Ava Alexander's hot streak continued on Friday, as the West Chester Rustin junior claimed the Championship Triple Jump title at NSAF Indoor Nationals at Ocean Breeze.
Alexander leapt a best of 41 feet, 3 inches to claim the victory, edging out national leader Agur Dwol of Colorado in a close battle. Dwol, a senior, jumped 41-0.5 for second.
Event 38 Girls Triple Jump Championship
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National: N 44-06.75 3/11/2007 Ke'Nyia Richardson, Holy Names,Oakld,CA
Meet: M 44-02 3/16/2014 Keturah Orji, Mt Olive,Flanders,NJ
Ocean Breeze: Z 41-09.75 1/28/2018 Alissa Braxton, Commack, NY
Freshman: F 41-02
Freshman: F 41-02 3/9/2015 Titiana Marsh, Thom Dale,Chester,VA
Sophomore: O 42-06 3/12/2017 Jasmine Moore, Lk Rdg,Mansfield,TX
Junior: J 42-11.75 3/11/2018 Jasmine Moore, Lk Rdg,Mansfield,TX
Name Year School Finals H#
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1 # 1858 Ava Alexander 23 West Chester, PA 12.57m 41-03.00 2
12.42m 12.40m 12.57m 12.35m 12.13m 12.39m
2 # 1114 Agur Dwol 22 Littleton, CO 12.51m 41-00.50 2
12.51m 12.25m 12.10m 12.33m 12.15m 12.20m
3 # 1029 Leah Anderson 22 Desoto, TX 12.41m 40-08.75 2
FOUL 12.41m 11.85m 11.73m FOUL 11.84m
4 # 1317 Suzan Ogunleye 22 Round Rock, TX 12.30m 40-04.25 2
12.30m FOUL FOUL 11.96m 12.17m 12.02m
5 # 1399 Kayla Pinkard 22 Carrollton, GA J12.30m 40-04.25 2
12.30m 12.06m 11.83m 11.53m 11.42m 11.78m
6 # 1033 Hannah Forde 24 Little Elm, TX 12.23m 40-01.50 2
11.90m 12.23m 12.09m 11.89m 12.15m 11.73m
7 # 576 Ke'yona Gabriel 22 Raceland, LA 12.20m 40-00.50 2
12.20m 12.12m 12.16m 12.04m 12.17m 12.07m
8 # 1030 Alyssa Banales 24 McKinney, TX 11.96m 39-03.00 1
11.22m 11.84m 11.71m FOUL 11.86m 11.96m
9 # 18 Esther Akinlosotu 22 Federal Way, WA 11.71m 38-05.00 1
11.71m 11.54m FOUL
10 # 1266 India Alix 23 Houston, TX 11.56m 37-11.25 2
FOUL 11.39m 11.56m Dwol put a big mark on the board on her first attempt, with her best of 41-0.5. Alexander had a big start, too, with leaps of 40-9 and 40-8.25 on her first two jumps, but found herself in second place.
Then Alexander put it all together with her 41-3 on her third attempt to catapult into the lead, where she stayed to take the win.
That performance is a four inch improvement on Alexander's previous PR, which came two weeks ago at the PTFCA Indoor State Championships, where she claimed the state title. Alexander's jump moves her up to US No. 5 on the season.
It also moves Alexander up to PA No. 2 all-time in the triple jump. Only Sheena Gordon of McDowell has leapt further in the triple with her PA state record 41-6 from 2002.
Watch an interview with Alexander below.