Rowan sophomore Nyla Jones from Timber Creek won her 3rd straight NJAC hurdles title Friday .
Jones ran 8.87 to win the 60-meter hurdles at the Ott Center. Jones is No. 9 in NCAA Division 3 with her 8.69 at Widener in February. That was 1-100th of a second off the Rowan indoor record of 8.68 set by Aspen McMillan at 2019 Division 3 Nationals in Roxbury, Mass.
Her 8.87 was off her PR but is still tied for 2nd-fastest in meet history behind only McMillan’s 8.77 in 2019 and tied with McMillan’s 8.87 in 2018. McMillan set the meet record of 8.76 in the 2019 trials.
Jones won the 60 highs last year in 8.95 at the Ott and she won both the 100-meter highs in 14.85 and the 400-meter intermediates with a school-record 1:00.42 last spring in Ewing. She went on to earn All-America honors with a 5th-place in the 400IH at the NCAA Division 3 Championships in Geneva, Ohio.
Jones also placed 2nd in the 200 Friday with a PR 25.11 and ran on Rowan’s 2nd-place 800-meter relay team, which ran a school-record 1:40.65. Sophomore Paige Franklin of Williamstown, sophomore Ava Reilly of Toms River East and sophomore Amari Pinkett from Egg Harbor township also ran on the 4-by-2.
The Rowan women won the NJAC team title for the first time since 2017.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 