Timber Creek junior Naylah Jones moved into the all-time South Jersey top-25 in the 55-meter dash Saturday in her 2022-23 season debut.
Jones’s PR before Saturday was 7.36 from her 3rd-place finish in the state Group 3 meet last year at the Bubble. She lowered that to 7.23 in the trials Saturday at the Coaches Hall of Fame Invitational at the Armory before blazing a 7.16 in the final.
Her time is No. 12 in Camden County history and only 5-100ths of a second outside the all-time Camden County top-10.
Jones placed 3rd in the final, behind two girls from Nassau County, N.Y. – Ashley Fulton of Elmont (7.07) and Sariah Doresca of Baldwin (7.10). Their times rank 6th, 9th and 13th nationally in the early going this indoor season on the MileSplit U.S. database.
Jones shaved 3-100ths of a second off the Timber Creek school record, which was held by Adia Starnes, who ran 7.19 in the trials of the 2017 Ocean Breeze Invitational. She went on to place 4th in the Meet of Champions on the slower Bubble track in 7.28.
Here’s a look at all the girls in Camden County history who’ve run 7.20 or faster:
6.90y … Patti Dunlap [Camden], 1979
6.91 … English Gardner [Eastern], 2010
6.95 … Torie Robinson [Winslow Twp.], 2014
6.95 … Denise Mitchell [Edgewood], 1983
7.06 … Jailya Ash [Eastern], 2019
7.07 … Aliya Harrison [Sterling], 2018
7.07 … Dennisha Page [Woodrow Wilson], 2019
7.09 … Ste’yce McNeil [Winslow Twp.], 2012
7.09 … Emily Carson [Haddonfield], 2013
7.11 … Jamie Walker [Haddon Hts.], 2006
7.12 … Asante Johnson [Camden], 2009
7.16 … Naylah Jones [Timber Creek], 2023
7.17 … Krystal Cantey [Winslow Twp.], 2006
7.19 … Adia Starnes [Timber Creek], 2017 —
7.20 … Medina Salaam [Camden], 1994
7.20 … Fametta Lewis [Wilson], 2007
7.20 … Cidae’a Woods [Winslow Twp.], 2013
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 