Fastest High School Girls Sprinters of All Time
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The greatest high school sprinters of all time, more often than not, usually end up being the greatest college and Olympic sprinters of all time as well.
We see these female sprinters as not only the best track and field athletes but as some of the best all-around athletes to ever play high school sports — and a lot of them have the gold medals to prove it.
Here's a look at the greatest high school girls sprinters of all time.
30. Kwajalein Butler (tie)
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High School: West Monroe High School (West Monroe, Louisiana)
100-meter dash time: 11.42 seconds
Year: 1994
Bottom line: West Monroe High's Kwajalein Butler had the fastest female 100-meter dash time in the country in 1994 when she ran 11.42 seconds.
Butler ran track at LSU and won four NCAA championships, including three consecutive national titles as part of the 400-meter relay team from 1995-97. Her lone individual title came in the 55-meter dash at the 1998 NCAA indoor championships.
For these rankings, we used a combination of data from the National Federation of State High School Association record book, the Track and Field News career record book and record books from states' official high school sports governing bodies.
30. Brittany Long (tie)
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High School: Therrell High School (Atlanta, Georgia)
100-meter dash time: 11.42 seconds
Year: 2007
Bottom line: Brittany Long won three consecutive state championships in both the 100-meter and 200-meter dash for Therrell High School and was named the Georgia Gatorade High School Player of the Year in 2007.
She also won a national championship in high school in the 60-meter dash at the Nike Indoor Meet. Long signed with the University of Central Florida out of high school, then eventually transferred to Georgia State.
28. Morolake Akinosun (tie)
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High School: Waubonsie Valley High School (Aurora, Illinois)
100-meter dash time: 11.41 seconds
Year: 2012
Bottom line: Morolake Akinosun was born in Nigeria, but her family left their home country and moved to the United States when she was just 2 years old.
Akinosun won a state championship as a senior at Waubonsie Valley High in 2012 with her time of 11.41 seconds. In college, she was only one of two women to score in four different events in consecutive years at the NCAA outdoor championships and was a 23-time All-American at Texas and Illinois.
Better yet: Akinosun won a gold medal at the 2016 Olympics as part of the U.S. 400-meter relay team.
28. Alexandria Anderson (tie)
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High School: Morgan Park High School (Chicago, Illinois)
100-meter dash time: 11.41 seconds
Year: 2004
Bottom line: Alexandria Anderson was not only a track star, but she was also a volleyball star at Morgan Park High, winning four consecutive Chicago city championships. Anderson went on to be an All-American at the University of Texas, winning a national championship in the 100-meter dash in 2009.
Her success also translated to the international stage when she was part of the U.S. gold medal-winning 400-meter relay team at the 2011 World Championships.
25. Keyon Soley (tie)
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High School: Uniondale High School (Uniondale, New York)
100-meter dash time: 11.40 seconds
Year: 1997
Bottom line: Keyon Soley was a great sprinter in high school, but she wasn't "solely" great in sprints — her real specialty was in the long jump.
Solely was the first female athlete to rank in the top three in the nation in long jump on the high school level in three consecutive years and won three consecutive state championships in the long jump for Uniondale High, along with a state title in the 200-meter dash as a senior. In the 100-meter dash, she won four consecutive state championships.
Solely ran track at UCLA for her first two seasons then transferred to Florida.
25. Bianca Knight (tie)
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High School: Ridgeland High School (Ridgeland, Mississippi)
100-meter dash time: 11.40 seconds
Year: 2006
Bottom line: Bianca Knight became the first Mississippi athlete to win Gatorade National Track & Field Athlete of the Year in 2006 — and the first Mississippi athlete to win national player of the year from Gatorade in any sport.
Knight's career at Ridgeland High is the stuff of legend — she won 23 state championships, including 15 individual titles, and still holds state records in the 100-meter and 200-meter dash.
