Williamstown graduate Anna Sasse, who never broke 5:30 for 1,600 meters in high school, continued her outstanding winter season for Rowan with a big PR of 5:01.51 Friday at the Metropolitan College Championships at Ocean Breeze.
Sasse, a junior, placed 3rd behind two Division 1 runners and lowered her PR from 5:06.64, which she just ran last month on the same track. Before January, her mile PR was 5:10.39 from last winter at the Armory.
Sasse now ranks No. 3 in the NJAC in the 800 behind Ramapo’s Dale Leonard [2:15.01] and Stockton’s Kayla Kass [2:16.01] and No. 2 in the mile behind Leonard [4:56.62].
Her 5:01.51 is fastest by a Rowan woman since 2017, when Christin Bettis of Hammonton ran 5:01.02 at Ocean Breeze. The last Rowan woman under 5:00 is Haddonfield graduate Vanessa Wright, who set the school record of 4:53.38 when she placed 6th at the 2013 NCAA Division 3 Championships in Naperville, Ill.
Sasse had PRs of 2:20.84 and 5:30.70 at Williamstown (and 77-9 in the javelin) in 2021, her only year of outdoor track in high school.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 