The 2026 spring track season is nearly upon us with the season officially starting on Monday, February 23rd and some of the first meets of the season kicking off the first weekend of March. Here are the biggest names to look out for going into the new season in Class 5A for the girls!
Sprints and Hurdles
One of the bigger upsets of the 2025 track and field state meet was Zona Welling of Heritage High School defeating Addyson Smith of Fossil Ridge High School in both the 100m and the 200m. Welling has strong PRs to her name, but Smith was the favorite and had the faster times all season. On top of that, both the 100m and the 200m were incredibly stacked so for Welling to pull off the double win was even more impressive.
Both of these ladies will be back this season and their PRs of 11.68 for Smith and 11.75 for Welling are the top of the class for the state of Colorado. Smith also ran 23.93 for the 200m and Welling at 23.96. Nevertheless, it will not just be a battle between these two ladies, because they will have to look out for Ellie Londo of Valor Christian who is #3 on the returners list for both the 100m and the 200m. She finished 3rd overall at the state meet in the 100m.
On top of all of that list, the young Evangaline Ansah of Eaglecrest High School could be a dark horse to take one or both titles. She is only a 10th grader going into this season and has PRs of 11.95 and 24.52 that she ran as a freshman! She is also having a stellar winter season, running 7.59 for the 60m and 25.00 for the indoor 200m. Ansah has the top time in the 60m over the likes of Londo, Welling, and Smith and is #3 in the 200m, behind only Smith on the list. No matter what happens, the race for the title in the sprint events will be incredibly competitive.
For the longer sprints, Abigail Trapp of Golden High School is the top returner with a time of 55.16, though not too far behind her is Londo, who has a PR of 55.88. Trapp placed 2nd overall with her personal best time. She is also currently ranked 2nd overall in Colorado for the indoor 400m, running a time of 55.89, which is not too far off of her outdoor PR, showing a lot of momentum on Trapp's side. However, Lillian Graves of Fairview High School currently has the top time in the indoor 400m running 55.63, which is faster than her outdoor PR! She will be one to watch going into this outdoor season.
Moving right along to the hurdles, another name has been making waves this indoor season. Zenobia Witt of Eaglecrest High School ran 8.56 in the 60m hurdles, placing her in the top 20 in the nation for the event. Witt placed 3rd overall in the 100m hurdles at the state meet, running a time of 14.42, but considering how strong her indoor season has been, she will be tough to take down.
Nevertheless, the returning runner-up in the 100m hurdles in Alexa Queen of Fountain-Fort Carson High School is the only returner who has a time under 14 seconds in the event running a time of 13.99! She is also the reigning state champion in the 300m hurdles. Her PR of 41.66 in the event also puts her in the top 10 for all returners in the whole nation. Though Witt definitely has been faster than Queen during the indoor season, Queen did just come off of a strong cross country season, so the quickness of the 60m hurdles event for Queen is probably a little under developed. No matter the case, it will be a battle between these two ladies, though Queen may be battling on her own in the 300m hurdles.
Distance
In the distance events, the 800m has turned into somewhat of a wide-open competition with the majority of the podium finishers from the state meet graduating. At the top of the list is Payton Meineke of Riverdale Ridge High School with a 2:11 and Elsa Vessely of Golden High School, who ran 2:13. However, they will have to watch out for Madison Lange of Cherokee Trail High School, who ran 2:11 as an 8th grader last season. This will be Lange's first high school track season, but she has already proven she can handle the competition, beating Meineke in the indoor 800m and already breaking 5 minutes in the 1600m, running 4:54!
Also considering Meineke's PR in the 1600m is 4:54, there will be a lot of competition in that event. However, she does have the 2nd best returning time in the 3200m running 10:13. Meineke has been up and down throughout her high school career, but she did finish runner-up in the state cross country championship by a pretty huge margin, so she does have a lot of momentum going into the season.
Emily Cohen of Cherry Creek High School will also be a big name to take down since she is the returning state champion in the 1600m and the 3200m! She also has the top time in both of those events running 4:49 and 10:08. Cohen made both of those races exciting to watch at the state meet and knows how to win when it matters, so she is still the favorite for both of those events.
Nevertheless, names such as Claire Guiberson of Mountain Vista High School and Emry Schwalm of Heritage High School also all have potential to steal the show. Though they may not come in with the fastest returning times on the list, they had some of the strongest fall seasons, meaning there is a lot of potential for these names to challenge for a top spot in any of the distance events, from 800m to the 3200m. It is definitely going to be very crowded at the top, but we are definitely here for it and cannot wait to see what kind of times these ladies can run!
Field Events
We bring back a familiar name for the top returner in the field events in Zenobia Witt. Just like with her hurdles, Witt has had an incredible indoor campaign with the long jump. She jumped an astounding 19-10, which is easily the best returning mark for the outdoor season! Witt has yet to lose a state title in the long jump as well, showing that she just does not know how to lose no matter who she is up against.
Witt comes back as the top returner in the triple jump getting out to 39-10.5 as well and placed 3rd overall at the state meet. Maggie Hoyer of Fossil Ridge High School is another name who sits in the top five of all the jumps events. She has placed on the podium in all three jumps events at the state meet and is the top returner from the state meet in the high jump.
For pole vault, both Tatem Gobble of Arapahoe High School and Renata Bergstrom of Cherry Creek High School return and are at the top of the list with vaults of 12-4 and 12-3 respectively. Gobble finished 2nd overall at the state meet and Bergstrom placed 3rd. They are both the top returners from the state meet as well.