Paul VI senior Shaelan McNally ran the 3rd-fastest indoor 800 in South Jersey history and fastest in 14 years Saturday at Ocean Breeze, dropping more than seven seconds from her lifetime-best.
Racing at the Ocean Breeze Elite in Staten Island, N.Y., McNally ran 2:11.85 and placed 6th overall in a race that produced six of the 17-fastest times in the U.S. this year.
And that’s incredible is that McNally did it out of an unseeded heat.
The only South Jersey girls to run faster than McNally indoors are Washington Township’s Megan Tiernan, who placed 2nd at 2010 Armory Nationals in 2:09.56; and Olympian Erin Donohue of Haddonfield, who ran a hand-timed 2:10.0 at the 2001 Varsity Classic, also at the Armory.
Rumson-Fair Haven junior Clemmie Lilley won in 2:09.36 – No. 8 in New Jersey history. Lilley is a 400-800 runner and hasn’t run a mile this year.
McNally had only run one 800 in the last year – an outdoor 2:20.48 in the Olympic Conference meet last May at Rancocas Valley. In her only previous indoor 800, she ran 2:31.52 to win a meet at the Bubble last February. So technically, she PR’d by nearly 20 seconds Saturday.
McNally has run 4:57.06 this winter, and she and Donohue are now the only South Jersey girls to run sub-2:12 and sub-5.
Her time is fastest by a South Jersey girl indoors or outdoors since Lenape’s Shelby Whetstone ran 2:10.55 to win the 2019 state Group 4 race at Franklin.
Eleven girls ran faster than 2:17 in the first section, but McNally did have some competition in the second section of the race.
And when Maggie McCabe of Notre Dame High in Manhattan and Rosemary Shay of Middletown South both went out fast – 31.56 and 65.02 for McNabe and 31.79 and 65.34 for Shay – McNally was able to let them set the pace and do the early work and then take off the last 400.
McNally was out in 32.06 and 65.90 and then took the lead on the third lap, closing in 65.96 for her final 400 and 32.50 for her final 200.
She bumped all but the five-fastest girls in the fast heat to earn 6th-place overall. McCabe ran 2:13.43 for 7th and Shay 2:14.63 for 9th.
McNally broke the school record by more than nine seconds. Abigail Lutz ran 2:20.88 at the 2020 Parochial A meet at the Bubble.
McNally will race the 1,600 at the Meet of Champions next Saturday at Ocean Breeze. She’s the No. 4 seed with her 4:57.06
All-Time New Jersey Indoor Sub-2:12 List
2:03.98 … Athing Mu [Trenton], 2018
2:04.13 … Ajee’ Wilson [Neptune], 2012
2:06.0h … Joetta Clark [Columbia], 1980
2:07.24 … Victoria Vanriele [Governor Livingston], 2019
2:07.60 … Janine Davis [Queen of Peace], 2005
2:09.02 … Corrine Myers [Westwood], 2014
2:09.32 … Camryn Wennersten [Ridgewood], 2022
2:09.32 … Clemmie Lilley [Rumson-Fair Haven], 2024
2:09.56 … Megan Tiernan [Washington Twp.], 2010
2:09.60 … Tawana Watkins [Kennedy-Paterson], 2001
2:09.79 … Paige Sheppard [Union Catholic], 2024
2:09.8h … Catherine Pagano [Northern Highlands], 2015
2:10.0h … Erin Donohue [Haddonfield], 2001
2:11.10y … Penny Fales [Hackettstown], 1977
2:10.11 … Lilly Shapiro [Colts Neck], 2022
2:10.61 … Hazel Clark [Columbia], 1995
2:10.88 … Isabelle Walsh [Middletown South], 2024
2:11.00 … Peyton Hollis [Union Catholic], 2024
2:11.20 … Kaleigh Gunsiorowski [Union Catholic], 2023
2:11.5h … Jasmine Jones [Hackensack], 1987
2:11.82 … Molly McNamara [Red Bank Catholic], 2010
2:11.85 … Shaelan McNally [Paul VI]
2:11.8h … Giselle Harris [Shabazz], 1985
2:11.91 … Julianne Kopec [Red Bank Catholic], 2020
2:11.98 … Olivia Nickelson [Toms River North], 2024
All-Time South Jersey Indoor 800 Top-10
2:09.56 … Megan Tiernan [Washington Twp.], 2010
2:10.0h … Erin Donohue [Haddonfield], 2001
2:11.85 … Shaelan McNally [Paul VI]
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 Reg.], 2023
2:14.12 … Carly Pettipaw [Lenape], 2013
2:14.27 … Kelsey Niglio [Cherokee], 2023
2:14.5h … Ruth Lockbaum [Glassboro], 1985
All-Time Camden County Indoor 800 Top-10
2:10.0h … Erin Donohue [Haddonfield], 2001
2:11.85 … Shaelan McNally [Paul VI]
2:12.55 … Marielle Hall [Haddonfield], 2010
2:15.05 … Briana Gess [Haddonfield], 2015
2:15.06 … Sydney Coppolino [Sterling], 2017
2:15.31 … Lindsay Colflesh [Haddonfield], 2020
2:15.46 … Tara DeBrielle [Overbrook], 2000
2:15.86 … Greta Feldman [Haddonfield], 2009
2:16.63 … Lindsay Thomas [Winslow Twp.], 2003
2:16.68 … Grace Wassell [Highland Reg.], 2022
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 