Woodstown graduate Molly Lodge broke the nine-year-old Rowan University intermediate hurdles record Thursday afternoon.
Lodge, a Rowan junior, won the 400-meter hurdles at the All-Atlantic Region Track and Field Championships in Cortland, N.Y., in 1:01.33, breaking the record of 1:01.49 set by Melirah Searcy of Edison when she won the intermediates at the 2015 New Jersey Athletic Conference in Mahwah.
Lodge lowered her PR from 1:02.01 from last year’s NJAC Championships, also in Mahwah. Her 2024 season best was 1:02.26, which she ran last month at the Larry Ellis Invitational at Princeton Universitry’s Weaver Stadium.
Lodge was already in good shape as far as qualifying for the NCAA Division 3 Championhips. Her 1:02.26 ranked 13th, and the top 22 performers qualify for nationals. But her 1:01.33 moves her up to seventh on this year’s Division 3 list.
The NCAA Division 3 Championships are scheduled for next Thursday through Saturday at Doug Shaw Memorial Stadium in Myrtle Beach, S.C.
Lodge never ran the intermediate hurdles at Woodstown or as a Rowan freshman. Her first intermediate hurdles race ever was just 14 months ago at the Washington & Lee Carnival in Lexington, Va., where she ran 1:04.46. By the end of May last year she had qualified for NCAAs and finished 17th in the country.
Lodge is already a three-time All-America as part of various Rowan relay teams. On Wednesday, she was the leadoff leg on Rowan’s 4-by-400, which ran 3:48.08, which is No. 10 in Division 3. The top 16 relay teams qualify for nationals.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 