Knight competed for one season at the University of Texas and won the 200-meter dash at the NCAA indoor championships before turning pro and won a gold medal in the 400-meter relay at the 2012 Summer Olympics.
25. Lisa Thompson (tie)
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High School: Maryvale High School (Phoenix, Arizona)
100-meter dash time: 11.40 seconds
Year: 1977
Bottom line: It's unfortunate that Maryvale High's Lisa Thompson was a sprinting phenom prior to the explosion of women's athletics in the United States — her success was largely promoted on the AAU level.
The true testament to her greatness on the track lies in the fact that she finds herself on this list over 40 years after she ran the 100 in 11.4 seconds, which also came in the era when the 100-yard dash was still an event. Thompson ran in college for UNLV, but we don't know much about her career after high school.
23. Jada Atkinson (tie)
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High School: Southmoore High School (Moore, Oklahoma)
100-meter dash time: 11.38 seconds
Year: 2021
Bottom line: Jada Atkinson became the first Oklahoma Gatorade Player of the Year from Southmoore High in 2021 after she swept the 100-meter and 200-meter dash at the state tournament.
Atkinson ran for her father, Shannon, at Southmoore and signed with the University of Oklahoma. Both her father and her mother, Jennifer, were All-American track athletes at Oklahoma.
23. Dezerea Bryant (tie)
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High School: Bradley Tech (Milwaukee, Wisconsin)
100-meter dash time: 11.38 seconds
Year: 2011
Bottom line: Only 5-foot-1, Bradley Tech's Dezerea Bryant has always been a dynamo on the track and became the greatest high school sprinter in Wisconsin history, still owning state records in the 100-meter and 200-meter dash.
Bryant had a decorated college career and was a 17-time All-American at Clemson and Kentucky. She won an NCAA Outdoor Championship in the 200 in 2015 and won the 200 at the U.S. Track and Field Championship in 2019.
22. Kate Hall
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High School: Lake Region High School (Naples, Maine)
100-meter dash time: 11.37 seconds
Year: 2014
Bottom line: There aren't a lot of big-time track stars who come out of Maine, but Lake Region High's Kate Hall is one of the very best to ever do it.
Despite setting the Maine record in the 100-meter dash, that's not Hall's best event by a long shot. She broke the 39-year-old national record in the long jump in 2015 with a leap of 22 feet, 5 inches.
Hall began her college career at Iowa State then transferred to the University of Georgia, where she won national championships at the NCAA Indoor Championships in 2017 and at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in 2018.
21. Arria Minor (tie)
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High School: East Denver High School (Denver, Colorado)
100-meter dash time: 11.31 seconds
Year: 2019
Bottom line: Arria Minor crafted a career as one of the greatest high school athletes in Colorado history at East Denver High, where she won 12 state championships and had the fastest U-18, 400-meter dash time in the world in 2018 but chose not to race the 400 as a senior in 2019.
Minor spent one year at the University of Georgia before transferring to Baylor, where she earned All-American honors in the 400 relay at the 2021 NCAA Outdoor Championships.
19. Caryl Smith (tie)
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High School: George Washington High School (Denver, Colorado)
100-meter dash time: 11.31 seconds
Year: 1987
Bottom line: Caryl Smith — now Caryl Smith Gilbert — is perhaps better known for her career as one of the nation's elite NCAA track coaches, having led USC to multiple national championships before jumping to the University of Georgia in June 2021.
But before all that, Smith Gilbert was a track phenom at Denver's George Washington High, where she won two state championships in the 200-meter dash and long jump and three state championships in the 100. Smith was also a three-time All-American at UCLA.
19. Jessica Onyepunuka (tie)
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High School: Peoria High School (Peoria, Arizona)
100-meter dash time: 11.31 seconds
Year: 2002
Bottom line: Jessica Onyepunuka came from a family of elite runners. Her father, Sabestine Onyepunuka, and her mother, Elizabeth Mokogwu, both represented Nigeria in international competitions before they immigrated to the United States.
