Oregon high school girls track and field: 40 names to know in 2024
The Oregon high school girls track and field season got underway this month. Here are 40 of the state's top stars entering 2024.
Note: There are hundreds of standout girls track and field athletes in Oregon this season, and this is not meant to be a "top 40" list. Feel free to let us know about some of the other athletes you're expecting to star in the months ahead.
Kyra Bakke (Tualatin) photo by Taylor Balkom
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Sprinters
Addy Martin, Adrian, junior
Martin was one of the top sprinters regardless of classification in the state last spring, sweeping the OSAA Class 1A titles in the 100, 200 and 400 meters — winning the two short sprints for the second consecutive year.
Alice Davidson, Scappoose, senior
Davidson last season swept the OSAA 4A state titles in the 100 and 200 and anchored her teams to victories in the 4x100 and 4x400 relays.
Aster Jones, Roosevelt, sophomore
Jones is the latest addition to a loaded Roughriders sprint corps which includes senior Rehema Baleke, junior Ellis Heslam and sophomore Nevaeh Landrum. She won the PIL district title in the 200 as a freshman and took second in the event at the recent STCU West Coast Championships.
Avery Coker, Wells, junior
Coker capped a sophomore season in which she won titles in the 100 hurdles at the Jesuit Twilight Relays, Centennial Invite and PIL district meet by holding off South Eugene’s Sarah Money to win the OSAA 6A championship. She took fifth at state in the 300 hurdles.
Josie Donelson, Lake Oswego, senior
The Vanderbilt signee made history at the OSAA 6A state meet last May, becoming the first girl to win the 400 and 300 hurdles titles in the same season, moving to No. 2 on the all-time state list in the 400 and No. 3 in the 300s. This month, she finished third in the 400 at the Nike Indoor Nationals after running 53.44 in finishing 10th at the U.S. national indoor championships.
Mia Brahe-Pedersen, Lake Oswego, senior
The list of accolades Brahe-Pedersen has racked up during her illustrious career speaks volumes — state records in the 100 and 200 (No. 4 all-time nationally in both events), a finalist in both events at the U.S. national championships last summer and becoming the first high school track star to sign an NIL deal just scratch the surface. The USC commit is recovering from a Level 2 hamstring strain suffered at the Virginia Showcase in January and skipped defending her 60- and 200-meter titles at the Nike Indoor Nationals.
Pharalynn Dickson, South Albany, sophomore
Dickson burst on the scene last spring by winning all three sprint titles at the OSAA 5A state meet, becoming the first girl since Summit’s Kellie Schueler (2007-10) to win the 100, 200 and 400 championships.
Sara Rivas, Bend, senior
Rivas showed off her all-around hurdling excellence last spring by winning the OSAA 5A state titles in the 100 highs and 300 lows, running the fastest time of any runner in the 100s regardless of classification.
Savannah Johnson, West Linn, senior
As a junior, Johnson won Three Rivers League district titles in the 100 and 300 hurdles before taking second in the 300s and fourth in the 100s at the OSAA 6A state meet.
Sophia Castaneda, Newberg, sophomore
Castaneda finished a fantastic freshman season — one that included a runner-up finish in the 400 at the Oregon Relays and a Pacific Conference district title — by finishing second at the OSAA 6A state meet.
Distance
Chloe Huyler, Lakeridge, junior
Huyler moved to Lake Oswego over the summer from Nevada, where she won NIAA 1A state titles in the 1,600 and 3,200 meters. She was leading the OSAA 6A state cross country race at the midway point before becoming sick and dropping out. This month, she finished second to New York’s Dylan McElhinney in the mile at the Nike Indoor Nationals and placed fifth in the 2-mile.
Daisy Lalonde, East Linn Christian, junior
The reigning OSAA 2A state champion in the 1,500 and 3,000 also is a pole vaulter for the Eagles, clearing a career-best 7 feet, 6¼ inches, at state in finishing fourth.
Ellery Lincoln, Lincoln, freshman
After opening her high school career with a PIL district title and runner-up finish at the OSAA 6A cross country state championships, Lincoln finished a solid indoor season by taking eighth in the mile at the Nike Indoor Nationals as the only freshman in the 20-runner field.
