Liliah Gordon mixed it up with some of New Jersey’s fastest two-milers and emerged with a PR and a lane in the state meet this weekend.
Gordon placed 5th in the 3,200 at the Central Jersey Group 4 Championships in Howell Friday in 10:52.18, which is No. 6 in Burlington County history and fastest ever by a Burligton County freshman.
The top five finishers finished just 10 meters apart, all five running between 10:50.16 and 10:52.18. Montgomery sophomore Julia Scrudato won the race in 10:50.16, with senior teammate Caroline Mehlhorn 2nd in 10:51.37. Freehold sophomore Emma Zawatski [10:51.39] and Middletown South sophomore Rosemary Shay [10:52.11] placed 3rd and 4th.
The Central Jersey Group 4 race produced five of the top seven times in all the 16 sectional races and the top five times in Group 4, so Gordon’s 10:52.18 makes her the No. 5 seed at states at Egg Harbor Friday and 7th-fastest among all the sectional meets.
Gordon’s previous PR was 10:56.77 from the indoor Meet of Champions at the Bubble in March.
The previous Burlington County freshman class 3,200 record was 10:56.34 by Moorestown’s Brianna Rogers at the 2005 Meet of Champions.
Her time makes her South Jersey’s fastest freshman since Haddonfield’s Briana Gess ran 10:45.12 at the 2014 state Group 2 meet at Egg Harbor Township.
Gordon’s time is No. 2 in South Jersey this year behind only Cherokee senior Nicole Clifford’s 10:46.71 at Cherokee Night of Racing in April, and she’s the top freshman in the state by nearly 20 seconds.
Gordon also ran an outdoor 1,600 PR of 5:15.48 for 9th in the 1,600.
All-Time Burlington County 3,200 Top-10
10:22.02 … Megan Lacy (Cherokee], 2012
10:40.95 … Erika Kemp (Rancocas Valley], 2013
10:43.3h….. Deanna Germano (Shawnee], 1985
10:45.73 … Meghan Hughes [Moorestown], 2002
10:46.71 … Nicole Clifford [Cherokee], 2022
10:52.18 … Liliah Gordon [Northern Burlington], 2022
10:54.16 … Lisa Burkholder [Cherokee], 2004
10:55.92 … Isabella Turner [Shawnee], 2018
10:56.34 … Brianna Rogers [Moorestown], 2005 freshman MoC
10:57.52 … Mara Schiffhauer [Seneca], 2014
10:58.97 … Megan Quimby [Lenape], 2015
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 