Starting on June 18, the best athletes from around the country will come to Eugene, Oregon, for the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Team Trials to determine who will represent Team USA at the Tokyo Games.
Qualifying for the Olympic Trials is an impressive feat for any athlete—but particularly for younger athletes still in high school. This year, the women’s 800 meters, men’s 200 meters, and men’s 1500-meter fields include several high-school runners.
During a regular season that saw record-breaking performances, a balance of multiple sports, and several wins against top pros, these six athletes have qualified by hitting the high standards required to compete at the championship scheduled for June 18 through June 27.
Here is a rundown of the high school track stars who will be vying for a spot on the Olympic team at Hayward Field.
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Roisin Willis
After several near-misses, Roisin Willis finally broke through in a big way to qualify for the women’s 800 meters at the Olympic Trials. At the Trials of Miles NYC Qualifier on May 21, the Stevens Point High School (Stevens Point, Wisconsin) junior won heat B in 2:00.78, a personal best that is the fourth fastest in history among high-school runners, according to MileSplit. Only Mary Cain (1:59.51), Kim Gallagher (2:00.07), and Sammy Watson (2:00.65) have run faster at that level.
The Wisconsin native came agonizingly close to the standard several times, including in a race that was nixed by an official’s error in March. Before the race in New York City, Willis said she fought off feelings of doubt over whether she would get the cut, and trusted her preparation to lower her previous 2:03.05 personal best.
“I knew my training was there,” Willis told Runner’s World. “I had just improved so much in so many areas, that I was ready to run fast. Sometimes with 800, you have to get stuck somewhere, and then you finally make that big jump.”
Fast track times run in Willis’s family. Her mother, Breeda Dennehy-Willis competed for Ireland in the 5,000 and 10,000 meters at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. Now she’s using her experience as an elite runner to support her daughter’s Olympic aspirations.
“[Dennehy-Willis] was really helpful because even though the stuff I went through this year was tough—not getting the standard when I was hoping to—she has gone through things that have been much more difficult, missing an Olympic team one year, but then coming back and making one four years later,” Willis said. “So having someone who is that resilient in my family, I think helps. She understands how I was feeling.”
Willis is one of three teenagers who will be running the women’s 800 meters at the Trials. Willis and fellow qualifiers Sophia Gorriarian and Juliette Whittaker have bonded this season by racing each other and achieving times that only a few athletes their age have ever run before. In January, Willis, Gorriarian, Whittaker, and Bailey Goggans joined forces to break the world U-20 record for the indoor 4x800-meter relay. And they have been encouraging each other in their historic efforts ever since.
“I think sometimes competitive athletes can just get too competitive and forget that they can be friends, so the fact that all three of us are close and friends, I think that's why we've all been so successful this year,” Willis said. “We have people to look up to that are just running so well, and when I see them get those standards, it inspires me to do the same, but also just the support that we all have for each other is so important as well.”
Sophia Gorriaran
In February, the 15-year-old sophomore from Moses Brown School (Providence, Rhode Island) ran 2:02.44 to qualify for the Olympic Trials. Gorriaran hit the standard in a field of pros at the American Track League indoor meet in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The effort is considered a new world U-18 indoor best, according to MileSplit.
In addition to being one of the fastest 800-meter prep runners ever, Gorriaran is just as talented on the lacrosse field. In May, NBC 10 followed Gorriaran on a training day, which started with a full day of school followed by lacrosse practice at 3:30 p.m. At 6 p.m, she went to practice at the track, which was followed by a weight room session at 8 p.m. and homework at 9:30 p.m.
While competing in both sports has presented challenges at times, Gorriaran said she has found a balance by giving each sport top priority at separate times during the season.
“It’s been a little harder trying to manage the training and the meets with the lacrosse games and lacrosse practices because some days I would have lacrosse for three hours and then track practice after that, which was really hard to do,” Gorriaran told Runner’s World. “For a while, I’ve just been focusing on lacrosse and track was kind of after it. Now I’m focusing more on track right now leading up to the Trials.”
As the youngest athlete to compete in Eugene, Gorriaran is embracing the rare opportunity to race against the best while maintaining a long term approach.
“I’m just hoping to go out there, try my best, see if I can make it through the first round, and see how I compare to all these professional runners and other high school runners,” she said. “I’m looking forward to getting a chance to get the experience and go to the Trials and see what it’s like. Hopefully in 2024, I’ll be back there again.”
Juliette Whittaker
The junior from Mount de Sales High School (Catonsville, Maryland) qualified early in the season, running the indoor 800 meters in 2:02.07 at the Virginia Showcase on January 16—the third-fastest indoor time ever run by a high schooler. Prior to her performance in Virginia Beach, her personal best was 2:03.01.
Explaining her big breakthrough, Whittaker used the meet as motivation when training during the pandemic. On race day, the Maryland native said she removed any pressure from herself and focused on running relaxed, which paid off when she ran well below the 2:02.5 Olympic Trials standard.
