In her first race for Howard, Pennsville’s Arianna Smith ran the 4th-fastest time in school history and nearly ran a PR.
Smith, who started at Princeton and then spent a year at Rutgers, won the intermediates Friday in her 2025 season opener at the University of Southern Florida Alumni Invitational in Tampa.
Smith ran 57.89 to finish 1st in a field of 42 hurdlers opening their 2025 outdoor track season. Jessica Wright set the school record of 55.81 in 2003, Simone Watkins ran 55.92 in 2024 and Landria Buckley ran 57.88 in 2009.
Smith set a school record of 57.84 while she was at Princeton at the 2023 Heps at Franklin Field. Her best time last year at Rutgers was a 59.55 when she won this meet last year, and that’s No. 3 in Rutgers history. So she’s now top-4 all-time at three different schools.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 