Eastern graduate Jailya Ash, a sophomore at UConn, won her second straight Big East Conference Championship Saturday, and she did it by the narrowest of margins.
In a race that was decided by 3-1,000ths of a second, Ash edged her long-time rival, Villanova junior Jane Livingston, to win the 100-meter hurdles at the Big East meet at Villanova in Radnor Township.
Ash and Livingston were both credited with identical 13.58 times in the final, but the photo timer credited Ash with a 13.575 and Livingston a 13.578.
That’s about 1.2 inches separating the two athletes.
Ash edged Livingston by 5-100ths of a second to win the indoor Big East title in Chicago over the 60-meter hurdles. Last spring, Livingston edged Ash by 11-100ths of a second for the title.
In the trials on Friday, Ash ran a PR 13.57 with a legal wind (0.9). We went through this last year, but UConn’s web site is a disgrace – the most recent list of Huskies conference champions is from 2015 – but I went through the last eight years of Big East results it looks like Ash is the first UConn woman in program history to sweep the high hurdles at the indoor and outdoor Big East Championships.
Last spring I went through 20 years of TFRRS pages to determine that Ash’s 13.58 at last year’s conference meet was the fastest by a Connecticut hurdler since 13.39 by Phylicia George at the 2010 Big East meet in Cincinnati and the No. 2 time in Huskies history.
A’liyah Thomas, a current UConn sophomore, actually ran 13.45 this year in a meet in Storrs to presumably move into the No. 2 spot on the non-existent UConn all-time list, but she did not race in the hurdles in the conference meet.
And a plea to UConn’s sports information and athletic departments: Update the women’s track information on your web site, like every other Division 1 college. Put together all-time indoor and outdoor men’s and women’s performance lists, like every other Division 1 college. List all-tine conference champions somewhere on your web site, like every other Division 1 college. Thanks.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 