Northern Burlington soph Liliah Gordon broke 5 minutes in the 1,600 for the first time Wednesday night at the Holmdel Twilight Series Royal Rumble.
Gordon, running in a mixed race, was the first girl across the line in 4:58.91. Her previous PR was a 5:04.20 full mile at Ocean Breeze in February, the equivalent of a 5:02.44 for 1,600 meters.
Gordon has been one of New Jersey’s best distance runners since the start of her freshman year. She placed 8th at the XC Meet of Champions as a freshman and ran 18:29 at Holmdel and then ran 10:49.55 for the full two miles indoors. She won another state XC title this past fall and then ran 10:38.20 for the 3,200 at the Meet of Champions and earned All-America honors indoors after running 17:26.55 for 5,000 meters (No. 14 in state history) and placing 3rd at Armory Nationals.
She hasn’t had many opportunities to run a fast 1,600, but with perfect conditions and other runners to work off, she became the fourth New Jersey girl this year to break five minutes. Her 4:58.91 is No. 3 in the state, behind Hausman, the Meet of Champions XC runner-up, and Miami-bound Somerville senior Maddie Scheier. They ran 4:54.03 and 4:56.83 last weekend in the same race at Ridge.
Gordon broke the Burlington County sophomore record of 4:59.60, set in 2004 by Willingboro’s Brittnee Bynoe and moved into the No. 8 spot on the all-time Burlington County list.
Gordon was already No. 7 in New Jersey in the 3,200 with her 10:49.76 for 3,200 meters at Cherokee Night of Racing. She’s No. 2 in the 3,000 with 9:57.23 at Penn.
Here’s a look at the all-time Burlington County Top-10
4:48.82y … Nicole Clifford [Cherokee], 2022
4:52.95 … Caitlin Orr (Lenape), 2009
4:55.66 … Megan Lacy [Cherokee], 2012
4:56.01 … Natalia Ocasio (Lenape), 2010
4:56.08 … Megan Quimby [Lenape], 2016
4:56.81 … Julia Despirito [Shawnee], 2014
4:57.96 … Erika Kemp [Rancocas Valley] 2013
4:58.91 … Liliah Gordon [Northern Burlington], 2023
4:59.60 … Brittnee Bynoe (Willingboro), 2004
5:00.14y … Lisa Burkholder (Cherokee), 2003
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 