What a huge breakthrough race Thursday for Cherry Hill East senior Brandon Lyons, who trimmed more than four seconds off his PR and won a very deep 800 at the South Jersey Elite Invitational at Delsea.
Lyons ran 1:53.77 and won by 15 meters over Kingsway sophomore Ryan Duffy, who PR’d in 2nd at 1:56.03 in only his 3rd race since the 2024 indoor season.
His time is fastest in New Jersey this year, bumping a 1:54.73 by Ayodele Joa-Griffith of the Lawrenceville School at a meet last month in Lorton, Va.
Lyons came into the race with a 1:57.84 PR from last year’s Olympic Conference Championships at Rancocas Valley, where he placed 2nd to Winslow’s Dominic Bassey.
Lyons led the field through 400 meters in 56.03, but with three others within a second. But Lyons had the strongest finish, closing in 57.75. Duffy closed in 59.3, with Cherokee senior Tate Midora [1:57.13] and Highland senior Mason Wassell [1:57.69]. Midora’s previous PR was 2:00.43 at last year’s Burlington County Open at Northern Burlington, and Wassell’s previous PR was 1:59.06 indoors at the Ott Center in January.
In all, 10 runners broke two minutes and all 10 PR’d: After Lyons, Duffy, Midora and Wassell: Atlantic County Tech senior Thomas Wodazak was 5th [1:59.19], followed by Shawnee senior Brody Dillich [1:59.31], Eastern soph Timothy Shack [1:59.37], Cherokee junior Dominic Pileri [1:59.66], Millville senior Arjun Patel [1:59.74] and Cherry Hill East junior Will Nelson [1:59.93].
As for Duffy, his 1:56.03 is fastest this year by a New Jersey sophomore. His previous PR was a 1:59.63 at 2024 indoor Group 4 sectionals in Toms River.
Lyon’s time is 6th-fastest on the all-time Camden County list. He broke the school record of 1:54.59 set at the 2016 state Group 4 meet at Egg Harbor by Isaiah Jean-Baptiste.
All-Time Camden County 800 Top 10
1:51.53 … Jeff Boyer [Camden], 1978
1:52.15 … Dominic Bassey [Winslow Twp.], 2024
1:53.25 … Greg Pelose [Haddonfield], 2016
1:53.49 … Ben Potts [Haddonfield], 2010
1:53.54y … Frank Romero [Haddon Twp.], 1977
1:53.77 … Brandon Lyons [Cherry Hill East], 2025
1:53.78 … Luke Petela [Haddon Twp.], 2015
1:53.79 … Mike Shemonsky [Eastern], 1990
1:53.88 … Derek Gess [Haddonfield], 2019
1:54.27 … Billy Clewell [Camden Catholic], 2022
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 