Washington Township’s versatile junior Dahlia Beasley ran a huge 400 PR of 55.55 Saturday to place 3rd in the Rising Stars 400 at West Philly Nationals at Franklin Field.
Beasley’s previous PR ws 56.62 from last year’s South Jersey Group 4 meet at Buena. Her season best was a 56.68 at the South Jersey Open last month at Rancocas Valley.
Beasley’s time is 4th-fastest by a New Jersey girl this year and 2nd-fastest by a South Jersey girl, behind only Pennsauken freshman Sianni Wynn, who ran 53.97 at Group 4 states at Franklin High.
Her time is No. 7 in Gloucester County history and broke the school record of 56.37 set by Jackie Dim at the 2007 state Group 4 meet at Egg Harbor.
Beasley ran 58.58 in the 400 at Group 4 sectionals at Pennsauken and just missed qualifying for the Meet of Champions. She did place 2nd at states in the long jump [18-1 ¾] and placed 11th in the MoC and she placed 3rd at states in the 200 and placed 5th in the MoC.She’s also high jumped 5-4 this spring.
But she focused on the 400 at nationals and left Franklin Field with the No. 25 time in South Jersey history.
Beasley finished behind only freshman Sophie Rambo of Grassfield High of Chesapeake, Va. [54.26] and 8th-grader and AAU national age-group champ Nevaeh Burns, an 8th grader at Oak Park [Mich.] Prep [55.36] and, no, I didn’t realize either that 8th-graders were eligible for this meet.
All-Time Gloucester County 400-Meter Dash List
53.49 … Arianna Sharpe [Clayton], 2022
53.51 … Dana Burnett [Williamstown], 1996
53.60 … Amirah Sharpe [Clayton], 2022
54.62 … Audrey Wilson [Deptford], 2008
55.3h … Lori Lewis [Woodbury], 1978
55.50 … Sabrina Burrell [Delsea], 2014
55.55 … Dahlia Beasley [Washington Twp.], 2023
55.72 … Kiara Lester [Deptford], 2015
55.93 … Brianna Crofton [Delsea], 2009
55.97 … Nylah Perry [Winslow Twp.], 2019
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 