Mainland Regional junior Sofia Day used a 31.6 final lap to move up from 3rd place to 1st and win the 800 at the Ocean Breeze Holiday Festival Wednesday on Staten Island in 2:13.96.
Day’s time is 6th-fastest in South Jersey history and fastest in 13 years.
Day was out in 68.68 through 400 meters and came through 600 in 1:42.46, just behind Annie Miller of Metrolina Christian Academy of Indian Trail, N.C., (1:40.37), and Ella Masem of Bellport High in Brookhaven, N.Y., on Long Island (1:41.66).
But Day unleashed a torrid kick on the final lap, and even though Masem closed in 33.14 to run 2:14.80 and Miller closed in 35.05 to run 2:15.42, Day overtook both with her 31.56 final lap.
So she negatived 68.68 and 65.28.
Day, who ran an indoor PR 5:06.89 on the same track on Saturday, broke her own Atlantic County indoor 800 record of 2:14.25 from Boston Nationals in March. She hasn’t run outdoor track in her first two years at Mainland.
The only Atlantic County girls to run faster outdoors are Oakcrest’s Nijgia Snapp [2:10.57 at Egg Harbor in 2009] and Buena’s Katrina Sye [2:09.2 at in 1999 at Buena].
Day’s time is fastest in New Jersey so far this year and No. 2 nationally, according to the MileSplit U.S. database, behind only Lucy Benton of Mountain Brook (Ala.) High School at a meet earlier this year in Birmingham, Ala. Benton has a PR of 2:10.90 from an outdoor meet in May 2022 in Gulf Shores, Ala.
Here’s a look at the fastest indoor 800 times in South Jersey history
2:09.56 … Megan Tiernan [Washington Twp.], 2010
2:10.0h … Erin Donohue [Haddonfield], 2001
2:12.46 … Monica Olkowski [Cherokee], 1990
2:12.55 … Marielle Hall [Haddonfield], 2010
2:13.51 … Emily Duffey [Lenape], 2011
2:13.96 … Sofia Day [Mainland Regional], 2024
2:14.12 … Carly Pettipaw [Lenape], 2013
2;14.27 … Kelsey Niglio [Cherokee], 2023
2:14.5h … Ruth Lockbaum [Glassboro], 1985
2:14.6h … Michelle DiMuro [Shawnee], 1985
2:14.64 … Bridget Flynn [Ocean City], 2014
2:14.99 … Kami Joi Hickson [Washington Twp.], 2017
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 