Claudine Smith turned in an absolute monster double at the Meet of Champions Saturday, cementing her status as an all-time South Jersey great in two events!
Smith, a senior at Atlantic City High, won the triple jump with the third-best jump in state history and placed a close second in the high hurdles with the sixth-fastest time in state history!
That’s incredible!
Smith increased her triple jump PR from 41-6 to 42-2 in winning her first outdoor Meet of Champions title. She won the indoor M-of-C high hurdles title this past winter.
She extended her own South Jersey and Atlantic County records and improved her No. 3 mark in state history behind only Olympian and American record holder Keturah Orji of Mount Olive (44-11 in 2013) and Charlene Cummings of Englewood (42-3 3/4 in 1998).
She became only the second Atlantic City girl ever to win a Meet of Champions title. Kim Warren won the discus at 138-10 in 2006.
Smith is the first South Jersey girl to win the Meet of Champions triple jump title since Jessica Mills of West Deptford won with a 39-6 back in 2005.
In meet history, only Orji has jumped farther. She won in 2013 at 42-6 1/2 and in 2014 with a 44-1 1/2.
Smith’s 42-2 makes her No. 2 in the U.S. this year according to the MileSplit database, behind only Jasmine Moore of Mansfield Lake Ridge in Mansfield, Texas. She went 44-10 at the University Scholastic League Championships last month at Mike Myers Stadium at the University of Texas in Austin, also the site of the NCAA Championships this past weekend.
And then there’s the hurdles!
Smith lowered her PR from 13.80, which she ran at states, to 13.67 when she placed a close second to Grace O’Shea in the hurdles final Saturday.
O’Shea ran a personal-best 13.55 in the trials, with Smith going 14.10, but it was very close in the final, with O’Shea edging Smith by just 9-100ths of a second — 13.58 to 13.67.
The 13.55 and 13.67 rank No. 5 and No. 7 in state history and No. 4 and 6 in meet history. It’s No. 20 nationally, according to the MileSplit database.
Smith ran within 2-100ths of a second of the South Jersey (and Atlantic County) record of 13.65, set in 2006 by Pleasantville’s Nia Ali, who went on to win the 2016 Olympic silver medal in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
ALL-TIME N.J. 100-METER HURDLES LIST
13.20 … Dawn Bowles (Neptune), 1985
13.34 … Sydney McLaughlin (Union Catholic), 2014
13.35 … Charmaine Walker (Plainfield), 1997
13.50 … Porscha Dobson (Kent Plaeace), 2003
13.55 … Grace O’Shea (Ramapo), 2019
13.65 … Nia Ali (Pleasantville), 2006
13.67 … Patricia Dziekonska (West Windsor-Plains. North), 2014
13.67 … Claudine Smith (Atlantic City), 2019
13.71 … Lanyka Brown (Metuchen), 1996
13.72 … Nichole Hill (Oakcrest), 1997
13.73 … Kim Turko (North Edison), 1997
13.77 … Amber Williams (Roxbury), 2001
13.78 … Lakeema Lewis (Plainfield), 1998
13.79 … Stey’ce McNeil (Winslow Twp.), 2012
13.80 … Claudine Smith [Atlantic City], 2019
13.82 … Trier Young (Neptune), 2005
13.82 … Grace O’Shea (Ramapo), 2019
13.84 … Lenaami Morton (Camden), 2017
13.85 … Carol Lewis (Willingboro), 1980
13.85 … Danielle Delgado (Franklin Twp.), 2013
13.85 … Sherese Price (Pleasantville), 1998
13.86 … Amaya Chadwick (Union Catholic), 2017
13.88 … Zonya Cross (Edgewood), 1983
13.88 … Amber Williams (Roxbury), 2001
13.89 … Dashana Ransome (Irvington), 2012
13.90 … Kim Henry (Old Bridge), 2003
13.91 … Kayann Richards (Columbia), 2010
13.91 … Samantha Jensen (Central Regional), 2012
13.95 … Selena Lewis (Elizabeth), 1998
13.95 … Morgan Harvey (North Hunterdon), 2013
13.96 … Ashley Adams (Plainfield), 2006
13.98 … Tramaine Shaw (Piscataway), 2004
13.98 … Cidae’a Woods (Winslow Twp.), 2014
13.99 … Imani Gilliam (Pennsauken), 2004
13.99 … Tionna Tobias (Winslow Twp.), 2019
ALL-TIME N.J. TRIPLE JUMP LIST
44-11 … Keturah Orji [Mount Olive], 2013
42-2 3/4 … Charlene Cummings [Englewood], 1998
42-0 ….… Claudine Smith [Atlantic City], 2019
41-7 1/2 … Mahogany Jenkins [Watchung Hills], 2019
40-10 1/4 … Ashley Edwards [Northern Burlington], 2014
40-9 1/2 … Iana Amsterdam [Essex Tech], 2013
40-7 3/4 … Kayla Richardson [Columbia], 2013
40-7 … Shenaie Herber [JFK Paterson], 2008
40-6 3/4 … Tiffany Bautista [Paramus Catholic], 2018
40-6 1/4 … Essence Mayers [Lakewood], 2011
40-6 … Jordan Fields [Columbia], 2016
40-5 ….. Nnenna Ibe [North Brunswick], 2015
40-4 1/2 … Adefunke Sonaike [Montgomery], 2011
40-3 1/4 … Ebony Young [Hillsborough], 2009
40-1 1/4 … Kaitlin Salisbury [Hawthorne], 2016
40-1 …… Domonique Pantin [Freehold Twp.], 2015
40-0 1/4 … Stephanie McIntyre [South Brunswick], 2007
40-0 ……….Bonvie Fosam [Robbinsville], 2017
40-0 ………. Ada Unachukwu [Marlboro], 2009
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 