Pennsville’s Arianna Smith, in her first 400 hurdles race ever for Rutgers, picked up a victory and ran the 4th-fastest time in school history.
Smith ran 59.55 to win the 400-meter intermediates at the South Florida Invitational in Tampa. It was her first 400IH race in almost a year, since she ran her PR of 57.84 and set a Princeton school record when she placed 2nd in the Ivy League Championships at Franklin Field in May.
Smith is a grad student at Rutgers. The Ivy League does not allow graduate students to compete in intercollegiate athletics.
The only women in Rutgers history to run faster than Smith are Lori McCauley of Pennridge High in East Rockhill Township, Bucks County [55.69 in 1984 in Colorado Springs], Reanda Richards of West Essex High in North Caldwell [56.31 in Jacksonville in 2019] and Danielle Hobson of West Orange [58.28 in Storrs, Conn., in 2003].
Rancocas Valley’s Annabella Chin, who transferred to Rutgers from from St. Joe’s, ran 1:02.21, her fastest time this year. She has a PR of 1:01.13 from last year’s Atlantic 10 Championships in Amherst, Mass.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 