Ten Years Apart: Alanna Smith Equals Precious Holmes' 300 SR


In 2012 at the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston, Hillhouse's Precious Holmes put on a show at the New England Championship that seemingly could never be approached. First came a CT state record in the 600m at 1:30.79 that also edged under the old meet record by 0.08 seconds. Then she blistered a 38.22 in the 300m for another SR and a meet record by a huge 0.86 seconds. Add in a leg on the Academics' winning 4x400m squad, and you can call it a banner day for Holmes.

Before this past Saturday, Danbury sprinter Alanna Smith had already made huge news. Four days before at the Eastern States race at the Armory, Smith finished a very close 2nd to Christiana Nwachuku of Kent Place NJ with a time of 6.96. That set a new state mark for CT, which first went below 7.00 in 2017 when Bloomfield's Cassidy Palmer nailed a 6.99 to win the CIAC Open.

Smith had put herself in range of Holmes' 300m mark (the one event they share) with a 38.86 in late December at the Armory, but a strong shot at the record had eluded her since. That changed on Saturday at New England's. Staying strong through the first 150m while staying tucked inside top-seeded Anna Connors of Bangor ME, Smith won the battle for the inside lane at the break and then powered home to win in a 38.22 time that matched Holmes' SR. Earlier, Smith captured the first leg of her championship double with a 7.03 in the 55m. She couldn't quite match Holmes' luck in the relays as she again gave her Hatters' 4x200m squad a big lead on her second leg, but this time Sheehan was able to claw its way back and edge Danbury for the NE title after finishing 2nd at the CIAC Open.

There could still be a lot more to come for Smith with the Nationals meets in NYC fast approaching. Right now, she is definitely on track.