Jessica won both the 100-meter and 200-meter dash state championships at Peoria High in her final two high school seasons, along with a World Junior Championship in the 100.
She was an All-American at USC, where she currently works as an assistant athletic director in charge of marketing.
18. Chalonda Goodman
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High School: Newnan High School (Newnan, Georgia)
100-meter dash time: 11.30 seconds
Year: 2009
Bottom line: Chalonda Goodman was a two-time USA Today All-American at Newnan High, where she became the only athlete in Georgia history to win both the 100-meter and 200-meter dash state championships in four consecutive years.
Goodman was one of the more heralded track and field recruits in history and chose the University of Texas as her alma mater. Unfortunately, she suffered injuries throughout her career there, including torn ligaments in her ankle early in her freshman year, followed by a torn muscle in her calf at the end of her freshman year.
16. Allyson Felix (tie)
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High School: Los Angeles Baptist High School (North Hills, California)
100-meter dash time: 11.29 seconds
Year: 2003
Bottom line: Before she was one of the most decorated Olympians of all time, Allyson Felix was a five-time California state champion, including a runner-up finish at the U.S. Track and Field Championships as a senior.
Felix decided to go directly to the pros after high school, signing a deal with Adidas that included money to pay for her college tuition — she received a degree in elementary education from USC.
Felix has won nine medals over the last four Olympics dating back to 2004, including six gold medals and three silver medals. She will compete in her fifth Olympics in 2021.
16. Barbara Bell (tie)
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High School: Trimble Tech High School (Fort Worth, Texas)
100-meter dash time: 11.29 seconds
Year: 1981
Bottom line: Like a few other sprinters on this list, we don't know much about Barbara Bell's career after she left Trimble Tech in Fort Worth, Texas, which is a city that saw several sprinters make the list.
One notable thing about Bell is that her 11.29-second, 100-meter dash stood as the national record for a decade until Marion Jones broke the mark in 1991.
14. Sha'Carri Richardson (tie)
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High School: Carter High School (Dallas, Texas)
100-meter dash time: 11.28 seconds
Year: 2017
Bottom line: Most sports fans in the free world know who Sha'Carri Richardson is by now — she was pegged as a favorite in the 100-meter dash at the 2021 Olympics before she was banned from the games for marijuana use.
Before the controversy, Richardson was a high school star at Dallas Carter, winning state championships before signing with LSU. In college, Richardson turned in one of the greatest performances in NCAA Outdoor Championships history in 2019, when she won a national title in the 100-meter dash, finished as runner-up in the 200 and runner-up in the 400 relay.
14. Marshevet Hooker (tie)
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High School: Southwest High School (San Antonio, Texas)
100-meter dash time: 11.28 seconds
Year: 2002
Bottom line: Marshevet Hooker won five individual state championships at Southwest High in San Antonio before becoming one of the most decorated track and field athletes at the University of Texas.
Hooker led the Longhorns to the 2005 NCAA Outdoor Championship when she won the 100-meter dash and the 400-meter relay, then led Texas to the 2006 NCAA Indoor Championship before going pro.
Hooker ran in the 2008 Olympics, where she finished fifth in the 200-meter dash. She's not the only Olympian in her family — younger sister Destinee Hooker won a silver medal as part of the U.S. Olympic volleyball team in 2012.
13. Jeneba Tarmoh
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High School: Mt. Pleasant High School (San Jose, California)
100-meter dash time: 11.27 seconds
Year: 2007
Bottom line: Jeneba Tarmoh's parents immigrated to the United States from Sierra Leone shortly before she was born, and they saw their daughter reach the highest levels of athletic success in track and field. Tarmoh swept the 100-meter and 200-meter dash at the California state championships in 2006 and 2007, leading Mt. Pleasant High to the 2007 team state championship.
Then, she was an All-American at Texas A&M for three seasons, leading the Aggies to three consecutive national team championships before leaving school to go pro. She won a gold medal at the 2012 Olympics as part of the U.S. 400-meter relay team, although she didn't run in the finals. She also qualified in the 100 for the Olympics but was left off the team in favor of Allyson Felix in a controversial decision.
