Leah Starkey delivered a performance for the ages on Saturday night at Hayward Field in Euege, Oregon, winning the girls' 2-mile title in record-smashing fashion at the Nike Outdoor National Championships.
Starkey, a sophomore at Ocean Township, stopped the clock at 9:46.57 to take down the national sophomre record and the NJ record!!!
Her time of 9:46.57, which is No. 4 in U.S. high school history, shattered the national high school sophomore record of 9:54.38, which was set by the great Jane Hedengren of Timpview in Utah when she won the girls' 2-mile championship at Nike Outdoor Nationals in 2023. Hedengren owns the national high school record of 9:17.75, whcih she ran in 2025.
Starkey also demolished the New Jersey record of 10:00.79 that senior Allison Lee of West Windsor-Plainsboro North senior Allison Lee ran on Friday when she finished sixth at the New Balance Nationals at Franklin Field in Philadelphia.
Starkey, who also won the 2-mile title at the Nike National Indoor Championship in March in New York in 9:48.02, completed the indoor-outdoor national championship sweep by blitzed the competition, winning by more than 18 seconds over freshman Evangeline Johnson Hess of South Euegene, who was second in 10:05.38.
Competing against a loaded field, Starkey led the entire race, opening a seven second lead after the first mile and methodically increasing the gap with each lap. She had splits of 1:18.24, 1:13.80 (2:32.04), 1:12.22 (3:44.26), 1:12.55 (4:56.81), 1:12.41 (6:09.22), 1:13.62 (7:22.84), 1:13.16 (8:36.00) and she closed in 1:10.57 (9:46.57)
The victory further cemented Starkey's status as one of the nation's premier young distance runners. Racing on one of the sport's most iconic tracks, she produced one of the greatest performances ever by a New Jersey high school track and field athlete.
