Washington Township’s Kami Joi Hickson, a senior at Maryland, opened her outdoor season Saturday with a lifetime-best at 800 meters at the University of Central Florida Black and Gold Invite in Orlando.
Hickson ran 2:07.32, 5th-fastest in Maryland history and fastest in 12 years, since Julie Sinkovitz of Woodcliff Lake and Immaculate Heart Academy in Washington Township, Bergen County, ran 2:07.15 in the prelims of the the 2013 ECAC Championships at Princeton. (Yes, both are from Washington Township … just different ones.)
Hickson’s previous outdoor PR was 2:08.15 last April in a meet in Azusa, Calif. Her former overall PR was 2:07.63 indoors at Penn State early last month.
Hickson ran 2:12.72 outdoors and 2:14.99 at Washington Township before finishing her high school career at Neumann Goretti in Philadelphia.
Here is my best attempt at an all-time South Jersey 800 list:
1:59.85 … Michelle DiMuro [Shawnee], June 17, 1996, Atlanta
1:59.99 … Erin Donohue [Haddonfield], July 13, 2010, Liège, Belgium
2:02.20 … Kimarra McDonald [Rancocas Valley], June 2, 2012, Nashville
2:02.49 … Krista Ferrara [Vineland], June 25, 2006, Indianapolis
2:03.34 … Greta Feldman [Haddonfield], June 15, 2013, Indianapolis
2:03.88 … Nijgia Snapp [Oakcrest], May 13, 2012, Baton Rouge, La.
2:05.06 … Renee Tomlin [Ocean City], May 31, 2013, West Chester, Pa.
2:05.14 … Shelby Whetstone [Lenape], May 23, 2024, Lexington, Ky.
2:06.15 … Sydney Coppolino [Sterling], May 13, 2022, Durham, N.C.
2:07.18 … Kristen Neidrach [Shawnee], July 10, 2021, Kortrijk, Belgium,
2:07.25 … Marielle Hall [Haddonfield], March 26, 2011, Houston
2:07.32 … Kami Joi Hickson [Washington Twp.], March 22, Orlando
2:07.68 … Natalie Dumas [Eastern], March 16, New York
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 