Despite the cancellation of the 2020 outdoor track season, a few of the top Division 3 boys from the 2020 season return to compete in 2021, with their eyes set on winning a state championship.
Eva Bruce from Sabino returns as one of the top all-around athletes in the state for Division 3 girls. Competing in the multi-events, Bruce returns some of the quickest times in the state in various events. Bruce returns the fastest 100m, 110m hurdles, and 800m, while also returning the top marks for D3 girls in the high jump and long jump. Bruce has a chance to do something special in 2021 while competing for a state championship in multiple events.
D1 BOYS | D1 GIRLS | D2 BOYS | D2 GIRLS | D3 BOYS | D3 GIRLS | D4 BOYS | D4 GIRLS
The distance duel between Kylie Wild from Salpointe Catholic and Evelynne Carr from American Leadership Academy will continue from the cross country season this past fall. Wild inched out Carr in the 2020 AIA Cross Country State Championship meet by two-tenths of a second to win her first state title.
The two sophomore standouts return the two quickest 1600m times in D3, with Carr just ahead of Wild, running a 5:24.76 in the event, which is surely going to be lowered this season. Wild returns the fastest 3200m time, having run a 11:35.78, another time that is destined to be lowered by several seconds in 2021. Wild and Carr should make the three distance events a "must-watch" spectacular at the State Championship meet.
THE STATE OF ARIZONA: Throws | Sprints | Hurdles | Javelin | Distance
The triple jump returns several of the top performers from last season. Reagan Olson and Trystan Hancock from Snowflake and Jade Kwinn and Azariah Foster from Sabino finished the 2020 season with the top marks in the event, all returning in 2021, and will be searching for a state championship.
Olson enters the 2021 season with two triple jump state titles, in addition to one long jump title as well. Olson is the second-ranked returner in the long jump and will compete with Bruce for another state championship. Olson enters the 2021 season with a unique opportunity to win five AIA State Championships in just three track seasons.
Kwinn also enters the 2021 season returning the top performance in the javelin throw, throwing 129-4.25 feet, which is 12 feet further than the next best returner. Kwinn, who finished second at the 2019 USATF National Junior Olympics, will search for her first-ever state championship in the event in 2021.