“I thought I could do it, but it was definitely a surprise,” Whittaker told Runner’s World. “I was so shocked. ... It was nice to get [the standard] by a good amount and have it for the rest of the season, so I didn’t really have to stress about it anymore.”
Like Willis, Whittaker also comes from a family of elite runners. Her parents, Paul and Jill, ran at Georgetown. Her older sister, Bella, runs for Penn and her older brother, Alex, is on the team at Yale. During the COVID-adjusted season, the sisters trained for their respective events at the track together (Bella runs the 200 and 400 meters), which encouraged Whittaker in a difficult year.
“When I see [Bella] working really hard or training really hard, it pushes me and inspires me to be a better runner too,” Whittaker said. “She’s very supportive and always the first person to text me before the race and the first person to text me after.”
In the same race Willis qualified for the Olympic Trials, Whittaker lowered her personal best by finishing third in 2:01.34 and Gorriarian finished fifth in 2:02.93 at the Trials of Miles NYC Qualifier on May 21. On June 4, Whittaker improved on her personal best again by winning the John Hay Pennsylvania Distance Festival in 2:01.15. Heading into the Olympic Trials, Whittaker is using the same relaxed approach that helped her get the standard. Now she has the goal of advancing and running another personal best.
“It’ll be such a cool experience to go there at all, so I’m not really stressed about how I do,” Whittaker said. “I’ll learn what it’s like to run rounds because I’ve never run rounds before, and race really competitive, high-level athletes. It’ll just be such a cool experience that I’ll always have and be able to use for years to come.”
Erriyon Knighton
On May 31, the high school junior from Tampa, Florida, took down a record set by the best sprinter in the world. At the American Track League meet in Jacksonville, Florida, Knighton came from behind to beat 100-meter Olympic favorite Trayvon Bromell and break the world junior 200-meter record set by Usain Bolt in 2003.
Knighton improved on his previous 20.33 personal best to win the heat in 20.11 over Bromell, who finished second in 20.20. The 17-year-old’s victory dipped well below Bolt’s 20.13 performance from 18 years ago.
Knighton turned pro in January after a 2020 track season that included a dominant 20.33 victory at the AAU Junior Olympics. The performance made him the second-fastest sprinter ever among athletes under 18 years-old. According to Track & Field News, Knighton started sprinting on the advice of his high school football coach and turned down football scholarship offers to pursue a career on the track.
“Knowing that I grew up around football my whole life, and receiving a lot of D1 offers, it was a tough decision, but it was also a no-brainer,” Knighton told Track & Field News. “In track, the success of my career is fully in my hands, and I know that I can do it.”
Heading into the Olympic Trials, Knighton’s 200-meter time is ranked No. 9 in the world so far this season.
Jaylen Slade
IMG Academy’s top sprinter started the season with a historic performance. In February, Slade broke the U.S. high school record by winning the indoor 200 meters in 20.62 at the American Track League meet in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
Slade improved on the previous record of 20.63 set by 2019 world 200-meter champion Noah Lyles, who ran the mark in 2016 while he was competing for T.C. Williams High School.
The 17-year-old has continued his winning ways during the outdoor season, clocking the third-fastest time ever run by a high school athlete in the 100 meters. In a field of pros—including Lyles and Isiah Young—Slade finished third in 10.09 at the Pure Athletics Summer Invitational on May 30. Only Trentavis Friday (10.00) and Jeff Demps (10.01) have run faster in high school, according to MileSplit.
Slade qualified for the Olympic Trials by running a 200-meter personal best of 20.20 at the Pure Athletics Sprint Elite Meet on May 2. His time is No. 15 in the world so far this year.
Hobbs Kessler
In the 1500 meters at the Portland Track Festival on May 29, Kessler blazed to a fifth-place finish in a field of pros to cross the line in 3:34.36 at the Portland Track Festival. With that run, the 18-year-old from Ann Arbor, Michigan, broke the previous 3:38.26 high school national record set by Alan Webb in 2001, ran below the 3:35.00 Olympic standard, and even bested the 3:34.68 collegiate record, set by Yared Nuguse on May 13.
The Northern Arizona signee, who is also an elite rock climber, trains under famed Michigan coach Ron Warhurst, the longtime coach of Olympic silver medalist Nick Willis. Kessler and Willis are part of the Warhust-led Very Nice Track Club.
Among the Americans, Kessler has run the third-fastest time and his season’s best is currently No. 18 in the world so far this year. Heading into the Olympic Trials, he is one of only five Americans who have achieved the Olympic standard, which has changed his mindset going into the championship.
“My thinking is that, if I’m there, I might as well have a run at the team,” he told Outside. “It’s a win-win because if I make the Olympic team that would be awesome, but if I don’t, I’m only 18 and will have a lot more attempts at it. I feel like I’m in a very cool spot where there’s no pressure, but I might as well give it a go.”
Taylor Dutch is a writer and editor living in Austin, Texas, and a former NCAA track athlete who specializes in fitness, wellness, and endurance sports coverage. Her work has appeared in Runner’s World, SELF, Bicycling, Outside, and Podium Runner.
