Several talented female athletes will compete for Ames Tribune area teams during the 2026 track and field season.
Ames will be led by an elite hurdler and a pair of athletes who double up as state-caliber sprinters and jumpers. Gilbert returns two runners from its Class 3A state champion 4×100-meter relay team. Roland-Story brings back its entire shuttle hurdle relay team that placed second at state in 2A. Collins-Maxwell, Colo-NESCO and Nevada all have strong distance runners returning, and Ballard brings in a talented freshman class.
This is just a preseason list, so plenty of new names could emerge during the season. But here, in alphabetical order, are the top 20 girls high school track athletes in the Ames area right now.
Ayak Akol, Ames
Events: High jump
Year: Senior
Akol gives Ames a two-time 4A state qualifier in the girls high jump.
Akol placed 19th at state as a sophomore with a jump of four feet, 10 inches. She improved that mark in 2025 with a 12th-place jump of 5-2.
Keira Andersen, Gilbert
Events: Distance races
Year: Senior
Anderson gives Gilbert one of the elite distance runners in 3A.
Anderson won the 800 at last year’s state meet in a photo finish. She has also been a part of three state champion 4×800 relay teams and two distance medley state championships.
Angelica Attinger, Ames
Events: Hurdles, sprints
Year: Senior
Attinger is a superstar hurdler for the Little Cyclone girls.
She was a state runner-up in the 4A 400 hurdles last year with a time of 1:02.51 after placing third as a sophomore in 1:03.33 and 11th as a freshman in 1:07.85. She has also been an important part of Ames’ shuttle hurdle and 4×200 relay teams that have combined for four top-six finishes at state over the past three seasons.
Brooke Axmear, Nevada
Events: Distance races
Year: Senior
Axmear gives Nevada a talented and experienced distance runner.
She was part of the Cubs’ 4×800 relay team that placed 20th in 3A last season.
Sophia Clawson, Colo-NESCO
Events: Sprints, distance races
Year: Senior
After missing last season with an injury, Clawson is looking to come back strong during her senior year.
As a freshman, Clawson qualified for state in the 400. She placed 22nd in 1A with a time of 1:05.06.
Edyn Cowles, Ames
Events: Sprints, long jump
Year: Senior
Cowles doubles up as an outstanding sprinter and longer jumper for Ames.
As a sophomore, Cowles helped the Ames 4×200 place third in 4A with a time of 1:42.78 and she took 15th in the long jump. In 2025, Cowles finished 13th in the 200 and 17th in the long jump at state, and she helped the Ames 4×200 finish fourth in 1:41.81.
Kaitlyn Dear, Gilbert
Events: Distance races, sprints
Year: Senior
Dear stepped up big for the Gilbert girls at state as a junior.
She helped the Tigers three-peat in the 4×800 with a 3A-record time of 9:14.60 and take sixth in the 4×400 with a 3:55.91 showing. Individually, she placed 16th in the 1,600 and 21st in the 400.
Natalya Deardorff, Ames
Events: Sprints
Year: Senior
Deardorff is a big weapon in middle-distance races for Ames.
Deardorff anchored the Little Cyclones to a fifth-place finish in the 4A 4×400 last year with a time of 3:56.55, and she took 12th individually in the open 400 with a 59.70 showing. Deardorff also helped Ames placed 15th in the distance medley relay as a sophomore and ninth in the event as a junior.
Cypress Erickson, Collins-Maxwell
Events: Sprints
Year: Senior
Erickson gives Collins-Maxwell a talented relay runner.
As a sophomore, Erickson ran the opening leg on a Spartan distance medley team that took seventh in 1A with a time of 4:21.78 and a sprint medley team that finished 15th.
Elizabeth Erickson, Colo-NESCO
Events: Distance races
Year: Junior
Erickson has run in the 1A girls 800 and 3,000 at state in each of the past two seasons.
As a freshman, Erickson placed 14th in the 800 and 18th in the 3,000. Last year she was 15th in the 3,000 with an 11:23.60 showing and 16th in the 800 with a 2:26.27 effort.
Keaton Hanson, Gilbert
Events: Sprints
Year: Senior
Hanson is a veteran presence in Gilbert’s talented stable of sprinters.
