The New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) recently inducted two of the USA’s greatest athletes into their Hall of Fame: Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Keturah Orji.
At a ceremony on March 24, Levrone and Orji were honored along with five other individuals to make up the Hall of Fame’s 26th induction class.
Per the release, Union Catholic High School’s Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone was, “One of the most decorated athletes in the history of New Jersey high sports, the 2017 graduate won 13 national championships and 11 individual NJSIAA Meet of Champions titles. She set seven state records, four national records and a junior world record in high school.”
Sydney’s exploits following her high school campaign are well known. She went on to compete in two Olympics (Rio in 2016 and Tokyo in 2021) and on two World Championships teams (Doha in 2019 and Eugene in 2022). She is a two-time Olympic gold medalist (Tokyo, 400mH and 4x400m relay), and four-time senior World Championship medalist. At the 2022 World Championships in Eugene, McLaughlin-Levrone set a new world record in the 400 meter hurdles in a time of 50.68 seconds.
Keturah Orji is a graduate of Mount Olive High School. Per the release, she was, “Considered the best horizontal female jumper to ever hail from New Jersey, the 2014 graduate won the triple jump and long jump three times apiece at the Meet of Champions. Her state record in the triple jump also ranks No. 2 in United States history. She also won seven national championships in high school.”
Following her time at Mount Olive, Orji attended University of Georgia where she would earn eight NCAA Championships and the 2018 Bowerman Award. She also competed on two Olympic teams in the Triple Jump (Rio and Tokyo) and has won an astounding 10 USA Championships. Keturah holds the American Record in the Triple Jump with a leap of 14.92 meters (48 feet, 11.25 inches).
WATCH: Keturah Orji 2018 Winner of the Bowerman
