Sincere Rhea Wins Wild Hurdle Race at Big Ten Championships


Sincere Rhea won one of the wildest 60-meter hurdle races you'll ever see when he crossed the line in 7.80 to became the first conference champion in that event in Penn State history at Saturday's Big Ten Championships at the SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio. 

Rhea, a sophomore who starred at NJ's St. Augustine Prep, won the blanket finish by the slimmest of margins with a great lean to place 1-100th of a second in front of sophomore Gratt Reed of Iowa (7.81). Iowa senior Josh Braverman was third in 7.82, Iowa junior Jamal Britt  fourth (7.82), and sophomore Josh Zeller of Michigan also ran 7.82 for fifth.

See for yourself just how close it was in this video-

Rhea, the first Penn State athlete to win a conference title in the high hurdles (indoors or outdoors), just missed his PR of 7.76, which is No. 2 in school history. His 7.76 came in the trials at the Big Ten Championships last year when Rhea finished third in the final. The Penn State school record that Rhea is chasing is held by another Jersey standout, Guy Rose. Rose, an All-Stater at Wayne Hills High, set the Penn State record of 7.69 in 2001.   

During his days at St. Augustine, Rhea won the 60m hurdles at 2019 New Balance Championships, captured three Meet of Champions titles (two indoors in the 55m HH) and the 400 outdoors at the M of C, and he ran 13.52 in the HH, No. 3 in NJ history.