OCEAN CITY’S SOPHIA CURTIS RUNS 4TH-FASTEST INTERMEDIATE HURDLES IN U.S. AT S.J. GROUP 3 SECTIONALS!!!!!!

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Sophia Curtis opened up a busy sectional weekend with a monster race in the intermediate hurdles.

Curtis, an Ocean City junior, ran the 12th-fastest 400IH race in South Jersey history Friday on Day of the South Jeraey Group 3 sectionals at Delsea.

Curtis – in only her 3rd lifetime 400 hurdles race – ran 1:00.51, finishing 25 meters clear of the field.

Her time is No. 4 in the U.S. this year, according to the MileSplit national database, and it’s the 3rd-fastest ever run at a South Jersey sectional. In 2001, Willingboro’s Danielle Myricks won the Group 3 race – and set the Group 3 record – with a hand-timed 1:00.1. And in 2005, Winslow’s Krystal Cantey won Group 4 in 1:00.12.

Curtis ran for Padua Academy in Wilmington, Del., last year, so she had only run the 300-meter intermediates before this spring. She won the 300IH at the Delaware Meet of Champions in Wilmington last May in 44.51.

She didn’t run her first race over the 400 hurdles until about a month ago, when she ran 1:01.50 at the South Jersey Elite at Delsea. She ran 1:02.05 at the Cape May County Championships in Ocean City two weeks ago.

Curtis is expected to also compete in the triple jump and long jump and possibly one other event.

Curtis is the first Ocean City girl to win a sectional title in the 400 intermediates since Kellie Adams ran 1:04.4 to win the 1994 South Jersey Group 3 race in Bridgeton.

Deptford junior Djassi Dean [1:04.32], Timber Creek sophomore Billie Frazier [1:04.46] and Moorestown sophomore Hannah Byrd-Leitner [1:06.35] all PR’d as well in 2nd, 3rd and 4th place.

All-Time S.J. Girls 400-Meter Hurdles Top-50
56.83 … Krystal Cantey [Winslow Twp.], 2005
59.03 … Tonya Lee [Rancocas Valley], 1988
59.56 … Torie Robinson (Winslow Twp.], 2013
59.66 … Mandie Dulin [Shawnee], 1997
1:00.13 … Arianna Smith [Pennsville], 2019
1:00.16 … Aliya Rae Garozzo [Paul VI], 2018
1:00.1h … Danielle Myricks [Willingboro], 2001
1:00.26 … Helena Leyrer [Buena], 2012
1:00.40 … Diamond McLaughlin [Absegami], 2021
1:00.47 … Shaquanda Meylor [Wilson], 2006
1:00.48 … Ste’yce McNeil [Winslow Twp.], 2012
1:00.51 … Sophia Curtis [Ocean City], 2023
1:00.55 … Katrina Sye [Buena], 1997
1:00.58 … Andrea Olsen [Buena], 2013
1:00.67 … Meredith Updike [Cinnaminson], 2019
1:00.69 … Kristina Keegan [Haddonfield], 2003
1:00.73 … Pam Richardson [Edgewood]., 2001
1:00.79 … Courtney Smith [Penns Grove], 2014
1:00.8h … Brittany Caserta [Highland], 2003
1:00.90 … Medea Ashton [Washington Twp.], 1999

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