Kentucky sophomore Dahlia Beasley from Washington Township finished strong in her first lifetime heptathlon, placing 10th at the Texas Relays in Austin with one of the highest scores ever compiled by a South Jersey athlete.
Although Beasley contested one indoor pentathlon in Fayetteville in January, this was her first-ever two-day multi-event competition, and she recorded her fourth PR of the event Thursday after recording three on Wednesday.
Beasley’s score of 5,143 points is 5th-highest ever by a South Jersey high school alum as far as I can tell, behind Pleasantville’s Nia Ali [5,870 in Azusa, Calif., in 2016], Winslow’s Tionna Tobias [5,640 in Bloomington, Ind., in 2023], Bridgeton’s Shana Williams [5,565 in Buffalo in 1993] and Millville’s Brianna Craig [5,460 in Bloomington in 2023].
On Wednesday, Beasley scord 3,149 points in four events, PR’ing in the 100-meter hurdles [14.75, 875 [points], high jump [5-7, 855 points] and 200 [23.77, 1,003 points]. She also threw the shot 27-0 ¾ for 416 points.
On Thurdsay, she started out with a big 18-5 ¼ for 735 points, not far off her PR 18-11 ½ from December in Nashville, then threw the javelin 94-3 for 453 points, a huge PR over her 76-10 from last week in Orlando and then finished by running 800 meters in 2:21.30 for 806 more points.
Looks like her score is 16th-best in NCAA Division 1 in the early going of the season.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 