March 25, 2022
TOP RETURNING ATHLETES - 5A & 4A Girls Sprints
(2021 State Finish)
Girls 100 Meter Dash 5A
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Overall: # 12.07 1989 Julie Briggs, Highland-Pocatello
Class Record: * 12.07 1989 Julie Briggs, Highland (Pocatello)
Name Year School Finals Wind Points
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Finals
2 Asia Lawyer 10 Centennial 12.31 1.8 8
4 Brynn Celani 11 Timberline (Boise) 12.41 1.8 5
6 Keturah Vogel-Greenwood 10 Lake City 12.48 1.8 3
7 Abby Hancock 10 Rigby 12.53 1.8 2
With the graduation of Megan Rose, Asia Lawyer of Centennial is the heir apparent in the short sprints for 2022. Lawyer has opened up her 2022 season with a 12.91, but holds a best of 12.31 set at last year's 5A state championships. At the top of the rankings sits sophomore Sophia Clark (Boise), who ran 12.55 in her season opening race against Centennial in an early season showdown with Lawyer. Clark comes in to her sophomore season after a stellar freshman campaign that landed her 5th in the 400 at the 5A state championships, the lone freshman in the field.
Girls 100 Meter Dash 4A
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Overall: # 12.07 1989 Julie Briggs, Highland-Pocatello
Class Record: * 12.26 5/17/2019 Laurel Taylor, Idaho Falls
Name Year School Finals Wind Points
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Finals
1 Claire Petersen 10 Skyline (ID) 12.13* 1.6 10
2 Matejah Mangum 9 Pocatello 12.25* 1.6 8
3 Paige Tekippe 12 Bishop Kelly 12.26* 1.6 6
4 Abbey Clark 11 Ridgevue 12.79 1.6 5
5 Elena Winkel 11 Middleton 12.83 1.6 4
6 Anna Schmautz 11 Bishop Kelly 12.84 1.6 3
7 Kaitlyn Lundergan 9 Columbia 13.02 1.6 2
8 Allison Horsley 11 Century 13.03 1.6 1
Another fine freshman from 2021 is Pocatello's Matejah Mangum, who placed 2nd at last year's 4A state championships in a personal best 12.25, wind-legal. Mangum does not have an official, fully automated time yet in 2022, but did run a personal best in the 60m indoors (7.93). But the buck stops with Skyline's Claire Petersen, last year's 4A state champion with her class record effort of 12.13 at last years 4A championships. Petersen comes back this season as the only returning athlete in Idaho with sub-12 credentials to her name, having run 11.95 at the district 6 championships. As mentioned in the hurdle preview, Petersen is also an accomplished hurdler, winning last years 4A state title in the 100 hurdles (15.11) and the 300 hurdles (44.44).
On a personal note, one of my former athletes, Nikki Merritt ('18, Santa Margarita Catholic High School), was another rare talent who competed in the 100m, 100H, and 300H at our section championship (Division 3, Southern Section). Merritt won all three section championships much like Petersen. Merritt ended her high school career with bests of 100m - 11.82; 200m - 24.17; 100H - 13.93; 300IH - 42.23. Merritt went on to place 6th at the California State Championships (single division state meet, 1,600 schools, nearly 60,000 boy competitors and 45,000 girls competitors) and 3rd in the 300IH. Merritt is now a team captain for the Blue Devils of Duke. Her sister, Kaitlyn Merritt, was a two-time California state champion in the pole vault with a personal best of 14'00.75" and 12.12w in the 100m before going on to compete for Stanford University. Petersen's impressive sophomore marks could be well on their way to that of Merritt's by her senior year.
Girls 200 Meter Dash 5A
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Overall: # 24.74 2019 Brooke Weimer, Cole Valley Christian
Class Record: * 24.80 2012 Kyli McSpadden, Mountain View
Name Year School Finals Wind Points
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Finals
3 Kyla Palmer 10 Rocky Mountain 25.50 2.7 6
5 Abby Hancock 10 Rigby 25.68 2.7 4
6 Brynn Celani 11 Timberline (Boise) 25.76 2.7 3
8 Asia Lawyer 10 Centennial 26.35 2.7 1
The top returning athlete from last years 5A state championship is Kyla Palmer of Rocky Mountain, who ran a personal best of 25.50w to place 3rd. Lewiston's Emily Collins is at the top of the 5A 200m rankings currently with her 26.20, just ahead of Boise's Logan Smith (26.22) and Sophia Clark (26.31).
Girls 200 Meter Dash 4A
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Overall: # 24.74 2019 Brooke Weimer, Cole Valley Christian
Class Record: * 25.07 5/17/2019 Laurel Taylor, Idaho Falls
Name Year School Finals Wind Points
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Finals
1 Matejah Mangum 9 Pocatello 25.00 3.4 10
4 Abbey Clark 11 Ridgevue 26.27 3.4 5
5 Anna Schmautz 11 Bishop Kelly 26.68 3.4 4
7 Kylie Coles 11 Bonneville ( 26.99 3.4 2
8 Morgan Graham 9 Twin Falls 27.00 3.4 1
The clear favorite in the girls 4A 200 is the aforementioned, Matejah Mangum (Pocatello), last years 4A state champion with an aggressively wind-aided 25.00 (+3.4). Mangum's personal best wind-legal time is 25.17 en route to a 4A district title.
Girls 400 Meter Dash 5A
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Overall: # 55.53 2016 Harlee Hales, Pocatello
Class Record: * 55.87 2015 Madison Lung, Boise
Name Year School Finals Points
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Finals
2 Kyla Palmer 10 Rocky Mountain 56.46 8
4 Kamryn Comba 11 Idaho Falls 58.29 5
5 Sophia Clark 9 Boise 59.10 4
7 Marion Packer 10 Meridian (ID) 59.52 2
8 Emily Collins 11 Lewiston 1:00.55 1
Rocky's Kyla Palmer is last year's 5A state runner up (56.46), but the top of this list will have a lot of company. Thus far, Lewiston's Emily Clark has already raced to a 57.99, the first time she has ever cracked the 60-second barrier, doing so emphatically. Collins finished 8th at last years state championships. Boise's Logan Smith has a 58.36 to her name this year and a personal best of 57.64, Beck Kadence (Highland) has run 58.56 (PR) this season, and Sophia Clark has run 59.49, narrowly missing her personal best of 59.10 from last year's 5th place finish at the 5A state championships.
Girls 400 Meter Dash 4A
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Overall: # 55.53 2016 Harlee Hales, Pocatello
Class Record: * 55.53 2016 Harlee Hales, Pocatello
Name Year School Finals Points
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Finals
3 Elly Jeppsen 9 Preston 59.01 6
4 Adeline Wimer 10 Columbia 59.49 5
5 Tiffany Humphreys 9 Twin Falls 59.51 4
6 Addie Kiefer 11 Lakeland 1:00.01 3
7 Whitney Christiansen 10 Blackfoot 1:00.15 2
8 Jessika Lassen 9 Moscow 1:00.25 1
Preston's Elly Jeppson comes in to 2022 with a personal best of 59.01 from her 3rd place finish at last years 4A state championships. Lakeland's Addisen Kiefer comes in with the fastest time of 2022 in 4A thus far with her 60.85 effort at the Lewiston Invitational.