Washington Township junior Yashahya Brown moved into the No. 1 spot in New Jersey in the 55-meter hurdles over the weekend at Ocean Breeze.
Brown ran a personal-best and school-record 7.46 to win the hurdles at the Ocean Breeze Freedom Games in Staten Island.
That’s No. 4 in Gloucester County history
Brown, who didn’t break 8.0 as a sophomore, had just set a PR of 7.51 at the Armory in December. He lowered that to 7.50 in the trials at Ocean Breeze before hitting 7.46 in the final.
The previous school record was 7.49, set in 2010 by Devon Carter when he won at Easterns at the Armory.
He and senior teammate Kanye Mills went 1-2, with Mills placing 2nd in 7.64. Sterling senior Samuel Agbessi ran 5th in a PR 7.86, giving South Jersey three of the top five finishes.
Mills’ previous PR was a 7.70 from last year’s indoor South Jersey Group 4 meet at the Bubble. Agbessi’s was 8.28 from last year’s Easterns.
All three are outstanding intermediate hurdles outdoors. Mills ran 55.06 last spring, Agbessi ran 57.17 and Brown ran 55.88 over the summer.
Here’s the full list of all hurdlers in South Jersey history who’ve run 7.50 or faster, with Brown in the No. 21 spot:
7.10 … Sincere Rhea [St. Augustine], 2019
7.18 … Sultan Tucker [Delsea], 1996
7.22 … Dwight Ruff [Camden], 2001
7.22 … Isaac Williams [Willingboro], 2012
7.29 … Nate Harley [Pleasantville], 1996
7.29 … Danyne Brown [Camden], 1999
7.29 … Anthony Acklin [Triton], 2001
7.29 … Will Brown [Palmyra], 2006
7.31 … Anthony Vasquez [Egg Harbor Twp.], 2020
7.32 … Jon Dickey [Penns Grove], 1985
7.34 … Chais Hill [Highland], 2015
7.35 … Gerard Reynolds [Willingboro], 1990
7.39 … Rashad Baker [Wilson], 2000
7.39 … Isaiah Lewis [Winslow Twp.], 2020
7.42 … Kevon Brown [West Deptford], 2009
7.42 … Naseem Smith [Deptford], 2019
7.43 … Danyne Brown [Camden], 1999
7.43 … Edwin Alston [Winslow Twp.], 2015
7.44 … Lance Reed [Willingboro], 1983
7.45 … Kevin Hagamin [Timber Creek], 2014
7.46 … Herb Reid [Lenape], 1999
7.46 … Syteek Farrington [Camden], 2010
7.46 … Yashahya Brown [Washington Twp.], 2023
7.47 … Diandre Chandler [Camden], 1986
7.47 … Darius Holmes [Willingboro], 2012
7.48 … Reuben McCoy [Winslow Twp.], 2004
7.48 … Tyrell Ross [Clearview], 2005
7.49 … Devon Carter [Washington Twp.], 2010
7.49 … Vince Rawlins [Eastern], 1991
7.49 … Chris Nichols [Willingboro], 1991
7.49 … Sam Aviles [Palmyra], 2019
7.49 … Donovan Wright [Burlington Twp.], 2020
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 