Clayton junior Tiaija Hampton did something at states this weekend that no Clayton girl had done in nearly two decades.
She won.
Hampton won the Group 1 55-meter dash in 7.30 to edge Rebecca Kneppel of Butler, who had posted the fastest qualifying time in the trials. Kneppel ran 7.34 in the trials to Hampton’s 7.38.
The Clayton girls won the 1,600-meter relay at states in 2003 and the 400-meter relay at states last year with the team of Catherine Copeland, Gabrielle Dillard, Hampton and Hannah Halikman.
But Hampton is Clayton’s first individual state track champion indoors or outdoors in 19 years, since Jackie Nicholson won the intermediate hurdles in 1:05.02 at the 1999 state Group 1 meet in South Plainfield.
Hampton, a first-year indoor runner, has lowered her PR from 7.66 in December to 7.46 in January to her personal-best and school-record 7.27 in February, which she ran at sectionals.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 