Ronnie Ash stepped up to the challenge and maintained his focus through a much hyped competition between himself and Jason Richardson of South Carolina, in the 110m Hurdles. Ash won the 60m Hurdles Indoor title earlier this year and was looking to make a sweep of the NCAA short hurdling titles. Ash went beyond expectations, not only defeating Richardson, but also cutting a significant amount off his previous best times, and blowing out the competition. Ash finished in a career-best time of 13.27 seconds, ahead of Richardson at 13.49, to claim the national outdoor title.
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| Ash clearing the final hurdle in the lead; taking his spot atop the awards podium |
"I knew Jason [Richardson] was going to come out hard," commented Ash following the race. "I think he may have slipped out of the blocks a little bit, and that was the only window I needed. It feels good to defend my indoor title against a field like this. I knew I had to bring my A-game, and I did."
Today's event was a very pressure-filled race, with high expectations from those who follow the sport, pitting the nation's top hurdlers in a head-to-head showdown with a title on the line. Ash also had an aspiration to sweep the short hurdling titles (as the 60m Hurdles Indoor champion) on his mind as well. "I tried not to second-guess myself about winning indoor and outdoor championships," said Ash of his focus for this meet, "but I doubled-up on them [titles] and got it done. That's why I'm truly excited; I can't even explain it."
Following the race, Ash found an overjoyed coach waiting for him, as B-CU Head Coach Garfield Ellenwood II showed his enthusiasm and could barely hold back his emotion. "Considering the fact that Ronnie is willing to listen to what I'm trying to teach him," Ellenwood said with a proud smile on his face, "you can't top having an athlete like that, who is willing to buy into everything you tell him to do. If you believe in what I'm trying to work out of you, you will have some success; in this case, it was a great success."
"Today has showed that people need to respect the MEAC as whole in Track & Field, considering how many athletes we had in the finals here," added Ellenwood, giving a nod to the four other conference schools with NCAA finals competitors.
In addition to his title sweep, Ash added another dubious honor to his career accolades, as he joined Redhead in being named a USTFCCCA All-American. This is his third time overall as a member of this distinguished group, and the second for outdoor Track & Field.
Ash is only a sophomore at Bethune-Cookman and is already among the national elite, leaving plenty of room for improvement among the world's best over the remainder of his career as a Wildcat of Bethune-Cookman Track & Field. With the completion of today's events, B-CU as a team came away with 23rd place nationally on the men's side, despite only coming with four events.
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