What happened to the Gatorade girls track athletes of the year?
If you have ever won a state championship meet at the high school level, you’ve probably dreamed about becoming an Olympian. Because the moment you first get a taste of winning, you get hooked on it. But the only thing sweeter than winning a state championship is proving yourself to be the best in the entire nation. Which means winning a lot and winning big while you’re at it. Gatorade names the greatest high school girls track athlete in the entire nation, every single year. But what really happens to those boys after they get their diplomas?
To make this list as one of the greatest high school girls track athletes of this generation, the criteria is simple. You have to be named the Gatorade national track athlete of the year at least once in your career. So here is a breakdown of what happened to the best high school girl on the track, every single year, for the past 10 years. Some names that you might recognize, and some others you likely have forgotten. Because it doesn’t really matter how fast you start, as much as it does how well you finish.
2023 – Angelina Napoleon
Angelina Napoleon was the Gatorade athlete of the year after dominating the nation in the 2K steeplechase and the 800 meter run, which is pretty rare! Nobody has ever run that fast in both events going first and second at the national meet. She was still good enough in the high jump to get recruited D1 in that event if she wanted to! She’s continuing her college career at NC State, joining another lady on this list. But time will only tell how good she can really become.
2022 – Juliette Whittaker
In 2022 it was Juliette Whittaker who proved to be the nation’s best. She ranked top 10 in history in both the 800 and the mile in high school, and dominated the state of Maryland to pull it off. She actually committed to compete at Stanford which is ironically joining the ACC, the same conference as Angelina. But in her freshman year in the Pac-12 she won the conference outdoors in the 800 and finished second in the entire NCAA at the indoor championship meet. She is clearly a special talent, with a lot of races left to run, and she has a lot of competition on her own team.
2021 – Roisin Willis
In 2021 Roisin Willis was the nation’s best track athlete. She was so good in the 800 that she ran that event at the Olympic trials to finish out her high school season. But she was also a junior at that time! As a senior she became the World Under 20 champion in the 800, and chose to join Juliette at Stanford University! Together her and Juliette Whittaker went 1, 2 in that event at the NCAA indoor meet, with Roisin as the champion! They also combined to win a national title indoors in the DMR. They alone make Stanford a national title threat going forward.
2020 – Taylor Ewert
The year 2020 was a shortened track season for everybody, but that didn’t stop Taylor Ewert from dominating the nation in the distance events. She won almost everything she could in the state of Ohio, both on the track and in cross country. Then she continued her career at the University of Arkansas in the SEC. There she did most of her running in cross country, and underachieved by any standard you would give to an athlete of her caliber. But in 2023 she transferred to Michigan State in the Big Ten where she is still looking to prove herself as a conference championship threat.
2019 – Jasmine Moore
In 2019 it was Jasmine Moore became the only jumper to make this list. Her triple jump ranked third all-time at the high school level, while dominating Texas in the long jump as well. She started her college career at Georgia winning NCAA medals in both jumps by the end of her sophomore year. But that’s nothing compared to what she did after transferring to Florida. There she went undefeated indoors and outdoors in both jumps at the NCAA championships all the way until she lost once in the long jump for 2023. She’s the first American woman to ever qualify for the worlds in both jumps and will go down as one of the greatest to ever do it at the college level, with the 2024 Olympics coming soon.
2018 – Katelyn Tuohy
The year 2018 belongs to a distance running sensation that swept the nation. Katelyn Tuohy was not only the best girl’s track athlete, she was the greatest female athlete for all the sports in their eyes. She practically never lost breaking national records on the track and in cross country. I know this very well because I briefly coached against her while she was still in high school! She chose to continue her career at NC State. Where she has proven to be practically unbeatable when she’s on her game. Katelyn won National titles in outdoor track, cross country, and indoor track back to back. And aside from winning it all, she breaks collegiate records while she’s doing it. She’s back at NC State in 2023 for her final college season, but nobody has brought more attention to girls distance running at the high school level perhaps than Katelyn Tuohy.
2016 and 2017 – Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone was the greatest track athlete in high school both in 2016 and 2017. The only other woman to repeat as the winner was Marion Jones more than two decades before her. The simplest way to sum up Sydney’s high school career as a 400 hurdler is to tell you that she went to the Olympics representing team USA, and then returned back to the states to compete her senior year! By now track fans know how good she actually is. She’s a collegiate record holder, NCAA champion, Olympic champion, world champion, and world record holder in the 400 hurdles. The only thing left for Sydney to do is win it all again, but in the open 400. She’s so good at the event she was made for, that there’s no point in running any more races practically all by herself. So as far as I’m concerned she is already the greatest women’s track athlete of all time.
2015 – Candace Hill
The year 2015 belonged to Candace Hill who sent shockwaves around the track world as the fastest 100 meter runner ever at the high school level. She was a sophomore in high school at the time and won the world youth championship in the 100 and 200 meter dashes. But unlike everyone on this list she chose to skip college entirely. She turned pro signing with Asics and honestly hasn’t been heard from much after that. She has been running professionally from then until now, but never made team USA as a senior athlete, and has never broken her personal bests from her sophomore year of high school. Ironically she is still not even 25 years old, which means that she has more races left to run if she wants to.
2014 – Raven Saunders
In 2014 it was Raven Saunders who broke the high school national record in the shot put. She’s the only thrower to make this list, but that’s because she is truly something special. She won the NCAA championship indoors and outdoors as a freshman at Southern Illinois. She transferred to Ole Miss after that and won 2 more NCAA championships before getting a silver medal at the Olympics in 2021. And she hopes to compete for gold at the 2024 Olympics.
2013 – Kendell Williams
The final name on this list from a full decade ago was Kendell Williams. She dominated the state of Georgia as a multievent athlete and continued on to compete for the Georgia Bulldogs. In college she went on to win almost every single pentathlon or heptathlon event that she ever entered, except 1. That’s 7 NCAA championships across her entire career, and she’s the only women’s track athlete to win the same event, the indoor pentathlon four times in a row. Since that time she became an Olympian in 2021, and is a bronze medalist at the World indoor championships. But she has to go down as one of the greatest athletes ever, at both the high school and college level.
The Bottom Line
Becoming the Gatorade National Track athlete of the year is a great accomplishment. But all it really means is that you have great talent and great potential. That does not mean a whole lot if your potential is never realized. The names you forgot about who made this list are proof that high school success, is not the end of your career but rather the beginning of it. But one thing is for certain that in the United States of America, there is no shortage of talent on the track at the high school level.
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