From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank

Eastern graduate Jailya Ash has only run the 60 in one meet this winter for U. Conn and she’s only hurdled in two meets for the Huskies.

But she’s already in the all-time Connecticut top-10 in both events.

First of all, let’s talk about the U. Conn all-time top-10. While most big-time track programs have updated all-time performance lists, which we always link to in our posts, Connecticut hasn’t bothered with one since 2012.

In fact, nobody has even updated the “history” section of the women’s track site in five years.

And if you click on the “2014 women’s track media guide,” you get a hockey media guide!

What are you doing up there in Storrs, U. Conn sports info? Talk about no respect for the track program!

But we wanted too see where Ash ranked in U. Conn history with her hot start this winter so we compiled our own U. Conn all-time top-10 lists!

We started out with the list in the 2012 media guide, the most recent performance list Connecticut put together, and then updated it each year with marks from the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association’s TFRRS (Track and Field Results Reporting Service). We also went back to 2007 to make sure we weren’t missing any older marks that had been missed.

And here’s what we learned:

Ash ran 7.60 in the 60-meter dash finals (after a 7.62 in the trials) at the Beantown Challenge at Harvard’s Gordon Track and Tennis Center last month, and that marks is tied for 10th in U. Conn history and fastest since 2014.

Ash has hurdled twice – going 8.64 at Ocean Breeze two weeks ago and then 8.59 this past weekend at the Armory. Her 8.59 from Saturday is No. 5 in Huskies history and again fastest since 2014.

Ash is one of only two women in U. Conn history to appear on the all-time top-10 in both the 60-meter dash and the 60-meter hurdles. The other is Canadian Phylicia George, who set the school record in the hurdles at 8.24 in 2010 and ranks No. 6 in the 60-meter dash at 7.49 from 2009.

Since you can’t find these on U. Conn’s web site, here are the all-time Huskies indoor top-10s I came up with:

Connecticut All-Time 60-Meter Dash Top-10
7.26 … Trisha-Ann Hawthorne, 2011
7.40 … Taylor Anderson, 2014
7.41 … Jessie Foreman, 2007
7.43 … Monique Hodges, 2009
7.49 … Deysha Smith-Jenkins, 2014
7.54 … Phylicia George, 2009
7.56 … Celina Emerson, 2014
7.58 … Danielle Lynn, 2012
7.59 … Antonia Cadore, 2003
7.60 … Sheila McCabe, 1980
7.60 … Jailya Ash, 2022

Connecticut All-Time 60-Meter Hurdles Top-10
8.24 … Phylicia George, 2010
8.33 … April Garner, 2005
8.45 … Madalayne Smith, 2012
8.55 … Chantal Scott, 2014
8.59 … Jailya Ash, 2022
8.61 … Shavon Briscoe, 2012
8.61 … Tia Strackman, 2018
8.62 … Ashley Wiggins, 2017
8.63 … Toni-Ann Moore, 2015
8.67 … Gillian Flemmings, 2002

Ash will be back in action this weekend in the David Hemery Valentine Invitational at Boston University.

We wrote last week about Ash’s sister Jewel, who runs track for Charleston Southern. You can find that post here.