From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank

Rancocas Valley senior Anabella Chin raced away from the field and won the 55-meter hurdles Tuesday night at Easterns in commanding fashion.

Chin ran a personal-best 8.21 – No. 22 in South Jersey history – and beat 2^nd-place Rahway junior Nyjae Shipley by nearly 1 ½ meters. Shipley placed 2^nd in 8.43.

Chin led all qualifiers in the preliminary heats in 8.33 and in the semifinals in 8.31. In the final, racing in lane 4 in the middle of the track at the 168^th Street Armory, she blew away her PR of 8.28, which she ran in the prelims at the state Group 4 meet Saturday at the Bubble in Toms River.

Her time is No. 2 in Burlington County history, behind only two-time long jump Olympian Carol Lewis, who ran 7.92 in a meet at the Spectrum in Philadelphia in 1981. 

Chin becomes the 4^th Rancocas Valley girl to win an Easterns title in the meet’s 47-year history. Tonya Lee won the long jump in 1988, Aliyah Taylor the 400 in 2017 and Bethany Biggi in the pole vault in 2019.

Her time is No. 10 in the U.S. on the MileSplit national performance list.

She is the 9^th South Jersey girl to win the Easterns high hurdles title but the first from Burlington County.

Here’s a look at the previous winners:
1983 … Zonya Cross (Edgewood, N.J.), 8.04y
1998 … Sherese Price (Pleasantville, N.J.), 8.06
2000 … Alethia Jenkins (Pennsauken, N.J.), 8.03
2006 … Nia Ali (Pleasantville, N.J.), 7.89
2008 … Samantha Sharper (Woodrow Wilson, N.J.), 8.01
2012 … Ste’cye McNeil (Winslow, N.J.), 7.89
2014 … Cidae’a Woods (Winslow, N.J.), 8.12
2018 … Claudine Smith (Atlantic City, N.J.), 8.05

All-Time South Jersey 55HH 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
7.98 … Tionna Tobias [Winslow Twp.], 2019
8.01 … Samantha Sharper [Woodrow Wilson], 2008
8.03 … Alethia Jenkins [Pennsauken], 2000
8.03 … Jailya Ash [Eastern], 2020
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
8.11 … 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
8.21 … Anabella Chin [Rancocas Valley], 2022
8.22 … Jamillah Nock [Wilson], 2004
8.23 … Tierra Hooker [Timber Creek], 2019
8.24 … Malea Broome [Millville], 2019
8.26 … Jane Sharper [Woodrow Wilson], 2006
8.28 … Jasmine Staten [Lenape], 2016
8.29 … Keisha Williams [Camden], 2015
8.29 … Meredith Updike [Cinnaminson], 2020
8.30 … Joshonda Johnson [Absegami],2017
8.31 … Bryanna Craig [Millville], 2020