Shawnee graduate Amanda Demko, a College of New Jersey freshman, is off to a hot start this spring with a PR in her first open 400 of the season.
Demko only ran relays and a 200 in TCNJ’s first two meets this spring, but at the Osprey Open Saturday in Galloway Township she won the 400 over senior teammate Allison Uhl from Park Ridge in 56.99, with Uhl second in 57.30 and another TCNJ quarter-miler, junior Maria Grill if Whippany Park, 4th in 58.03.
Demko’s previous PR was a 57.46 at the Quaker Invitational last April at Franklin Field. She earned All-America honors for her leg on TCNJ’s 5th-place 1,600-meter relay team at NCAA Division 3 Nationals in Greensboro, N.C., and then ran an indoor PR 57.94 at Boston University in February and again ran on a 4-by-4 at NCAAs.
That 56.99 puts Demko in the No. 9 spot on the NCAA Division 3 performance list, and No. 1 in the NJAC. Demko, Uhl and Grill are No. 1, 2 and 4 in the conference, and TCNJ’s 4-by-4 team is No. 6 in the country with its 3:54.26 from Saturday at Stockton. Freshman Eliza Bruncaj from Hanover Park joined Grill, Uhl and Demko on the 4-by-4.
At Shawnee, Demko ran 58.54 at the 2020 indoor Meet of Champions at the Bubble.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 