Eastern junior Natalie Dumas destroyed the South Jersey 800-meter record Sunday morning at Armory Nationals and nearly ran under the South Jersey outdoor record as well.
Dumas ran 2:07.68 and placed 5th, smashing the South Jersey record of 2:09.56 at 2010 Armory Nationals. Tiernan went on to play lacrosse at Temple and never ran another race.
Her time is 9th-fastest in state history.
The only faster time indoors or outdoors by a South Jersey girl came in 2010, when Haddonfield’s Marielle Hall, later an Olympian AT 10,000 meters, ran 2:07.33 at the outdoor Meet of Champions at South Plainfield.
What made Dumas’s performance doubly impressive was that she raced upressed out of an unseeded heat, which she won by 15 meters. So she had to do the work herself and she split 30.58, 31.20, 32.99 and 32.92. Then she watched the seeded race, where seven girls ran sub-2:09 but only four bumped Dumas’s time.
If she was in the fast race? Who knows!
Also, she raced in New York Sunday after racing in the 400 final at Boston Nationals on Saturday and placing 7th in 54.85.
Dumas, the outdoor national champ in the intermediate hurdles, had a previous PR of 2:11.42 from January at Ocean Breeze.
Sophomore Reagan Moore of Oak Knoll School in Summit won the race in 2:05.05, closing in 61.87 and 29.70.
This indoor season produced five of the 10-fastest half-milers in New Jersey history.
All-Time New Jersey Indoor 800-Meter List
2:03.98 … Athing Mu [Trenton], 2018
2:04.13 … Ajee’ Wilson [Neptune], 2012
2:04.80 … Reagan Moore [Oak Knoll], 2025
2:06.02 … Clemmie Lillie [Rumson-Fair Haven], 2025
2:06.0h … Joetta Clark [Columbia], 1980
2:06.90 … Paige Sheppard [Union Catholic], 2025
2:07.24 … Victoria Vanriele [Governor Livingston], 2019
2:07.60 … Janine Davis [Queen of Peace], 2005
2:07.68 … Natalie Dumas [Eastern], 2025
2;08.01 … Reese Reynolds Malone [Rumson-Fair Haven], 2025
2:09.02 … Corrine Myers [Westwood], 2014
2:09.32 … Camryn Wennersten [Ridgewood], 2022
2:09.56 … Megan Tiernan [Washington Twp.], 2010
2:09.60 … Tawana Watkins [Kennedy-Paterson], 2001
2:09.8h … Catherine Pagano [Northern Highlands], 2015
All-Time South Jersey Indoor 800 List
2:07.68 … Natalie Dumas [Eastern], 2015
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
2:14.12 … Carly Pettipaw [Lenape], 2013
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
2:15.05 … Briana Gess [Haddonfield], 2015
2:15.06 … Sydney Coppolino [Sterling], 2017
2:15.17 … Britney Kott [Millville], 2008
2:15.31 … Lindsay Colflesh [Haddonfield], 2020
2:15.46 … Tara DeBrielle [Overbrook], 2000
2:15.86 … Greta Feldman [Haddonfield], 2009
2:15.89 … Kayla Martin [Seneca], 2016
2:15.90 … Felicia O’Donnell [Delsea], 2009
2:15.99 … Brooke Kott [Millville], 2008
Combined South Jersey 800 List
2:07.33 … Marielle Hall [Haddonfield], 2009 [o]
2:07.68 … Natalie Dumas [Eastern], 2015
2:08.87 … Erin Donohue [Haddonfield], 2001 [o]
2:09.2h … Katrina Sye [Buena], 1999 [o]
2:09.50 … Renee Tomlin [Ocean City], 2005 [o]
2:09.56 … Megan Tiernan [Washington Twp.], 2010 [i]
2:09.84 … Rachel Stremme [Ocean City], 2014 [o]
2:10.1h … Michelle Rowen [Washington Twp.], 1982 [o]
2:10.44 … Kadence Dumas [Eastern], 2023 [o]
2:10.55 … Shelby Whetstone [Lenape], 2019 [o]
2:10.57 … Nijgia Snapp [Oakcrest], 2009 [o]
2:10.79 … Krista Ferrara [Vineland], 1991 [o]
2:10.9h … Ruth Lockbaum [Glassboro], 1985 [o]
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 