Desert Vista sophomore Lauren Ping (Photo: John Hays)
For the Division 1 girls, nearly every top-ranked performer from 2020 returns, which should make for an exciting season.
The Division 1 girl sprinters are among one of the most gifted groups that the state has ever seen, with several elite performers.
Junior Trinity Henderson from Chandler will be one of the top D1 girl sprinters in 2021. In the shortened 2020 season, Henderson was the top D1 girl in the 200m dash, running a 24.81, second in the 100m dash, and 4th in the 400m dash. Henderson won the AIA State Championship in the 100m and 200m dashes in 2019 and will look to repeat as champion this spring.
Junior Jocelyn Johnson, also from Chandler, is another sprinter to watch in 2021. Johnson owned the quickest 100m dash time for a D1 girl, running a 12.30. Johnson also held the second-best 400m dash time, running a 56.64. Johnson finished second at the AIA State Championships in the 100m and 400m in 2019 and will compete alongside her teammate this spring for a state title.
Junior Neya Jamison from Chaparral and Senior Rahni Turner from Westwood are the top two returning D1 girls hurdlers in 2021. Jamison, the 2019 300m hurdles state champion, also owned the top time in the 300m hurdles in 2020, running a quick 43.82, with Turner just behind her in second. Turner was also ranked first in the 100m hurdles at the end of the shortened 2020 season.
Jamison and Turner hoist top times in Division 1 in other events as well. Jamison is the top returner in the 400m dash, running a 56.44, and the third fastest returner in the 200m dash. Turner is the second top returning long jumper, sitting just behind senior Jessie Boult from Red Mountain, who jumped 18-1 in 2020.
MORE: CALENDAR | RANKINGS
In the fall, sophomore Lauren Ping raced to her second straight AIA cross country state championship and enters the 2021 spring track season the top distance girl in Division 1. Ping has already competed twice in 2021, winning the Sundown Track Series #1 3200m, running a 10:33.84, and finishing third in the 1600m at the Sundown Track Series #2. Alike Xander Black and the Division 1 boys, Ping will be the girl to beat in any distance race she chooses to race at the AIA State Championships this spring.