Emily Wisniewski, Crescent Valley, junior
The longer the race, the stronger Wisniewski gets. She has finished third and second in the 1,500 at the OSAA 5A state meet, and the two-time 3,000 champion ran the third-fastest time in state history last spring. She also is 3 for 3 at the cross country state meet, won regionals and finished third at the NXN Nike Cross Nationals, and placed fourth in the 5K at the Nike Indoor Nationals this month.
Emma Bennett, Jesuit, junior
Bennett is best-known as a middle-distance maestro, winning the OSAA 6A state titles in the 800 and 1,500 last season and ranking in the top 20 on the all-time state lists in both events. Her victory at November’s OSAA cross country state championships and top-10 finish at the NXR Northwest Regional meet show she might be ready to extend her range this spring.
Josie Fale, Wells, senior
Fale used a strong junior year with the Guardians — a ninth-place finish at the OSAA 6A cross country state meet, and a third in the 1,500 and a fifth in the 3,000 at the state track meet — to earn a scholarship from the University of Utah, where she’ll run next year.
Kenzie Bigej, Canby, junior
Bigej is a two-sport standout for the Cougars who focused on soccer until last spring, when she won the NWOC district titles in the 1,500 and 3,000 and placed third in both events at the OSAA 5A state meet. In the fall, she juggled her duties as a second-team all-NWOC goaltender for a 5A quarterfinalist with winning a district cross country title and placing second at the 5A state meet.
Lauren Ayers, Tualatin, senior
Ayers is another distance standout who spent her first couple high school years splitting time between wearing soccer cleats and running spikes. Last spring, she switched lanes — and events, dropping the 800 for the 3,000, and she won an OSAA 6A state title to go with a runner-up finish in the 1,500. The University of Utah signee dropped soccer in the fall to run cross country for the first time, placing fourth at state.
Lindsay Siebert, Crater, senior
The Comets have been known for developing boys distance runners — most recently Tyrone Gorze — but Siebert last spring became the program’s first girl to win a distance state championship since 2009 when she outdueled two runners to win the OSAA 5A title in the 800. She finished third last fall at the cross country state meet for the second consecutive year.
Sophie Schoolmeester, Banks, sophomore
Schoolmeester capped a strong freshman year that included a fifth-place finish at the OSAA 3A/2A/1A cross country state meet and district titles in the 800 and 1,500 by winning the 3A state championship in the 800. In the fall, she moved up two spots to third place at the cross country state meet.
Throwers
Abby Behrman, Estacada, junior
Behrman completed her sophomore season in grand style, repeating as Tri-Valley Conference district champion in the discus and placing second at the OSAA 4A state meet. A month later, she returned to Hayward Field and won the Nike Outdoor Nationals Emerging Elite division with a career-best throw of 131 feet, 6 inches.
Avery DeVincenzi, Wilsonville, senior
DeVincenzi won her first medals at the OSAA 5A state championships last spring, when she finished second in the shot put and sixth in the discus. A month later, she won a national shot put title in the Nike Outdoor Nationals Emerging Elite division at Hayward Field.
Daphne Scriven, Marshfield, senior
Scriven has lost only once against 4A competition in the discus over the past two seasons, winning consecutive OSAA state titles at Hayward Field for the Pirates. She took third in the shot put last spring, then came back to Eugene a month later to finish fourth in the discus in the Emerging Elite division at Nike Outdoor Nationals.
Havana Alonso, Roosevelt, senior
After missing her sophomore season, Alonso returned last year to win a PIL district title in the javelin and finish runner-up at the OSAA 6A state meet to Central Catholic’s Kyeese Hollands, who’s now at Texas Tech. She also placed second to Hollands at the Jesuit Twilight Relays, where Alonso threw her career-best 139-6.
Hayden Williams-Downing, West Linn, junior
Williams-Downing is best known as a heptathlete, winning the USATF Junior Olympic regional title, but she specialized last year in the javelin — finishing third at the OSAA 6A state meet, winning the Junior Olympic regional title and placing seventh at nationals.
Holli Vigue, Coquille, junior
Vigue improved her career best in the discus by almost 23 feet last year and won the 3A state title with a throw of 125-9. Now, she’s hoping to see similar improvement in the shot put, in which she failed to qualify for state.
Marissa Johnson, Tigard, sophomore
Johnson kicked off her freshman season by winning the Emerging Elite shot put event at the Nike Indoor Nationals and finished it by winning the OSAA 6A state (she placed second at state in the discus) and USATF Junior Olympic 15-16 national titles. She placed third at Junior Olympic nationals in the hammer and fifth in the discus, and this month, she took third at Nike Indoor Nationals in the weight throw.
