Pennsville’s Arianna Smith ran two hurdles PRs over the weekend at the Penn Classic at the Ott Center in West Philly.
Smith, a former Princeton and Rutgers athlete, won the 60-meter highs in 8.42 after leading qualifiers with an 8.47 in the trials.
Smith had a PR of 8.50 at Princeton, which she ran in the trials of the 2023 indoor Hepts in Hanover, N.H. That’s tied for the school record with two other women. She was only at Rutgers for the 2024 indoor season and three meets outdoors and had a best time in the 60 highs of 8.75. She shows up on this year’s Howard roster but hasn’t raced for Howard. She’s been racing with a “USA” affiliation so far this winter.
Smith went into this race at the Ott Center with a PR of 8.48 from a meet at Harvard’s Track and Tennis Center in early December. So she lowered it with both her 8.47 and 8.42.
Smith also won the 400 in 55.06. Her previous best was a 55.64 indoors in Orlando last March. Smith focuses on the intermediates outdoors and has a PR of 57.84, which she ran at Heps at Franklin Field in May of 2023 and remains the Princeton school record.
7.80 … Nia Ali [Pleasantville], Albuquerque, 2014
7.92 … Carol Lewis [Willingboro], Philadelphia, 1980
8.15 … Tionna Tobias [Winslow Twp.], Albuquerque, 2024
8.19 … Jailya Ash [Eastern], New York, 2022
8.19 … Shameeka Marshall [Oakcrest], 2005
8.25 … Ste’cye McNeil [Winslow Twp.], New York, 2015
8.29 … Aliya Garozzo [Paul VI], 2024, Cambridge, Mass., 2024
8.30 … Jasmine Staten [Lenape], 2022, Staten Island
8.34 … Shereese Price [Pleasantville], 2002, Syracuse
8.42 … Arianna Smith [Pennsville], 2025, Philadelphia
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 