Ocean City’s Sophia Curtis extended her outdoor PR and was the top American finisher in the triple jump at the 127th annual Penn Relays Friday at Franklin Field.
Curtis, who set a South Jersey record of 41-3 ¼ at Boston Nationals last month, improved her No. 3 mark in South Jersey history Friday, placing 2nd with a 40-10 ¼.
That’s only a quarter of an inch off the No. 2 mark in South Jersey history – a 40-10 ½ by Northern Burlington’s Ashley Edwards in 2014 at Greensboro Nationals. Atlantic City’s Claudine Smith, now at Rutgers, set the South Jersey mark of 42-2 at the 2019 Meet of Champions at Northern Burlington.
Jade-Ann Dawkins of St. Jago in St. Catherine, Jamaica, had the five-best jumps of the competition, including the winning 42-8 ¾, which she hit on her 2nd attempt and repeated on her 3rd.
Curtis was in 6th place until she sailed 40-10 ½ on her final attempt, moving past four competitors. Until her final attempt, Curtis’s best jump was 39-0 ¼, which she did twice – on her 3rd and 5th attempts (with identical -0.6 wind).
On her clutch final jump, she passed Morgan Bridges of Bullis School of Potomac, Md. [39-6], Julia Dial of Thomas Edison of Alexandria, Va. [39-8 ½] and Llyric Driscoll of Western Branch of Chesapeake, Va. [40-7 ½].
Curtis is the top triple jumper in New Jersey by nearly two feet. Union Catholic’s Alexandra Bonn placed 8th Friday at 38-2 ¼, and sophomore I’mara Ford of Moorestown is No. 3 with her 38-1 ¼ at the Lenape Invitational.
Curtis is No. 15 in the U.S. according to the MileSplit national database and the No. 4 junior.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 