Cherokee senior Nicole Clifford ran the 5th-fastest mile in South Jersey history Friday night at Icahn Stadium in Manhattan.
Clifford placed 4th in the mile at the Track Night NYC 2022 on Randall’s Island in 4:50.50.
She broke the Burlington County record of 4:52.95, set at the 2009 Meet of Champions in South Plainfield by Lenape’s Caitlin Orr by nearly 2 ½ seconds, and she lowered the Cherokee school record of 4:55.66, set by Megan Lacy at the 2012 South Jersey Group 4 meet at Egg Harbor.
Clifford’s previous PR was 4:53.85 for 1,600 meters when she won the indoor state Group 4 title at the Bubble in February. That’s the equivalent of a 4:55.55 full mile, so this was just over a five-second PR.
https://ny.milesplit.com/meets/484443-tom-track-night-nyc-2022/results#.YohhhC-B1hA
Unfortunately – and this is purely my fault – my all-time list is in meters, so until I can convert all the 1,600 times to full miles it’s going to have to do. And Clifford’s time converts to 4:48.82, which trails only four girls in South Jersey history: Olympian Erin Donohue ran 4:41.16 in 2000, Michelle Rowen of Washington Township ran 4:41.5 in 1982, Briana Gess of Haddonfield ran 4:45.97 in 2014 and another Olympian, Haddonfield’s Marielle Hall, ran 4:48.73 in 2010.
Mia Cochrane of Moon Area High School in Moon Township, Pa., won the race in 4:42.43, a nearly five-second PR from her 4:47.17 at the Penn Relays. Zariel Macchia, a freshman at William Floyd High School in Mastic Beach, N.Y., was second in 4:47.47, about a second faster than her PR from Armory Nationals this past winter. Union Catholic sophomore Peyton Hollis ran 4:49.88 and finished just in front of Clifford. Her previous PR was 4:55.26 indoors back in December at the Armory.
Hollis and Clifford rank No. 1 and No. 2 in New Jersey this year. Cate DeSousa of Red Bank Catholic ran 4:49.06 for 1,600 meters on Thursday at Holmdel, and Molly Malague of Metuchen ran 4:49.98 earlier this month at Ridge. So that’s four girls under 4:50 for 1,600 or its equivalent so far this spring. Four more are under 4:53.
Clifford went out in 70.79, 2:22.63 and 3:37.05 and moved up from 6th to 4th with a 73.45 final lap.
Here’s the all-time South Jersey sub-5 list!
4:41.16 … Erin Donohue [Haddonfield], 2000
4:41.5y … Michelle Rowen [Washington Twp.], 1982
4:45.97 … Briana Gess [Haddonfield], 2014
4:48.73 … Marielle Hall [Haddonfield], 2010
4:48.82 … Nicole Clifford [Cherokee], 2022
4:49.11 … Renee Tomlin [Ocean City], 2005
4:49.26 … Rachel Vick [Kingsway], 2017
4:51.43 … Alyssa Aldridge [Mainland Reg.], 2017
4:52.95 … Caitlin Orr [Lenape], 2009
4:54.25 … Sarah Naticchia [Haddonfield], 2021
4:54.71 … Megan Hartman [Ocean City], 1994
4:54.76 … Allison Colflesh [Haddonfield], 2021
4:54.88 … Bridget Flynn [Holy Spirit], 2012
4:55.41 … Brittany Sedberry [Ocean City], 2004
4:55.45 … Julianna Catania [Egg Harbor Twp.], 2016
4:55.66 … Megan Lacy [Cherokee], 2012
4:55.70 … Dina Iacone [Washington Twp.], 2012
4:55.90 … Sarah Naticchia [Haddonfield], 2019
4:55.9h … Dawn Cody [Paul VI], 1982
4:56.01 … Natalia Ocasio [Lenape], 2012
4:56.08 … Megan Quimby [Lenape], 2016
4:56.43 … Liz Locke [Kingsway], 2010
4:56.55 … Maria Ruiz [Williamstown], 2009
4:56.68 … Claudine Evangelista [Triton], 2000
4:56.81 … Julia DeSpirito [Shawnee], 2014
4:56.84 … Holly Bischof [Bishop Eustace], 2011
4:56.23 … Celine Mazzi [Delsea], 2014
4:57.39 … Alyssa Condell [Timber Creek], 2016
4:57.48 … Felicia O’Donnell [Delsea], 2011
4:57.63 … Nicole Lipieta [Kingsway], 2021
4:57.96 … Erika Kemp [Rancocas Valley], 2013
4:58.86 … Madison Coppolino [Sterling], 2017
4:59.38 … Chelsea Ley [Kingsway], 2009
4:59.27 … Theresa Cattuna [Cherry Hill East], 2005
4:59.54 … Amanda Goetschius [Delsea], 2007
4:59.60 … Brittnee Bynoe [Willingboro], 2004
4:59.72 … Katie Van Horn [Triton], 2005
4:59.6h … Ruth Lockbaum [Glassboro], 1985
4:59.80 … Sydny Warner [Seneca], 2018
4:59.89 … Destiny Stanford [Kingsway], 2017
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 