PR (fastest non-Q ever); 4. **Jayla Kirkland (FlSt) 11.20 PR; 5. ***Cambrea Sturgis (NCAT) 11.22; 6. *Rebekah Smith (Clem) 11.27; 7. **Tamara Clark (Al) 11.34; 8. ***Ashley Seymour (Hous) 11.42.
III(0.5)–1. Daniels 11.05; 2. Grant’ 11.16;
3. ***Brandee Presley (Ms) 11.24 PR; 4. *Natalliah Whyte’ (FlAt) 11.35; 5. **Celera Barnes (Ky) 11.38; 6. Jerayah Davis (Wy) 11.46; 7. Kianna Gray (Ky) 11.94; 8. *Brianna Duncan (Or) 35.78.
