From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank

It’s been more than two decades since Eastern had a half-miler run sub-1:57, but senior Brandon Lamon ended that streak with a 1:56.85 at Ocean Breeze and followed that up with a 2nd-place finish in the state Group 4 meet at the Bubble Saturday.

Lamon, who had never even placed at a sectional meet, ran 1:58.10 at states and took 2nd to Tahj Wilson of Toms River North, who ran 1:57.60.

Lamon is Eastern’s fastest 800 runner since Andrew Riviello set the school record of 1:56.60 at the 2003 Meet of Champions at Princeton’s Jadwin Gym. Lamon bumped Michael Twist for the No. 2 all-time spot at Eastern. Twist ran 1:57.64 at 2013 Easterns at the Armory.

Nicholas Pschunder set Eastern’s outdoor record of 1:53.79 when he place 4th at the 1990 Meet of Champions in South Plainfield. Lamon ran 2:00.42 last spring at Cherokee but didn’t compete at sectionals.

Looks like Eastern is not entered in Easterns at the Armory on Wednesday, but Lamon will race at the Meet of Champions on Sunday at Ocean Breeze. He goes into the 800 as the No. 9 seed:

1:55.83 … Keandre Kelly [Union Catohlic], 1st, Parochial B
1:56.06 … Ciaran Brosnan [Union Catholic], 2nd, Parochial B
1:57.04 … Connor Polen [Newark Academy], 3rd, Parochial B
1:57.43 … *Quintin Clemons [Union Catholic], 4th, Parochial B
1:57.60 … *Tahj Wilson [Toms River North], 1st , Group 4
1:56.67 … **Liam Angley [St. Peter’s Prep], 1st, Parochial A
1:57.62 … Josh Crawford [Woodstown], 1st, Group 1
1:58.07 … *Brady McHugh [Shore Regional], 2nd, Group 1
1:58.10 … Brandon Lamon [Eastern], 2nd, Group 4
1:58.25 … Seven Garcia [Hackensack], 3rd, Group 4
1:58.35 … Ryan Foley [Mount Olive], 1st, Group 3
1:58.53 … Brady Byrne [Chatham], 2nd, Group 3
1:58.68 … Ronald Ciaccia [Old Bridge], 4th, Group 4
1:58.78 … *Nikos Davlouros [Westfield], 5th, Group 4
1:58.87 … Karson Chew [Woodstown], 3rd, Group 1