We like to think that track and field is the most meritocratic sport in the world. The tape doesn't lie. The clock is an unbiased arbiter of talent. You either sail over the bar or you don't. There's not much room for interpretation or spin. In its simplicity, our sport is unique: you put in the work, you post the results - gatekeepers or politicking don't matter as long as you've got the goods.
At least that's how it works, in theory. When you dig into high school state meet results or national rankings, you sense that things aren't quite so cut and dry.
Many states break down their state championships into classifications based on schools' student enrollment figures. And typically, the bigger the school classification, the faster its athletes run, the higher and further they leap, and more powerfully they throw.
It's rare to parse through state meet results and see an athlete from the smaller school competition whose marks would have placed them on the podium among kids from the massive suburban schools that typically comprise the top levels of prep competition.
On a certain level, it's obvious: if you have more kids to develop, more of them will turn into track and field stars. No knock at stud athletes from massive schools. The state champion hailing from a perennial powerhouse program with a 200-kid roster still had to work their tail off to get to where they are.
But there are significantly more factors that go into the disparity. Being from a little town or even a more diminutive school comes with its own unique set of challenges. Maybe you have to log your final tune-up session before state on a cinder track. Maybe you only have track practice a couple of days a week because you also play soccer and softball, and those teams are counting on you just as much. Maybe you simply have to travel further to get to school or meets from your home, and are working with fewer usable hours in your week accordingly.
The infrastructure may be there - it just may be a tad more underdeveloped or complicated to navigate than what a trackster attending a school with 1,500 other kids is used to.
Of course there are exceptions to every rule.
Take Jake Merrell, for instance, a national-caliber 800m star who graduated from the Valley School (K-12 enrollment of a little over 200) in 2018. Merrell is perhaps the most perfect example of the small town kid making a splash against the best in the country in recent memory. He grew up in the town of Quitaque in Briscoe County - a jurisdiction about two-thirds the size of the state of Rhode Island with just 1,435 residents. He was a high-level basketball and football player, worked on his family's ranch, and still found the time to clock a 1:50.45 800m PR.
But you don't need to look to the recent past or conjure up hypothetical small-school superstars to give props to athletes proving that track and field really does leave the door open for athletes from far-flung places to succeed. We checked in with some MileSplit state site editors to hear about athletes making a splash out of under-the-radar programs.
Let's pay a quick visit to Tri-Valley in Sullivan County, New York. This small school in the heart of the Catskill Mountains has about 400 students between 7th and 12th grade. Junior thrower Kane Poje is the fifth-ranked shot putter (57-11.75) in all of New York and fourth in the hammer throw (204-11) - an event in which he ranks ninth in the nation. But Poje isn't even the most decorated junior on the team! Anna Furman is the top-ranked New York athlete in the 2000m steeple (6:49.02) and the 5000m (16:52.05) - those marks are both ranked second in the entire nation. For good measure, Furman also ranks in the top-five in the 1500m in New York and the top-20 nationally in the flat 3000m.
Heading down south to Virginia, tucked into the Blue Ridge Mountains and a short trip to the Appalachian Trail, Parry McCluer School has developed into something of a distance running powerhouse in the 6,600-person town of Buena Vista. Parry McCluer wound up as the top boys cross country team in the state this past fall, led largely by the efforts of junior Kebryl Chandler, who recently ran 8:54.82 for the full two-mile at the ASICS Carolina Distance Carnival. That mark ranks first in the state and 26th in the nation.
In a state as massive as California, the definition of "small town" looks a little bit different. If a jurisdiction is smaller than 100,000 and not part of one of California's massive metro areas, it counts! Let's zoom into the physically vast San Bernardino County, where Kaahliyah Lacy of San Jacinto Valley Academy is the top-ranked 300m hurdler in not just California, but the entire country. Her 39.33 is the fourth-fastest high school mark ever. She also happens to be the top-ranked 100m hurdler in the state at 13.59, which sits in the top-15 in the entire U.S. Oh yeah, and she's only a sophomore!
Keeping things in the same county but schlepping over to the Mojave Desert outside of Victorville, Quran Clayton, a junior representing Oak Hills High School, has run a wind-aided 10.12 100m, one of the fastest all-conditions marks in state history. He's posted wind-legal and nationally competitive marks of 10.28 for the 100m, 21.15 in the 200m, and 13.78 for the 110m hurdles.
A little over an hour west of Fort Worth, Texas, sits the town of Strawn, population 540. The school district that serves the area enrolls fewer than 200 kids total. One of them is 400m runner Kaison Nunez. Nunez recently went 46.85 to win the UIL 1A Region II championship - a time that ranks 11th in the state of Texas and 22nd nationally.
In Pennsylvania, two athletes competing for schools in the PIAA's 2A division, the second-smallest, are among the state's fastest. The current boys 1600m (split), 3000m, and mile leader for all of PA is Jonah Montagnese, from Quaker Valley in the Ohio River town of Leetsdale (population 1,162). He's run 4:12.21 for the full mile and 8:19.62 for the 3000m this outdoor season. Virginia Kraus, who competes for Quakertown's Saucon Valley HS in the Lehigh Valley, ran 10:19.93 this past indoor campaign in the 3200m, which was the second fastest time in PA and 17th quickest in the country.
Taking things in a slightly different direction, namely, the direction of excellent and longstanding team depth, let's check in on things in Bleckley County, Georgia. Bleckley is a truly rural place, far from even the most generous interpretation of the Atlanta metro area, with a population of under 13,000. Bleckley County High School has established itself as a distance powerhouse within the state, regardless of size of school in the fight. Last fall, Bleckley claimed the top team spot for both girls and boys at the GHSA 1A state champs in cross country, posting team tallies of 23 and 26, respectively - second place in both races was more than 70 points back. And Bleckley's school records from 800m-3200m could stand up against just about any school in the country.
As we've already established, "small" is relative... a state of mind. And while Smyrna High School boasts enrollment figures in the 1,500 range, it's located in Smyrna, Delaware, a town of about 12,000 on the Delmarva Peninsula, which is decidedly a more small-town-feeling place. Plus, we'd like the opportunity to shout out Aaliyah Turpin, who is currently the top-ranked Delaware athlete in the 100m, 200m, and 100m hurdles. She hasn't lost a final all outdoor season in any event, took second at Nike Indoor Nationals this past winter in the 60m hurdles, and currently ranks 32nd in the 100m hurdles in the nation.
And to cap this hardly comprehensive listicle off, let's turn our attention to Wyatt Doak, a sophomore from Santa Fe High School in Missouri, who leads the state in the high jump having cleared 2.08m (6-9.75) this season. Santa Fe is located in Alma, a small community in the northwestern portion of the state, boasting a population of under 200 people. Doak's best clearance this year ranks him 61st overall in the nation, and fifth among all sophomores in the U.S. (Interestingly enough, a couple of years back, a different Wyatt Doak, also from Missouri, also from a small town - Galena, in this Wyatt Doak's case - was an accomplished long, triple, and yes, high jumper. This Doak is now a collegiate baseball player at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.)
We like to think that track and field is the most meritocratic sport in the world. The tape doesn't lie. The clock is an unbiased arbiter of talent. You either sail over the bar or you don't. There's not much room for interpretation or spin. In its simplicity, our sport is unique: you put in the work, you post the results - gatekeepers or politicking don't matter as long as you've got the goods.
At least that's how it works, in theory. When you dig into high school state meet results or national rankings, you sense that things aren't quite so cut and dry.