The two fastest entrants in the men’s 60 meters at the NCAA Indoor Championships 2022 didn’t advance to the final of the event on Friday after both sprinters made a premature exit in the heats for respective false starts. Read more: Day 1: Order of events for the NCAA D1 Indoor Championships 2022
After a long delay due to the adjustments made to the track, defending champion Micah Williams was disqualified from heat one for moving out of his starting blocks too early. The Oregon sophomore immediately covered his face in disappointment prior to receiving the red card from the official.
Williams came into the championships as the second-fastest among collegiate athletes in 2022 with a time of 6.48 seconds, but it now looks like the Ducks star will have to watch the decider from the stands.
Also leaving the competition early was the world-leader Terrence Jones, who after a faulty start, returned to blatantly jumped out of the starting blocks before the command from the starter.
The Texas Tech freshman who started in the second semi-final heat, had not run since mid-February and he clearly didn’t look comfortable or confident before the start of his race.
Favour Ashe and Matthew Boling
Meanwhile, Favour Ashe of the University of Tennessee posted the fastest time from the semi-finals in the 60m after he recovered from a poor start to cross the finish line in a new PB of 6.51 seconds. Ashe was expected to be in a close battle with Williams in the first heat, but that clash didn’t materialize.
Advancing to the final as well is Matthew Boling, who also needed to claw back the field after a dreadful start to improve his PB to 6.56 seconds. Boling progressed to the final with the second-fastest time.
Also securing passages into the men’s 60m final on Saturday were Rikkoi Brathwaite of Indiana who ran 6.56 for second place in Boling’s heat, Wisconsin’s Lawrence Johnson who ran 6.57, along with three USC sprinters, Davonte Burnett (6.58), Brendon Stewart (6.58) and Kasaun James (6.59), as well as Florida State’s Don’dre Swint (6.60).
