First Academy's Ansley Gebben to aim for 4th straight state hurdling title

Only one other girls track athlete in Central Florida has won four state titles in the same event.

First Academy's Ansley Gebben (left) and former Boone pole vaulter Caroline Kennedy are 2 of 11 area girls to win 3 state titles. Gebben will try to become the 2nd Central Florida girl with 4 at the Class 1A state track and field meet Friday at Showalter Field. (Stephen M. Dowell/Orlando Sentinel)

Ansley Gebben's journey toward a possible Central Florida rarity began with a lean, a photo finish and a six-hundredths-of-a-second victory.

At the 2008 Class 1A state meet, Gebben finished the 300-meter hurdles in 45.42 seconds, winning by that slim margin against Port St. Joe's Mariah Johnson. The First Academy senior will attempt to become the second area girls track athlete to win a state title in the same event four years in a row at Friday's 1A championships at Winter Park's Showalter Field.