The last week of November presented an opportunity for Akala Garrett to open things up.
And so the Albemarle (NC) High School senior, perhaps the best youth girls hurdler since Sydney McLaughlin, took it.
The reigning World U20 champion in the 400mH -- who finished 2022 as the U.S. leader in the 100mH, 300mH and 400mH and was the world youth leader for U18 and U20 categories in the 400mH -- proceeded to claim a triple in the 55mH, 200m and 400m at the Coach Miami Presents The Virginia Beast Invitational on Saturday in Virginia Beach, clocking winning times of 7.89, 25.10 and 55.96.
To put it simply, Garrett's efforts were impressive.
While she hit no PRs on the day, Garrett was just a hundredth of a second away from her career best in the 55mH, a time of 7.88 which came at the North Carolina Indoor Championships last year. The effort came across a debut week for Garrett, who ran on Tuesday at the JDL Fast Track in Winston-Salem.
Garrett's winning 55mH time on Saturday was the only performance under eight seconds. It also came against one of Virginia's top young hurdlers, Shakayla Lavender.
Garrett's 200m time, meanwhile, was faster than any effort from the previous indoor season and it was just 0.24 seconds shy of her career best of 24.86.
So, all things considered, the season looks promising for the University of Texas signee.
Girls 200m Final
Girls 400m Final
