Pennsauken’s Sianni Wynn on Saturday became the first South Jersey freshman in 16 years to record at double win at indoor states.
Wynn not only won the 55 and the 400 at the Group 3 meet, she earned the No. 1 seed at Meet of Champions in both events with the fastest times from among the six state meets over the weekend at the Bubble in Toms River.
Wynn won the 55-meter dash in 7.09 – just a fraction off her PR of 7.06, which she’s run twice – and won the 400 in 57.26 – not far off her PR of 56.98 from Ocean Breeze earlier this month.
She’s the first South Jersey girl to record a double win at states as a freshman since Eastern’s English Gardner won the same two events in the state Group 4 meet in 2007 at the Bubble. Gardner won the 55 in 7.10 (after a 7.05 in the trials) and the 400 in 56.44. She went on to win both at the Meet of Champions in 7.08 and 56.29 and won an Olympic gold medal as part of the U.S. 4-by-100 team at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
In the 55, Wynn led all qualifiers with a 7.25 in the trials before running away with the final, finishing 1-10th of a second ahead of Timber Creek junior Naylah Jones, who ran 7.19.
In the 400, Wynn won by five meters over versatile Ocean City junior Sophia Curtis, who PR’d at 57.99 for second and lowered her own Cape May County record. She also broke her own county 55 hurdles record Saturday when she placed second in 8.42. Curtis, in her first year at Ocean City, now holds Cape May County records in the 55 hurdles, 400 and triple jump and she could probably break the long jump record if she tried.
The Meet of Champions is scheduled for March 5 at Ocean Breeze, and Wynn is the No. 1 seed in the 55 by 1-100th of a second over Union Catholic’s Taylor Aska, who ran 7.10 to win the Parochial A race, and No. 1 seed in the 400 over Brook’lyn Drakeford of Piscataway, who ran 57.28 to win the Group 4 race.
Wynn ranks No. 12 in South Jersey history in the 55 and No. 20 in the 400. On the all-time Camden County list, she’s No. 5 in the 55 and No. 7 in the 400. She’s the fastest freshman in the 55 in New Jersey since Gardner in 2007 and fastest freshman in the 400 since another Olympic gold medalist, world 400 hurdles record holder Sydney McLaughlin of Union Catholic, ran 56.15 in 2014.
All-Time South Jersey 55-Meter Dash List
6.75y … Michelle Glover [Willingboro], 1981
6.90y … Patti Dunlap [Camden], 1979
6.91 … English Gardner [Eastern], 2010
6.95 … Bria Mack [Williamstown], 2017
6.95 … Torie Robinson [Winslow Twp.], 2014
6.95 … Denise Mitchell [Edgewood], 1983
6.98 … Lauren Princz [Egg Harbor Twp.], 2020
7.00 … Amandi Rhett [Moorestown], 2000
7.00 … Iyanli Kollock [Our Lady of Mercy], 2017
7.01 … Aliyah Taylor [Rancocas Valley], 2017
7.05 … Dana Burnett [Williamstown], 1996
7.06 … Jailya Ash [Eastern], 2019
7.06 … Sianni Wynn [Pennsauken], 2023
7.07 … Aliya Harrison [Sterling], 2018
7.07 … Dennisha Page [Woodrow Wilson], 2019
7.07 … Annie Johnson [Shawnee], 2012
7.07 … Audrey Wilson [Deptford], 2009
7.07 … Magenta Taylor [Willingboro], 1999
7.07 … Angela Clyburn [Egg Harbor Twp.], 1991
7.09 … Ste’yce McNeil [Winslow Twp.], 2012
7.09 … Emily Carson [Haddonfield], 2013
All-Time South Jersey 400-Meter Dash List
54.24 … Okechi Ogbuokiri [Willingboro], 2003
54.91 … Nijgia Snapp [Oakcrest], 2008
55.16 … Krystal Cantey [Winslow Twp.], 2006
55.19 … Michelle Brown [Seneca], 2008
55.21 … Aliyah Taylor [Rancocas Valley], 2017
55.4h … English Gardner [Eastern], 2008
55.6h … Denise Mitchell [Edgewood], 1984
55.83 … Kiara Lester [Deptford], 2016
56.19 … Nylah Perry [Winslow], 2020
56.21 … Dana Burnett [Williamstown], 1997
56.34 … Katrina Sye [Buena], 1997
56.44 … Avionne Sloan [Camden], 2006
56.62 … Ste’yce McNeil [Winslow Twp.], 2012
56.65 … Britney Kott [Millville], 2009
56.76 … Simone Thomas [Willingboro], 2003
56.78 … Ajae Alvarez-Tyler [Egg Harbor Twp.], 2018
56.85 … Emily Duffey [Lenape], 2012
56.88 … Marcene Jack [Mainland Reg.], 2004
56.90 … Nadia Davy [Bridgeton], 1999
56.98 … Jade Pope [Pennsauken], 2020
56.98 … Sianni Wynn [Pennsauken], 2023
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 