A day after winning the 1,600 in 4:52.24, Haddonfield junior Briana Gess sped her way to a 2:11.80 win in the 800 at the state Group 2 meet at Northern Burlington High School in Mansfield Township.
Gess’s 2:11.80 broke her PR of 2:13.18 that she set last spring at the Haddonfield Invitational on her home track.
Gess’s 1,600 PR is 4:45.97, and she now joins two legendary runners — Erin Donohue of Haddonfield and Michelle Rowen of Washington Township — as one of only three runners in South Jersey history to run sub-2:12 and sub-4:46 at any point in their high school career.
Donahue ran 2:08.87 and 4:41.16 in 2001 and Rowen ran 2:10.1 and 4:41.5 in 1982.
Gess won the 1,600 on Friday in 4:52.24. She has never lost a 1,600 or mile race to a New Jersey runner in her remarkable high school career.
She hasn’t lost an 800 to a New Jersey girl since the 2014 state meet, when she was second to Corinne Myers of Westwood, who ran 2:07.17.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 