Richardson’s time holds into finals

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — South Carolina’s Jason Richardson has the fastest time in the 110-meter hurdles going into tonight’s finals at the NCAA Championships at the University of Arkansas on Friday night.

The Clemson 400 relay team of Justin Murdock, C.J. Spiller, Trenton Guy and Jacoby Ford was third. Florida won, followed by LSU. South Carolina’s 400 relay team of Jonathan Hancock, Antonio Sales, Quentin Moore and Obakeng Ngwigwa was fifth.

In the women’s 400-meter semifinals, USC’s Brandi Cross did not advance after being disqualified for a false start.

South Carolina’s Johnny Dutch was second in the 400 hurdles championship, losing by .15 of a second to Washington State’s Jeshua Anderson. Dutch finished in a time of 48.62.

LSU’s Trindon Holliday took the 100-meter despite a so-so start, finishing in 10.00 seconds. Clemson’s Ford, another top contender, pulled up at about the midway point with an apparent injury.

“All of the sudden, I didn’t see him anymore,” Holliday said.

LSU led the men’s team competition with 30 points after Holliday’s win.

Texas junior Destinee Hooker won the high jump Friday, her third outdoor national title in four years.

Hooker won with a jump of 6 feet, 4¾ inches. Elizabeth Patterson of Arizona finished second. Patterson won the title last year, when Hooker was redshirting and focusing on volleyball. Hooker had been invited to train with the U.S. volleyball team, although she did not make it to the Beijing Olympics.

Stevi Large of Akron won the women’s hammer throw with a toss of 223 feet, 4 inches, and Brianne Theisen of Oregon took the heptathlon with 6,086 points.

Jennifer Barringer of Colorado set a collegiate record in the 3,000 steeplechase with a time of 9:25.54. She had set the previous collegiate record last month. Barringer, an Olympian last year, finished nearly 15 seconds ahead of the rest of the field Friday.