Maple Shade junior Ciani Floyd won the state Group 1 high hurdles title last year and is the top seed heading into this year’s state meet as well.
Floyd ran 15.69 to win the state title last year in Somerset and ran 15.48 at Group 1 sectionals this year at Lenape, earning the No. 1 seed. She’s the first Maple Shade girl to win a sectional title in the hurdles since Patrick Farquharson in 2011 and the first Maple Shade girl to win a state title in any event since Farquharson won the hurdles in 2011. She won states last spring by 4-100ths of a second over a junior who has not competed this year.
Earlier this month, Floyd PR’d with a 15.15 at the Burlington County Open, which is the fastest New Jersey Group 1 time this year by nearly half a second. That was fastest by a South Jersey Group 1 girl since Ny’era Hand-Brooks of Burlington ran 14.87 to win the 2023 state title in Somerset.
Floyd’s top competition at states will come from No. 2 seed Claire Sittig of Pequannock, the only other girl in the field who ran sub-15.70 at sectionals. Sittig ran a PR 15.63 to win North 1 Group 1 in Livington.
Also under 15.70 this year are Lore Hicks of Walkill Valley, who ran 15.62 at the Sussex County Invitational in Stanhope earlier this month, and Casey Birdwell of Haddon Township, who ran a PR 15.66 at the Camden County Championships on her home track earlier this month.
The state Group 1 meet back at Somerset is scheduled for May 29-30.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 