Northern Burlington sophomore Liliah Gordon won her first state outdoor track title and ran an outdoor 3,200 PR Saturday morning.
Gordon became the first Northern Burlington girl to win any running event at an outdoor state championship meet in 28 years.
Gordon, edged by Middletown South junior Rosemary Shay in the Central Jersey Group 3 sectionals last week, avenged that loss by beating Shay by 75 meters Saturday in the state Group 3 meet at Delsea.
Gordon won the race in 10:41.81 and Shay was 2nd in 10:56.38. Gordon became Northern Burlington’s first outdoor state champion since Ashley Edwards won the triple jump with a 38-8 in 2015 and the first on the track since Colleen Sunderland won the Group 3 3,200 in 10:58.23 in 1995 at South Plainfield.
Shay and Gordon ran together the first mile, but Gordon pulled away on the 5th lap with a 77.45 lap, building a 15-meter lead.
She had a wild negative split of 5:31.97 for her first 1,600 and 5:09.84 for her second, closing in 2:32.87 and 75.55.
Gordon a state Group 3 3,200 title indoors as a freshman with an 11:06.89 at the Bubble and she won the state Group 3 XC title with an 18:57 at Holmdel in November of 2022.
Her lifetime best over 3,200 meters is 10:38.20 for 5th at Ocean Breeze in March. Saturday’s 10:41.81 is No. 2 in Burlington County outdoor history behind Megan Lacy’s 10:22.03 at the 2012 Meet of Champions at Old Bridge.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 