Washington Township junior Yashahya Brown continued his attack on the record book Friday with a state-leading performance in the 55-meter hurdles at the Bubble.
Brown ran 7.44 at the Olympic Conference #2 meet, eclipsing his PR of 7.46 that he set earlier this month at Ocean Breeze.
Brown ranks 6th nationally according to the MileSplit database and No. 2 among underclassmen, behind Colton Westlake of St. Clairsville (Ohio) High School, who ran 7.40 at the Dyson Baudo Rec Center in Marietta, Ohio.
His time is also No. 19 in South Jersey history and No. 4 on the all-time Gloucester County list.
Brown bumped senior Nathaniel Rayan of Scotch Plains-Fanwood from the No. 1 spot in New Jersey this year. Rayan ran 7.45 at the Metropolitan Invitational earlier this week at the Armory.
The Minutemen have two of the top-six hurdlers in the state with Brown and senior Kanye Mills, who ran a PR 7.64 earlier this month at Ocean Breeze. Mills ran a 5-second 800 PR of 2:00.29 Friday at the bubble.
Brown is the fastest underclassman in New Jersey since Sincere Rhea of St. Augustine, who’s now at Miami, ran 7.35 to win the 2018 Meet of Champions at the Bubble.
Here’s a look at the all-time South Jersey top-20:
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
7.44 … Yashahya Brown [Washington Twp.], 2023
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 