Shas ran the second leg on two 3A state championship relay teams at Gilbert.
As a sophomore, Hanson helped the Tigers’ sprint medley relay team take first in 4:06.13. Last year she contributed to their 4×100 state champion that finished in 48.49, and she also took 12th in the 100 prelims individually with a time of 12.53.
Sophia Hatcher, Ames
Events: Sprints, hurdles, long jump
Year: Senior
Hatcher has proven herself to be be one of the most well-rounded girls track and field athletes in 4A.
Hatcher has been a state participant and placewinner in multiple events in each of her first three seasons of track and field.
Hatcher helped Ames place seventh in the sprint medley as a freshman; she was seventh in the long jump and a part of the Little Cyclone bronze-winning 4×200 team as a sophomore. As a junior, Hatcher took third in the long jump and helped Ames place fourth in the 4×200.
She also was ninth in the 200 prelims as both a sophomore and junior.
Aubrey Johnson, Gilbert
Events: sprints, hurdles, long jump
Year: Freshman
Johnson has the potential to be a breakout superstar for Gilbert in 20206.
Through the indoor track season the talented freshman has already met the Blue Standards in the high school girls long jump to qualify for the Drake Relays. She also gives the Tigers an elite sprinter and hurdler.
Honor Jorgensen, Ballard
Events: Distance races
Year: Freshman
Jorgensen will look to keep Ballard’s legacy of elite distance runners going as a freshman.
Following in the footsteps of Abby Kohut-Jackson, Paityn Noe, Annika Larson and numerous other elite distance runners, Jorgensen was a standout on the Ballard girls cross country team during the fall. Jorgensen placed 46th in the 3A girls race at the state cross country meet and she was also part of Ballard’s eighth-grade state champion 4×400 relay team that ran a time of 4:09.
Maddi Lucas, Roland-Story
Events: Hurdles
Year: Junior
Lucas is a big weapon as a hurdler for the Roland-Story girls track and field team.
As a sophomore, Lucas placed 20th in the 2A girls 400 hurdles and she ran the second leg on the Norse’s state runner-up shuttle hurdle team.
Sophia Martinez, Nevada
Events: Distance races
Year: Senior
Martinez gives Nevada another talented distance runner with state experience.
She joins Axmear as a returning member of last year’s Cub 4×800 team that qualified for state and placed 20th in 10:01.98.
Jayden Peters, Collins-Maxwell
Events: Distance races
Year: Junior
Peters will look to place at state in a 1A distance event for the third year in a row.
As a freshman, Peters took ninth in the 3,000, 12th in the 800 and 14th in the 1,500 and she helped the Spartan distance medley team place seventh. She placed eighth in the 3,000 as a sophomore while also competing in both the 800 and 1,500.
Kayla Rash, Gilbert
Events: Sprints
Year: Junior
Rash is another outstanding sprinter on the Gilbert roster.
Rash was part of two 3A state champion relay teams as a sophomore. She ran the opening leg on both the sprint medley and 4×100 teams for the Tigers.
Taylor Rechkemmer, Roland-Story
Events: Hurdles; Sprints
Year: Sophomore
Rechkemmer is part of Roland-Story’s standout group of hurdlers.
As a freshman, she ran the third leg on Roland-Story’s 2A state runner-up shuttle hurdle team. Rechkemmer also placed 21st individually in the 100 hurdles with a time of 16.43.
Brooklyn Shoen, Ballard
Events: Distance races, hurdles, long jump
Year: Freshman
Shoen has a chance to be a big weapon in her first varsity season competing for the Ballard girls track and field program.
Shoen was a talented runner on the Ballard girls cross country team during the fall and she was also part of Ballard’s eighth-grade state champion 4×400 relay team. She has tremendous versatility with her ability to excel in distance races, sprints, hurdle events and the long jump
Joe Randleman covers high school sports for the Ames Tribune. Contact him at jrandleman@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JoeRandleman
This article originally appeared on Ames Tribune: Top 20 Ames-area girls track & field athletes ahead of the 2026 season
Reporting by Joe Randleman, Ames Tribune / Ames Tribune
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