We just wrote last week about Eastern graduate Jailya Ash, who’s off to a hot start as a freshman at U. Conn.
We have no choice but to post about her again after her big hurdles race at the Armory.
Ash ran 8.54 over the 60-meter highs at the Rutgers Invitational Saturday and placed 5th overall but only 1-10 of a second behind winner Icisys Sadler of Rutgers, who won the race in 8.44.
Another South Jersey hurdler, Rutgers freshman Meredith Updike, also made the final, placing 8th in 8.87 after a PR 8.84 in the prelims.
As for Ash, she lowered her PR from 8.59 from a meet a week earlier also at the Armory.
Ash now ranks 3rd in the Big East behind Villanova sophomore Jane Livingston [8.25] and Butler senior Niki Ezeh [8.43]
She’s also tied for No. 6 on the unofficial all-time U. Conn performance list which I cobbled together last week in lieu of an actual list on the Huskies’ web site.
All-Time UConn 60-meter dash list
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
7.54 … Jailya Ash, 2022
7.56 … Celina Emerson, 2014
7.58 … Danielle Lynn, 2012
7.59 … Antonia Cadore, 2003
Ash didn’t run the flat 60 this weekend, but she’s already No. 5 all-time at U. Conn in the dash with her 7.60 last weekend. Ash and Phylicia George are the only women ranked in the top 6 in school history in both the hurdles and the dash.
All-Time UConn 60-meter hurdles list
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
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 