Over the next few weeks, we’ll spotlight 30 athletes who excelled during the outdoor track season that we didn’t have a chance to write about extensively. We’d love to write about every athlete in South Jersey, but that’s not practical. But we will try to spotlight some who may have gotten overlooked over the past few months. We apologize in advance if we don’t get to you or your son or daughter or an athlete you coach.
Today: Samia Ghazaz, Absegami
Samoa Ghazaz just kept getting faster and faster in the 800 until she ran a eye-popping 2:13.09 for 6th place at the Meet of Champions to finish her breakout season.
Ghazaz is a 1st-year sophomore who showed signs of promise indoors, where she ran 5:13.29 at Group 3 sectionals and 2:18.05 at states. But outdoors, she came into her own, PR’ing in both the 1,600 and 3,200 in her final races. She ran 5:06.10 at sectionals and placed 7th at states with a 2:16.66, earning a wild card to the MoC, where she dropped that 2:13.09 and placed 6th as the No. 22 seed.
That time made her the No. 4 sophomore in New Jersey this year, and fastest in South Jersey in nine years, since Seneca’s Kayla Martin ran 2:11.88 and Lenape’s Megan Quimby ran 2:12.78 back in 2015. She broke the 27-year-old Atlantic County sophomore class record of 2:13.18, set by Katrina Sye of Buena at the 1997 Meet of Champions at South Plainfield.
Although Ghazaz’s focus was the 800, she also had success at 1,600 meters, and her 5:06.10 made her the 3rd-fastest sophomore in South Jersey this year and it was fastest by an Atlantic County soph since Mainland’s Alyssa Aldridge ran 4:55.83 in 2016.
Her 800 is No. 4 in Atlantic County history – Mainland rising senior Sofia Day is No. 3 at 2:12.55 when she won the state Group 3 title last month. Day and Ghazaz are the two-fastest returners in South Jersey heading into 2025.
2:09.2h … Katrina Sye [Buena], 1999
2:10.57 … Nijgia Snapp [Oakcrest], 2009
2:12.55 … Sofia Day [Mainland Reg.], 2024
2:13.09 … Samia Ghazaz [Absegami], 2024
2:14.20 … Bridget Flynn [Holy Spirit], 2012
2:15.34 … Julianna Catania [Egg Harbor Twp.], 2015
2:16.00 … Alyssa Aldridge [Mainland Reg.], 2017
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 