12. Kortnei Johnson
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High School: Italy High School (Italy, Texas)
100-meter dash time: 11.26 seconds
Year: 2015
Bottom line: One of the most decorated sprinters in Texas high school history, Kortnei Johnson finished her career at Italy High with seven state championships, including a sweep in the 100-meter and 200-meter dash as a senior in 2015.
Johnson signed with NCAA powerhouse LSU, where she was a nine-time All-American and won a pair of NCAA Outdoor Championships as part of the school's record-setting, 400-meter relay team, including an NCAA record 42.05-second time in 2018.
Johnson also won an SEC Indoor Championship in the 60-meter dash in 2019.
10. Semira Killebrew (tie)
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High School: Brebeuf Jesuit Prep (Indianapolis, Indiana)
100-meter dash time: 11.24 seconds
Year: 2019
Bottom line: Brebeuf Jesuit's Semira Killebrew is the fastest girl in Indiana high school history, as evidenced by her 11.24-second, 100-meter dash time in 2019, which was the fastest for any high school girls sprinter in the country that year.
Killebrew won back-to-back state championships in 2018 and 2019 in the 100 and signed with the University of Florida. She's already a two-time NCAA Indoor All-American through two seasons with the Gators, with both nods coming in the 60-meter dash.
10. Zaria Francis (tie)
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High School: Rio Mesa High School (Oxnard, California)
100-meter dash time: 11.24 seconds
Year: 2015
Bottom line: Rio Mesa High's Zaria Francis ran her career-best 11.24-second, 100-meter dash as a junior when she was named a Track and Field News All-American in both the 100- and 200-meter dash.
Francis signed with USC, where she was a regular in meets as a freshman but used sparingly as a sophomore in 2018 when the team won the NCAA Outdoor Championship for the first time since 2001.
Francis transferred to Cal Poly Pomona and finished her career there in 2021.
9. Tiffany Townsend
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High School: Killeen High School (Killeen, Texas)
100-meter dash time: 11.21 seconds
Year: 2007
Bottom line: Tiffany Townsend set Texas state records at Killeen High in both the 100-meter dash and 200-meter dash and finished as runner-up in the 100 and won the 200 at the USATF Junior Olympics in 2007.
Townsend stayed in-state to run collegiately at Baylor, where she was a 17-time All-American and capped her career by finishing third place in the 200 at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
Townsend ran professionally as an Adidas athlete for five years following her graduation from Baylor but never qualified for the Olympics.
6. Wendy Vereen (tie)
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High School: Trenton Central High School (Trenton, New Jersey)
100-meter dash time: 11.17 seconds
Year: 1983
Bottom line: Trenton Central High's Wendy Vereen was the top female high school sprinter in the country in 1983 and 1984 and was an alternate on the 1984 U.S. Olympic team in the 400-meter relay but did not compete.
Vereen teamed with future Olympic champion Rochelle Stevens at Morgan State, where Vereen was an eight-time All-American and teamed with Stevens to finish second in the 400-meter relay in 1986. Vereen went on to have a pretty distinguished international pro career, competing on that level until 1995 and winning a gold medal in the 1,600-meter relay at the 1993 World Indoor Championships.
Vereen was inducted into the Morgan State Athletics Hall of Fame in 2014.
6. Ashton Purvis (tie)
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High School: St. Elizabeth High School (Oakland, California)
100-meter dash time: 11.17 seconds
Year: 2010
Bottom line: Ashton Purvis had the top 100-meter dash and 200-meter dash time in the nation as a senior at St. Elizabeth High in 2010, along with being named the National Gatorade Track and Field Athlete of the Year and the Track and Field News Athlete of the Year in 2010.
Purvis started her college career at the University of Miami, spent one year at junior college then transferred to Texas A&M.
