Texas senior hurdler Kendrick Smallwood delivered a career-defining performance at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Eugene, Oregon last week, earning silver in the 110-meter hurdles and running one of the fastest times in collegiate history at Hayward Field.
Smallwood finished second with 12.95 seconds, lowering his own school record and becoming the second-best performer in NCAA history in the event, behind Auburn Junior Ja’Kobe Tharp on the same day. The run also made him the first athlete in Texas program history to break the 13-second barrier in the 110-meter hurdles.
For Smallwood, the moment represented the culmination of years of setbacks and incremental progress within the program.
“It’s just so much has went down these past four years at the University of Texas for me,” Smallwood said in a post-race interview with CITIUS MAG. “From injuries to missed buses, it’s so many small things that just led up to this one particular moment.”
The silver medal finish came in a tightly contested final featuring some of the nation’s top hurdlers, in which Smallwood separated himself with one of the fastest collegiate times ever recorded. His performance accounted for Texas’ most significant individual result of the meet and highlighted a strong championship showing for the Longhorns’ sprint and hurdles group.
Smallwood’s rise this season has been marked by consistent breakthroughs, as he repeatedly lowered his personal best and advanced through championship rounds against elite national competition. His final race in Eugene capped that progression with a historic mark that placed him among the all-time greats in the event.
Beyond the time and placement, Smallwood said the performance carried added meaning given the outside doubt and internal challenges he has faced throughout his collegiate career.
“It means just so much to me … and everybody that had so much negative stuff to say about what I could and could not do,” Smallwood told CITIUS. “Just be(ing) able to prove them wrong and prove to myself that I’m able to compete and go sub-13. It just means the world to me.”
Texas finished the NCAA Outdoor Championships with 10 team points, tying for 26th place overall. While the Longhorns did not contend in the team standings, Smallwood’s runner-up finish provided the program’s standout moment of the meet and reinforced his emergence as one of the top sprint hurdlers in collegiate track and field.
The championship capped a season in which Smallwood steadily elevated his national profile, culminating in a performance that placed him among the fastest hurdlers in NCAA history and solidified his status as a cornerstone of Texas’ future in the event.