These Girls Recruits Excelled At The U20 Championships

By Tim Casey - MileSplit Recruiting Reporter

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This past weekend, the best track athletes in the nation gathered in Eugene, Ore. for the USATF Outdoor Championships.

College coaches are particularly interested in the meet because they can see how high schoolers compete on a big stage and how they perform at the end of a long, grueling season.

We look at four high-profile high school girls recruits who excelled at the U20 Championships, as well as one who was among the best competing at the U.S. senior meet. We did not include members of the Class of 2023 since they have already graduated and will head to college soon.

Mia Brahe-Pedersen, Lake Oswego (OR)

Class of 2024

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Brahe-Pedersen doesn't turn 18 until November and has a full year of high school remaining, but she's shown that she's among the best sprinters in the U.S. regardless of age.

At senior nationals, Brahe-Pedersen advanced to two finals, finishing seventh in the 100m (11.08) and eighth in the 200m (22.65). She was the only high schooler to make the final in either event. In fact, only one other non-professional was in either race: University of Tennessee star Jacious Sears, who placed eighth in the 100m (11.12).

Brahe-Pedersen, who is MileSplit's No. 1 recruit in the Class of 2024, last week became the first high school track and field athlete to sign a Name, Image and Likeness deal with Nike.

During the outdoor season, Brahe-Pedersen had the top 200m time in the country (22.43), which was U.S. No. 2 all-time, and the second-fastest 100m time (11.00) behind Shawnti Jackson, who set a national record of 10.89 in the event.

Brahe-Pedersen won the 100m and 200m at the Nike Outdoor Nationals last month and the 60m and 200m at the Nike Indoor Nationals.

Elise Cooper, McDonogh School (MD)

Class of 2025

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Cooper has had several top-tier performances this season and is well-known among college coaches despite just finishing her sophomore year. After all, she is MileSplit's No. 2 recruit in the Class of 2025.

Still, Cooper may have saved her best for the last meet of the outdoor season on U.S. soil. She finished fourth in the 100m (11.44) and second in the 200m (22.82) in star-studded fields. Her 200m time was a personal best and U.S. No. 5 this year, while her 100m time was just 0.04 seconds off her personal best, which is U.S. No. 8.

Cooper has the fastest times in the 100m and 200m for the Class of 2025, and she proved at U20s that she can run with girls who are two or three years older than her.

In the 200m, the only girl faster than Cooper was Shawnti Jackson, MileSplit's Girls Athlete of the Year who is heading to the University of Arkansas. Jackson ran a personal best and meet record 22.48, good for U.S. No. 2 behind Brahe-Pedersen.

In the 100m, the three girls ahead of Cooper all recently completed their freshman year in college: Georgia's Kaila Jackson (11.15), Texas A&M's Camryn Dickson (11.30) and Georgia Southern's Naj Watson (11.42).

Madeleine Fey, Midlothian (TX)

Class of 2024

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Fey was the best discus thrower in her class all year, and she showed it again at the U20 Championships. She won the event (168-7) and also finished seventh (46-4.75) in the shot put.

The No. 38 recruit in the Class of 2024 unleashed a throw of 165-9 on her first attempt, which would have won her the event, but she topped that on her sixth and final throw to win her first U20 title. Hadley Lucas, the No. 41 recruit in the Class of 2024, was second in 164-1, and she was third in the shot put (50-4.75) as well.

Fey also won the discus title at the UIL Texas state meet (175-8) and at Nike Outdoor Nationals (178-5). Her season-best 182-4 at a regional meet in May was U.S. No. 2, only trailing Emma Sralla of Lewisville Marcus (TX), who's heading to Stanford.

While Fey is mostly known as a discus thrower, she is a top-level shot put thrower, too. She was second in the state meet in the shot put (47-10) and threw a personal best of 48-0.75 to finish second in the showcase shot put event at Nike Outdoor Nationals. That was the U.S. No. 12 shot put this year and the third-best among girls in the Class of 2024.

JaiCieonna Gero-Holt, Emerald Ridge (WA)

Class of 2025

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Gero-Holt once again showed she's by far the best multis high school track star in the U.S.

She clinched the heptathlon title with 5,552 points last Saturday and then followed that up by winning the high jump (5-10.75) on Sunday. A year ago at the U20 Championships, she was second in the heptathlon with a freshman record 5,401 points.

This year, Gero-Holt won three of the seven heptathlon events, including the high jump in a U.S. No. 1 and personal best 6-1.5, as well as the shot put (43-5.25) and the javelin (142-5). She was second in the long jump (18-2.5), third in the 200m (26.05) and eighth in the 800m (2:31.94).

Gero-Holt, who is MileSplit's No. 3 recruit in the Class of 2025, also won the heptathlon and long jump at last month's Nike Outdoor Nationals in Eugene. At U20s, she scored 281 more points than the second-place finisher, Abby Elmore, a Class of 2024 standout from Gunter (TX), and 283 points ahead of the third-place finisher, Catherine Littlewood, a Class of 2023 star from Queen Creek (AZ) who's heading to Stanford.

Ellie Shea, Emerging Elites (MA)

Class of 2024

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Shea pulled off an impressive double on Sunday, winning the 1,500m (4:19.58) and 3,000m (9:46.56) in races that were held less than 90 minutes apart. Shea was also entered in the 5,000m and 3,000m steeplechase, but she scratched from those events.

Shea, MileSplit's No. 4 recruit in the Class of 2024, was ahead of the pack in the 1,500m from the 200m mark onwards and finished more than 1.5 seconds ahead of Sophia Gorriaran, who finished second in 4:21.10. Gorriaran, who is heading to Harvard in the fall, won the 800m (2:04.33) on Saturday. Gorriaran ran the final 300m of the 1,500m in 47.56, nearly 2.5 seconds faster than Shea, but she couldn't close the gap.

In the 3,000m, Shea won by more than a second over Zariel Macchia of William Floyd, who was second in 9:47.68 after passing two other runners in the final 300m. Macchia, who is the No. 16 recruit in the Class of 2025, was also seventh in the 5,000m (17:45.06).

Sadie Adams, another Class of 2025 standout, was third in the 3,000m (9:50.43), while Rylee Tolson, who just finished her freshman year at the University of Michigan, was fourth in 9:53.39.

But Shea didn't just compete in at U20s. She also took to the track against the senior women in the 1,500m at USAs, clocking 4:20.11 in the heats.

Shea's junior year also included a second-place finish at the Champs Sports national cross country meet and a 10th-place finish at the World U20 cross country meet. She then won the two-mile (9:49.82) and 5,000m (15:46.28) at the New Balance Nationals Indoor meet, which were the No. 4 and No. 2 all-time performances, respectively. She also won the two-mile (9:53.36) at last month's Brooks PR Invitational against a loaded field.