June 10, 2004

Austin, Texas - Richard Phillips was business-like on Thursday evening as he went out and calmly won his heat of the 110-meter hurdles, advancing to Friday's finals at the NCAA Track and Field Championships in Austin, Texas.

Phillips, who was an Indoor All-American this past season when he finished fourth in the 60-meter hurdles, had the fourth fastest time in the preliminaries. He did better than teammate Ricardo Melbourne, who was 19th out of the 26 competitors in the event.

Phillips will be chasing Josh Walker, whose 13.42 in the prelim was the fastest wind-legal collegiate time run this year. Antwon Hicks of Mississippi and Joel Brown of Ohio State each ran a 13.47. Phillips' time was 13.51. Phillips, the school record-holder in the 110-meter hurdles, defeated Walker two weeks ago at the NCAA East Regional Meet, beating him by .20 seconds. Phillips' personal best is 13.50.

The 110-meter hurdle finals are scheduled for 9 p.m. CST on Friday. Earlier on Friday, Marc Kellman will compete in the prelims of the triple jump. That competition is slated for an 8:30 p.m. CST start.