From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank

Liliah Gordon made it 3-for-3 in invitationals with a win Saturday at the Thompson Park Class Meet.

Gordon, a freshman at Northern Burlington, ran 14:15 over the 2 1/2-mile course in Jamesburg, fast enough to finish 4th out of 162 runners in the boys race.

A 5,000 at the same pace would be 17:42.

Gordon began her high school career with a win at the Cherokee Challenge over 3,200 meters two weeks ago and won the freshman race over 3,200 meters at the Battle @ Ocean County Park last weekend.

She is scheduled to run her first 5,000-meter course at historic Holmdel County Park at the Shore Coaches Invitational on Saturday.

Another runner in the freshman race, West Windsor-Plainsboro North’s Zui Chinchalkar, also broke 15 minutes, taking second in 14:51, about 150 meters behind Gordon.

The MileSplit venue data base shows 14:15 to be the course record for the 2 1/2-mile course, which is only used for freshman races. It shows the previous record to be 14:25, run by Caroline Mehlhorn of Montgomery in 2018. It is possible a faster time was run by a freshman before the database was established about 15 years ago.

The fastest previous time run by a South Jersey runner on the Thompson Park 2 1/2-mile course according to the MileSplit database is 16:02 by Cinnaminson’s Grace Coller, also in 2018.