Rylee Lemen, Putnam, senior
Lemen signed in November with Northern Arizona to play basketball, but she has the versatility to be a heptathlete on the track. She qualified for the OSAA 5A state meet in four events last year (100 hurdles, shot put, javelin and high jump), winning the NWOC district javelin title and medaling at state in the javelin (fifth), high jump (second) and hurdles (sixth).
Yazmeen Brown, Milwaukie, junior
Brown transferred mid-spring last year from Nelson (where she placed third in the discus at the OSAA 6A state meet as a freshman) to Milwaukie, where she was allowed to finish the season and won the 5A state discus title and placed third in the shot put. Two months later, she returned to Hayward Field to win the USATF Junior Olympic 15-16 national title after a harrowing hate-crime incident at a friend’s birthday party.
Zowie Nunes, Ridgeview, junior
Nunes successfully defended her OSAA 5A state title in the javelin last spring, remaining undefeated against 5A rivals in her first two seasons — her only two losses coming to Central Catholic’s Kyeese Hollands last year. Nunes placed sixth at state last spring in the shot put.
Jumpers
Addison Kleinke, Churchill, sophomore
It was only a matter of time for Kleinke to become the state’s all-time leading vaulter, considering she went over 13 feet three times as an eighth-grader. She broke the state record in early May, then won her first OSAA 5A state title later that month. She went over 13-7½ (her career best) at the Oregon High School Invitational, then finished the season by placing fourth at Nike Outdoor Nationals and winning the USATF Junior Olympic 15-16 national title.
Alexa Anderson, Tigard, junior
Anderson is one of the rare athletes to excel at both the pole vault and high jump, finishing second in the former and sixth in the latter at the OSAA 6A state meet as a freshman, then coming back last spring to win the state pole vault title and place second in the high jump.
Amber Walker, Tigard, senior
Walker steadily improved over the course of her junior season, eventually becoming the first Tiger to win a high jump state title since 1993 by clearing a career-best 5-7¼ at the OSAA 6A meet. She placed sixth in the long jump.
Caroline De La Motte, Wilsonville, senior
De La Motte won OSAA 5A state titles in two sports as a junior, helping the Wildcats win the second of their three consecutive girls soccer championships in the fall before earning the long jump title in May. She took second at state in the triple jump.
Caroline Mauro, Catlin Gabel, junior
Mauro is a two-time OSAA 3A state champion in the high jump, breaking the 3A sophomore state record by clearing a personal-best 5-7¼ at Hayward Field last May.
Elizabeth Graham, Tualatin, senior
Graham will jump at Cornell University next year, but in the meantime, she’ll look to improve upon her second-place finish in the long jump and fourth-place showing in the triple jump at the OSAA 6A state meet. She triple-jumped 39-4½ at a Three Rivers League dual meet in April to move to eighth on the all-time state list.
Janice Hellesto, Philomath, junior
Hellesto is an all-around standout for the Warriors, winning an OSAA 4A state title in the 400 as a freshman before adding a long jump title to her portfolio last May, going with runner-up finishes in the 200 and 4x100 and a third-place finish in the 100.
Kyra Bakke, Tualatin, senior
Bakke opened her high school career by winning the 6A high jump title at the culminating-week state meet during the COVID-shortened 2021 season. Since then, she has finished fourth and third at the OSAA state meet, placed third at the USATF Junior Olympic 17-18 national championships, moved to the top 20 on the all-time state list, and signed with Montana State. In early March, she won at the STCU West Coast Championships.
Maleigha Canaday-Elliott, McDaniel, senior
Canaday-Elliott started her high school career as a standout on the soccer pitch for the Mountain Lions, having played in the Portland Thorns Academy. After going over 39 feet in the triple jump as a sophomore, she started realizing her potential, finishing second at the OSAA 6A state meet that year, then tying the meet record with a 40-6½ jump (No. 2 on the all-time state list) in completing an undefeated season as a junior. She has signed with the University of Oregon.
Olivia Boyd, Silverton, senior
Boyd won back-to-back OSAA 2A state titles in the high jump at Gervais the past two years, also posting runner-up finishes in the 100 hurdles each season. She transferred to Silverton last summer and recently made the go-ahead free throw to lift the Foxes to the 5A girls basketball state championship.
