Eric Futch of the University of Florida took home his second straight win in the 400-meter hurdles at the NCAA Division I Championships in Eugene.
Futch ran a big personal best of 48.32 to take home the title to win the event for a second straight season. The former Penn Wood High School (Lansdowne, Pa.) standout also earned an important ten points towards the team battle, which Florida narrowly ended up winning.
Futch went out conservatively, but he closed very hard to edge out UCLA's Raj Benjamin at the line by .01 for the win. In the early going of the race, Texas A&M's Robert Grantwent out hard before falling on a hurdle with a less than 200 meters to go in the lane next to Futch.
Futch later supplied the second leg on Florida's 4x400-meter relay. The Gators came into the race needing a fifth place finish or better to lock up the team title. While Texas A&M won the race in a blazing 2:59.98, Florida, behind a 43.89 anchor leg split from freshman Grant Holloway, took fourth in 3:01.90 to edge out A&M for the team title 61.5 to 59.5.
Watch the race above and check out an interview with Futch after the race and team title:
MORE NCAA DIVISION I CHAMPS COVERAGE
| MENS 400 METER HURDLES FINALS | ALL RESULTS | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PLACE | ATHLETE | TEAM | RESULT | WIND | H# | |
| 1 | Eric Futch | University of Florida | 48.32 | 1 | ||
| 2 | Rai Benjamin | UCLA | 48.33 | 1 | ||
| 3 | Kemar Mowatt | University of Arkansas | 48.49 | 1 | ||
| 4 | Kenny Selmon | University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill | 48.60 | 1 | ||
| 5 | Desmond Palmer | University of Pittsburgh | 49.63 | 1 | ||
| 6 | Tj Holmes | University of Florida | 49.98 | 1 | ||
| 7 | David Kendziera | University of Illinois | 50.78 | 1 | ||
| 8 | Robert Grant | Texas A&M University | 1:20.79 | 1 | ||
