Huge race at Ocean Breeze for Paul VI senior Aliya Rae Garozzo, who won the 55-meter hurdles at the SJTCA meet in 8.17, a huge PR and the No. 16 time in South Jersey history.
Garozzo led all qualifiers with an 8.36 in the prelims, and that wasn’t far off her PR of 8.29 set last winter when she placed 5th in the Meet of Champions.
In the final, she quickly gapped the field and won easily, finishing 4 1/2 meters ahead of second-place Tamia Welch Smith of Willingboro, who ran 8.84, just shy of her PR of 8.79.
Garozzo’s time is No. 3 in the state this year, behind only Jewel Ash, who ran 8.15 on the same track last week, and Mariah Fede of Paramus Catholic, who ran 8.16 at the Bergen County Championships at the Armory last week.
According to MileSplit’s 2020 U.S. list, Garozzo’s time is No. 17 nationally.
ALL-TIME S.J. 55-METER HURDLES LIST
7.89 … Ste’yce McNeil [Winslow Twp.], 2012
7.89 … Nia Ali [Pleasantville], 2006
7.92 … Carol Lewis [Willingboro], 1981
7.94 … Lenaami Morton [Camden], 2017
7.98 … Nichole Belcher [Woodrow Wilson], 1992
8.01 … Samantha Sharper [Woodrow Wilson], 2008
8.03 … Alethia Jenkins [Pennsauken], 2000
8.03 … Claudine Smith [Atlantic City], 2018
8.04 … Zonya Cross [Edgewood], 1983
8.05 … Sherese Price [Pleasantville], 1998
8.06 … Krystal Cantey [Winslow Twp.], 2006
8.10 … Nichole Hill [Oakcrest], 1997
8.10 … Jailya Ash [Eastern], 2019
8.11 … Cidae’a Woods [Winslow Twp.], 2014
8.15 … Jewel Ash [Eastern], 2020
8.17 … Torie Robinson [Winslow Twp.], 2014
8.17 … Aliya Rae Garozzo [Paul VI], 2020
8.18 … Gabrielle Bennett [Winslow Twp.], 2015
8.18 … Te’seanna Harris [Camden], 2019
8.19 … Brittany Preston [Winslow Twp,], 2016
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 