EUGENE, Ore. -- No sooner than Clemson junior Brianna Rollins set the collegiate record in the 100-meter hurdles, she was asked when she was going to break it.
Like, maybe in Saturday's final at the NCAA track and field championships?
"We'll see," she said with a smile.
Rollins broke the record Thursday in her heat of the semifinals at Hayward Field, finishing in a wind-legal 12.47 seconds. That bested the mark of 12.48 set by USC's Ginnie Powell at the 2006 NCAA outdoor championships in Sacramento, Calif. It was also the best time overall in the world this season.
"I was nervous, but very excited," she said. "It is such a blessing to come to the preliminaries and end up breaking a record, which is something that I have been working toward."
Earlier this year, the 21-year old set a championship meet mark in the 60 hurdles with a 7.79 for the NCAA indoor title.
In the men's 10,000 meters, Arizona junior Lawi Lalang pulled far ahead of the pack and raised his arms to the Hayward grandstand on the final stretch as he cruised to the finish in 29 minutes, 29.45 seconds.
The Kenyan won the title in just his third college 10,000. He ran his first at the Pac-12 championships, winning the title in 28:14.63, which was also the second best among college runners this season. He has already set school records in the mile, 3,000 and 5,000 meters.
He's also run in the 5,000 in Eugene on Friday night.
"I wanted to take it easy as possible because I knew that the 5K is coming up on Saturday and it is going to be a hard one," Lalang said.
In other early events Thursday, Virginia Tech freshman Tomas Kruzliak won the hammer title with a throw of 227 feet, 3 inches. Arizona State junior Anna Jelmini won the discus with a throw of 190-1, and LSU senior Damar Forbes won the long jump with 27-4 3/4.
In the women's 200 meter semifinals, fellow LSU senior Kimberlyn Duncan ran a wind-aided 22.15, the fourth-fastest NCAA time in all conditions.
"Even though it's not completely legal, I'll take it," Duncan said.
Duncan is wrapping up a stellar college career. Last year she won the Bowerman Award, the nation's top track and field honor.
She is the only athlete to win the 200 at both the NCAA indoor and outdoor championships in back-to-back years. She won the indoor 200 title earlier this year, so a victory in the finals on Saturday at Hayward Field would give her a three-peat.
Duncan also qualified for Friday's final in the 100.
In the men's 200, USC senior Bryshon Nellum ran a wind-aided 19.99. He'll run the 100 final Friday and the 200 on Saturday.
Nellum redshirted his 2009 season for the Trojans after he was shot in the legs at a party by gang members who thought he was someone else. Told he might not ever reach an elite level on the track again, Nellum beat the odds and finished third at the U.S. Olympic trials in Eugene last year -- earning a spot on the team for the London Games. Nellum was part of the 1,600 relay team that won the silver medal.
"Here I'm running one race each day," he said. "So we're taking it one day at a time. I've got two down and two to go."
Texas freshman Johannes Hock won the decathlon title with 8,267 points, highlighted by his personal-best finish in the 100 meters in 10.69. He also had the best throw in the discus.
At the Big 12 championships, Hock totaled 8,293 for the seventh-best mark in collegiate history.
"I was really confident with all the running we do in the workouts, but it's different to do it in a competition," he said.
The victory boosted Texas in the team standings. The Longhorns lead with 31 points after two days of competition, well ahead of Virginia Tech and Arkansas with 14 apiece. Top-ranked Kansas leads the women with 22 points, ahead of Arizona State with 20.