Rutgers’ Reanda Richards Advances to 400m Hurdle Finals at NCAA Outdoor Championships

The dream is alive and well for Rutgers freshman Reanda Richards, who advanced to the 400m hurdle finals after posting the third fastest qualifying time on Thursday night. She will run for a national title on Saturday night in Austin, Texas.

Richards finished with a time of 56.87 but was just third in her semifinal heat. With the top two runners in each of the three semifinals automatically advancing, Richards had to wait for the final semifinal heat to take place to see if she secured one of the top two other times in order to advance. In fact, it turned out Richards ran in the fastest heat by far and qualified for the 400m hurdle finals with the third fastest time of the night. Watch her run here:

The Big Ten champion also won the NCAA East Regional to qualify for the NCAA Outdoor Championships and came into this even having run the second fastest time in the country this year in the 400m hurdles.

The women’s 400m hurdle finals will take place on Saturday at 7:57 p.m. ET. It will be shown live on ESPN2. Here is the finals field and their qualifying times from Thursday.

Anna Cockrell – USC – 56.05

Jurnee Woodward – LSU – 56.81

Reanda Richards – Rutgers - 56.87

Brittley Humphrey – LSU – 56.94

Brenna Porter – BYU – 57.03

Samantha Gonzalez – Miami – 57.07

Darhian Mills – Washington – 57.43

Gabby Scott – Colorado – 57.50