* Alyssa Thompson won the 100m at the CIF Southern Section Division Finals in 2022
Photo Credit: Raymond Tran/MileSplit
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Google the name 'Alyssa Thompson.' You'll find a handful of articles touting the women's soccer star as the future of the U.S. team.
And it's a good time to be a star in women's soccer, because on Thursday the women's World Cup begins in Australia and New Zealand.
The U.S. women are the defending World champions and considered to be the favorites again. This year will feature eight more teams than the last World Cup in 2019, with 32 nations represented.
Thompson, an 18-year-old forward hailing from Los Angeles, California, is considered among the team's brightest prospects. As a freshman and sophomore at Harvard-Westlake, she scored 48 goals. As a senior, she was the No. 1 pick in the National Women's Soccer League draft, earning a contract to play for Angel City, which picked first.
In 2021, the Harvard-Westlake athlete was also named as Gatorade's National Player of the Year.
But Thompson wasn't a one-trick pony in high school.
She also ran track.
And she was a total speedster.
Thompson ultimately reached as far as the California Interscholastic Federation Division 3 State Championships at 100 meters in 2022, where she qualified for the final and finished in seventh-place overall with a time of 11.83w.
That was part of a larger season which saw her clock eight sub-12 second times for 100m and three sub-25 second performances for 200 meters. Her fastest 100 meter time was a wind-legal 11.69 (+1.4) seconds, which was a new school record that saw her win the CIF Southern Section Finals in May.
But Thompson hardly even practiced.
According to a Runner's World piece from June, Thompson was drafted by Angel City in January. Games began in March -- and Thompson played in her first match on June 26. She wasn't able to compete in her final season of high school track and field.
As a junior, though, she worked out a deal with coaches at Harvard-Westlake for her to attend one practice per week. "Not worrying about what we couldn't do," Westlake coach Jonas Koolsbergen told Runner's World, "just making the best of what we could do."
Those limitations never got in the way. Thompson won five 100m races on the season, finishing fourth in the 100m final at Mt. SAC; she won the CIF Southern Section Division Finals; and she was third at the CIF Southern Section Masters Meet. She also ran on the team's 4x100 and 4x400 relays, Koolsbergen told Runner's World.
As a sophomore, she ran 11.86w and 24.71.
Considering Thompson is the future of women's soccer in the U.S. -- or at least among the future stars of tomorrow -- that's a decent trade-off for any track program.
And now you will understand where it all comes from when Thompson enacts a blistering run down the end line, cuts through the middle, dices through a couple defenders and then lays off a pretty pass to a waiting teammate, an expectant goal all but assured.
Thompson's speed may have been cultivated on the soccer pitch. But every now and again, she refined it on a track on a high school track in Los Angeles.
And she just might be better for it in Australia.