6. Rachel Foster (tie)
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High School: North Shore High School (Houston, Texas)
100-meter dash time: 11.17 seconds
Year: 2006
Bottom line: North Shore High's Rachel Foster set the state record with a blazing, 11.17-second, 100-meter dash at the 2004 District 23-5A meet, where she also won titles in the 400 and 800 relays.
Foster had a hard time emulating her success on the next level, where she signed with Texas A&M.
4. Gabby Mayo (tie)
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High School: Southeast Raleigh High School (Raleigh, North Carolina)
100-meter dash time: 11.16 seconds
Year: 2006
Bottom line: Gabby Mayo was named Track and Field News Athlete of the Year in 2006 following her blazing 11.16-second, 100-meter dash — the same year she won a silver medal in the 100 at the World Junior Championships and a gold medal in the 400-meter relay. The 400 relay team set the world record for juniors with 43.38 seconds.
Mayo was just as great in college at Texas A&M, where she was inducted into the Texas A&M Athletic Hall of Fame in 2021.
With the Aggies, Mayo was an eight-time All-American, won three NCAA outdoor national championships and seven Big 12 championships between indoor and outdoor seasons.
4. Victoria Jordan (tie)
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High School: Dunbar High School (Fort Worth, Texas)
100-meter dash time: 11.16 seconds
Year: 2008
Bottom line: We probably don't give enough credit to the sprinters on this list who ran their best times in the biggest meets — that's what Fort Worth Dunbar High's Victoria Jordan did in 2008 when she ran a blazing 11.16-second, 100-meter dash at the state track meet.
Jordan won six state championships in sprints in her career despite missing her entire junior season because of academic difficulties. She was the youngest participant in the U.S. Olympic Trials in 2008, but it's not clear how her college career turned out.
3. Marion Jones
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High School: Thousand Oaks High School (Thousand Oaks, California)
100-meter dash time: 11.14 seconds (also ran 11.17 seconds)
Year: 1992
Bottom line: One of the more well-known female athletes of all time, disgraced Olympic champion Marion Jones began having to deny rumors of steroid use while she was still setting records as a high school athlete in California.
In high school, running first for Rio Mesa High then Thousand Oaks High, Jones won four consecutive California state championships in the 100-meter dash and was named Gatorade's National Track and Field Athlete of the Year three times in a row.
Her steroid use eventually saw her stripped of all five medals — three gold and two bronze — that she won at the 2000 Olympics.
2. Candace Hill
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High School: Rockdale County High School (Conyers, Georgia)
100-meter dash time: 10.98 seconds
Year: 2015
Bottom line: Rockdale County High alum Candace Hill became the first female high school sprinter to break the 11-second mark in 2015 at the Brooks PR Invitational in Shoreline, Washington. That same year she became just the second sophomore in history, following Marion Jones, to be named Gatorade's National Track and Field Athlete of the Year — she was also named Track and Field News Athlete of the Year.
In 2016, she won gold medals in both the 100-meter dash and the 400-meter relay at the U-20 World Championships. Hill opted to forgo college and turn professional in 2018, signing a 10-year deal with Asics.
Hill has largely fallen off the radar since then, due to injuries and a missed season because of the pandemic.
1. Briana Williams
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High School: Northeast High School (Oakland Park, Florida)
100-meter dash time: 10.94 seconds
Year: 2019
Bottom line: Briana Williams was born in Miami but represents Jamaica in international competitions and became the youngest winner of both the 100-meter dash and 200-meter dash at the U-20 World Championships when she won both in 2018 at 16 years old.
Williams is the only two-time winner of the Austin Sealy Award at the CARIFTA Games since Olympic legend Usain Bolt won it twice — the award is given to the most outstanding athlete at the games. At just 19 years old, she's already won 10 gold medals in international competitions for her age groups.
Next up? She'll run for Jamaica in the 2021 Olympics in the 400-meter relay and as a reserve in the 100-meter dash.