Eastern junior Natalie Dumas ran the fastest intermediate hurdles race in South Jersey sectional history and state public school history Friday at the Group 4 meet at Pennsauken.
Dumas, the West Philly Nationals champ last spring at 58.32, nearly PR’d, winning the sectional race in 58.37 at Pennsauken.
That broke the South Jersey Group 4 sectional and overall South Jersey sectional record of 1:00.12 set by Winslow Township’s Krystal Cantey in 2005 at Egg Harbor. Willingboro’s Danielle Myricks ran a hand-timed 1:00.1 in 2001 in Group 3, also at Egg Harbor.
The fastest previous public school sectional performance was a 59.04 by Reanda Richards of West Essex at the 2018 North 1 Group 3 meet at River Dell.
The only faster time in the U.S. this year according to the MileSplit national database is a 57.75 by Sydney Sutton of the Bullis School in Potomac, Md., in a meet last month in Columbia, S.C. Sutton was the Boston Nationals 400 champ indoors in March.
The overall New Jersey 400IH sectional record is 55.52 by world record holder and four-time Olympic gold medalist Sydney McLaughlin at the 2017 Parochial A Sectionalsat at Egg Harbor.
Her time is No. 58 among U.S. women this year, No. 3 on the U.S. Under-20 list and No. 8 on the world Under-20 list.
Rancocas Valley senior Cecilia King placed second in 1:01.12 , 5th-fastest in Burlington County history, fastest by an Rancocas Valley girl since Meet of Champions winner Tonya ran 59.03 in 1988 and fastest by any Burlington County girl since Meredith Updike of Cinnaminson ran 1:00.67 at the 2019 Meet of Champions at Northern Burlington.
Earlier Friday, Dumas won the 800 in 2:14.30, leading five runners under 2:16. Cherokee juniors Alyssa Suriano [2:14.75] and Sofia Recinto [2:14.97] and Vineland seniors Ashlynn Newton [2:15.50] and Georgina Chalow [2:15.61] all broke 2:16.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 