Rancocas Valley senior Anabella Chin handed nationally 7th-ranked Ajanae Thompson of Union Catholic her first hurdles loss of the year Saturday and won the 55-meter hurdles at the 43rd annual Meet of Champions at the Bubble.
The race was so close nobody knew who won until the FAT timers studied the photo and declared Chin the winner.
Chin edged Thompson by 1-100th of a second, winning the race in 8.22 with Thompson second at 8.23. Union Catholic’s Taylor Cox was 3rd in 8.30. Thompson placed 2nd last spring in the outdoor Meet of Champions behind Eastern’s Jailya Ash.
In the span of eight days, Chin won her first state title, won the Eastern States title and then became the second R.V. girl to win a Meet of Champions individual title. Aliyah Taylor won the 200 in 2017.
Chin ran within 1-100th of a second of her PR of 8.21, which she ran on a much faster track at the Armory at Easterns on Tuesday. She’s currently ranked 10th in the U.S. according to MileSplit’s national database.
In the trials, Thompson led all qualifiers with a 7.27, and Chin and Taylor Cox of Union Catholic each ran 8.31.
That placed Thompson in lane 4 for the final and Chin in lane 5 for the electrifying final.
Chin is the first Burlington County girl to win the Meet of Champions 55-meter hurdles in 41 years. Two-time Olympic long jumper Carol Lewis of Willingboro won the race in 1980 and 1981.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 