“That means everything to me,” Henderson said after stepping down from the podium. “Only the top eight in the nation get to call themselves that, and I’m one of them. It’s just really special.”
After qualifying for the final with a personal best of 20.29 on Wednesday, Henderson was hopeful that he would improve on the sixth-place finish that he achieved at last year’s NCAAs.
“I was pretty comfortable coming into the race,” Henderson said. “But once the gun sounded, I messed up and didn’t run my race — I was running everyone else’s race. That wasn’t because of nerves, though, that was — I don’t know what I was thinking.