BETH STARR
- mercertrackhall
- Sep 20
- 1 min read
Updated: Sep 26
Lawrence High School - Mid-Distance
The mid- and late-1980s saw a bevy of outstanding girls’ middle and distance runners in Mercer County and one of the most exciting and versatile was Lawrence’s Beth Starr-Conover.
When did this Starr shine the brightest? Pretty much anytime she took the track or cross-country turf as she dominated everything from the 400 meters to the 5-K and set a standard of excellence that exists to this day.
An All-State cross country runner in 1986 (when she took second at the Group II championships), Starr-Conover won the Group II 800 indoor state title a few months later, leading Lawrence to the team championship
In the spring, she followed that up with one of the great individual performances in Mercer County Championship history when she won the 400, 800 and ran a leg on the winning 4x400. These exploits helped the Cardinals win the team title (erasing memories of their second-place finish indoors) and deservedly earned her Lawrence’s Female Athlete of the Year.
At times Starr-Conover seemed like she was from another galaxy, graduating with nine school records in track as well as cross country (including Lawrence’s home course record). But incredibly, if anything, she got better in college.
At Rutgers University, Beth earned 11 varsity letters, including the MVP of the 1990 Scarlet Knights’ cross country team. Overall, she was named ECAC All-East recognition five times and continued setting records (like when she set a school course record at the Philadelphia Textile Invitational in Philadelphia in 1988).
