Arkansas sophomore Dahlia Beasley from Washington Township recorded the 5th-highest heptathlon score ever by a South Jersey woman Thursday and Friday at the SEC Championships.
In just her 3rd lifetime multi-event competition, Beasley scored 5,367 points and placed 9th among some of the top heptathletes in the country at Auburn’s Hutsell-Rosen Track.
Beasley opened with a huge hurdles PR of 14.16 for 956 points and then cleared a PR 5-7 ¼ in the high jump for 867 points. She threw 30-5 for 482 points in the shot but then posted the fastest 200 time of the competition, earning 973 points for a 24.08 with legal wind.
On Saturday, she started with another PR, hitting 19-3 ½ in the long jump, again with legal wind at 0.8. She threw the javelin 86-0 for 405 points before finishing with a 2:16.55 in the 800, just off her PR of 2:15.87 in a multi last month in Gainesville.
Beasley’s previous PRs were 14.75 wind-aided and 14.76 with legal wind, 5-7 in the high jump and 18-11 ¼ in the long jump.
Her previous heptathlon PR was 5,217 in Gainesville.
The only South Jersey women to record a higher heptathlon score are Nia Ali of Pleasantville [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 Brianna Craig of Millville [5,460 in Bloomington in 2023].
Beasley’s score is No. 6 in Kentucky history and just 10 points out of 5th.
Beasley never participated in a multi indoors or outdoors during her freshman year at Rutgers. Her first multi was just four months ago, a pentathlon in Fayetteville. Her first heptathlon was just last month in Austin, where she scored 5,143 points, improving to 5,217 in Gainesville and now 5,367.
Top South Jersey heptathlon scores
5,870 … Nia Ali [Pleasantville], April 14, 2016, Azusa, Calif.
5,640 … Tionna Tobias [Winslow Twp.], May 12-13, 2023, Bloomington, Ind.
5,565 … Shana Williams [Bridgeton], July 14-15, 1993, Buffalo
5,460 … Brianna Craig [Millville], May 12-13, 2023, Bloomington, Ind.
5,217 … Dahlia Beasley [Washington Twp.], April 16-18, 2026, Gainesville, Fla. 5367
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 