From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank

Lenape junior Megan Quimby moved into the No. 7 spot on the all-time South Jersey indoor 1,600 list Saturday with her fourth-place finish in the Meet of Champions.

And that made history for Lenape. More on that later.

Quimby lowered her indoor PR exactly three seconds from 5:00.12 to 4:57.12, a Lenape indoor school record by 6-10ths of a second. Caitlin Orr ran 4:57.72 six years ago on the same track.

Quimby’s outdoor PR is 5:02.04, so Saturday’s race gave her an indoor and outdoor PR.

It also gave Lenape three girls under 5:00 indoors, with Natalia Ocasio joining Quimby and Orr. Ocasio ran 4:58.48 in the same race Orr ran 4:57.72.

That makes Lenape the only New Jersey school with three girls under five minutes.

Gets finished third and actually lowered her indoor PR as well, but she has run as fast as 4:45.97 outdoors – her time when she won the Meet of Champions the spring of her junior year. Gess’s 4:51.60 is No. 3 in South Jersey history behind two legends — Michelle Rowen and Erin Donohue.

Christina Rancan of West Windsor-Plainsboro South won the race at the Bubble in Toms River in 4:50.85 and Ciaira Roche was second in 4:51.18.

Here is the updated all-time South Jersey performance list:

• 4:41.52y … Michelle Rowen (Wash. Twp.), 1983
• 4:49.46y … Erin Donohue (Haddonfield), 2001
• 4:51.60 … Briana Gess (Haddonfield), 2016
• 4:53.36 … Lindsey Kane (Washington Twp.), 2014
• 4:54.58 … Celine Mazzi (Delsea), 2014
• 4:56.1h,y … Ruth Lockbaum (Glassboro), 1985
• 4:57.12 … Megan Quimby (Lenape), 2015
• 4:57.72 … Caitlin Orr (Lenape), 2010
• 4:58.48 … Natalia Ocasio (Lenape), 2010
• 4:59.29 … Julia Despirito (Shawnee), 2014
• 4:59.39 … Megan Lacy (Cherokee), 2012
• 5:00.39 … Lisa Burkholder (Cherokee), 2004
• 5:00.78y … Monica Olkowski (Cherokee), 1990
• 5:00.81 … Vickie Ajimoko (Williamstown), 2014
• 5:01.21 … Julianna Catania (Egg Harbor), 2016
• 5:01.86 … Kristen Niedrach (Shawnee), 2012
• 5:02.21 … Shelby Cain (Haddonfield), 2014
• 5:02.83 … Felicia O’Donnell (Delsea), 2011
• 5:03.50 … Bridget Flynn (Ocean City), 2014
• 5:03.81 … Maria Ruiz (Williamstown), 2009
• 5:03.97 … Camille Franklin (Lenape), 2014

We got to wondering how many schools have multiple girls in state history under 5:00 indoors, and it turns out Lenape is the school with three.

Here’s the list of schools with more than one, with mile times converted to 1,600 meters for the purposes of determining a cutoff (as always, corrections and omissions are welcome):

Lenape (3)

• 4:57.12 … Megan Quimby, 2015
• 4:57.72 … Caitlin Orr, 2010
• 4:58.48 … Natalia Ocasio, 2010

Randolph (2)

• 4:53.18 … Kim Standridge, 2007
• 4:59.22 … Liz Wellman, 2014

Hopewell Valley (2)

• 4:58.47 … Haley Mahn, 2014
• 4:59.97 … Emily Sherrard, 2005

Washington Twp. (2)

• 4:41.52y … Michelle Rowen, 1983
• 4:53.36 … Lindsey Kane, 2014

Southern Regional (2)

• 4:46.13 … Danielle Tauro, 2007
• 4:48.83 … Jill Smith, 2008

Bernards (2)

• 4:45.6y … Meg Waldron, 1983
• 4:56.1y … Karen Ahearn, 1985

Haddonfield (2)

• 4:49.46y … Erin Donohue, 2001
• 4:51.60 … Briana Gess, 2016

Red Bank Regional (2)

• 4:52:42, Katy Trotter, 2003
• 4:53:54. Amanda Trotter, 2003

Hunterdon Central (2)

• 4:54.02, Casey Nelson, 2002
• 4:57.48y, Autumn Fogg, 1996

Roxbury (2)

• 4:55.29, Jenn Ennis, 2006
• 5:01.72, Ashley Cromartie, 2008

Colts Neck (2)

• 4:55.50, Ashley Higginson, 20o7
• 4:55.56, Allison Linnell, 2008

Summit (2)

• 4:58.34 … Katie Watson, 2011
• 4:59.1y … Theresa Gschwind, 1980

Freehold Twp. (2)

• 4:51.18 … Ciara Roche , 2016
• 4:59.20, Allyson Moskal, 2009

West Windsor-Plainsboro South (2)

• 4:50.85 … Christina Rancan, 2016
• 4:59.90 … Deirdre Casey, 2014

Red Bank Catholic (2)

• 4:54.41 … Molly McNamara, 2011
• 4:58.38 … Liana Manzano, 2012

Note that Marielle Hall was attending Haddonfield High School when she ran 4:56.76 for a full mile in the winter of 2010, but she wasn’t running for Haddonfield’s program at the time, so she wasn’t included in this list.