Aliya Garozzo of Sicklerville and Paul VI placed 6th in the 400-meter hurdles Sunday at the U.S. Championships at Icahn Stadium on Randall’s Island in New York.
Garozzo, racing out of challenging Lane 1, ran 56.11 after a 55.47 in Saturday’s qualifying rounds. She ran her lifetime-best 54.90 in Des Moines, Iowa, in April.
This was Garozzo’s first final in her 4th U.S. championships. She raced the intermediates at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials and last spring and this past indoor season in the flat 400.
Garozzo is the first woman from Paul VI to place in the top eight at U.S. Nationals since high jumper Priscilla Frederick tied for 7th at 6-0 1/4 in 2012. Her 6th-place finish is best by a PVI woman since another high jumper, Deirdre Mullen, was 4th in the 2008 meet at 6-3.
It’s the best finish by a South Jersey woman in the 400-meter hurdles at Nationals, topping consecutive 7th-place finishes by Rancocas Valley’s Tonya Lee in 1995 and 1996. She ran 57.61 in 1995 and 56.59 in 1996 in the Olympic Trials.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 