Wisconsin high school track and field athletes are more determined than most throughout the nation, having to work around frigid winters and wet springs to stay in shape for the season.
As the United States approaches its 250th anniversary, USA TODAY Sports is celebrating the 250 greatest American sports figures of all time. Alongside that national recognition, the USA TODAY Network will spotlight the roots of the country’s sports culture: the high school athletes and sports figures who shaped communities and defined their state and regions.
What’s our rubric for determining the “defining” girls track and field athletes in Wisconsin history? Some players became local legends on the high school track but didn’t translate that success to college or in the pros. Some blossomed late, and their high school days offered only a hint of their eventual greatness. How do we compare or measure those things?
Our aim: Identifying trailblazers and trendsetter whose influence reaches beyond championships and statistics − and whose stories reflect a lasting impact on their state.
Our process is imperfect. Let us know at the bottom who should be on this list.
Kennedy Blahnik, Algoma, (graduated in) 2014
Blahnik is on an impressive list of Wisconsin high school girls track and field accolades. She’s one of just five athletes to win four straight state titles in two different events. From 2011 to 2014, Blahnik won the WIAA Division 3 state titles in the discus and shot put events. Her record-setting throws of 49-foot-1.5 in the 2013 meet during the shot put competition and her throw of 161-5 in the discus during the 2014 state meet remain D3 records. She was named the Wisconsin Track Coaches Association’s girls athlete of the year in 2013.
Dezerea Bryant, Milwaukee Bradley Tech, 2011
Bryant was one of the most-decorated sprinters in state history during her time at Bradley Tech. She still holds the Division 1 state records for the 100-meter (11.38 seconds) and 200-meter (23.01) events, along with running legs on Tech’s record-setting 400 (in 2011) and 800 (in 2008) relay teams. She’s also one of just seven athletes to be named the WISTCA girls athlete of the year twice (2010, 2011). A decorated All-American at Clemson and a national indoor and outdoor champion at Kentucky in the 200 during her college days, Bryant also became a U.S. champion in 2019 in the 200 to qualify for the World Championships in Doha. She went on to capture a bronze medal at the worlds in the 400 relay event.
Dana Collins, Milwaukee Marshall, 1992
Collins became one of just 10 athletes to win at least eight total state titles in her career. She captured at least two titles in the 100, 200, 400 relay and the 800 relay events, helping Marshall win a co-Class A state team title with Appleton East in 1990. Collins won state titles in the 200, the 400 relay and the 800 relay during the 1990 state meet. She was inducted in the WISTCA Hall of Fame in 1999, holding five top-10 times in three different events at the time of her induction.
Camille Davre, Whitefish Bay, 2017
One of the most-decorated distance runners in state history, Davre won 10 state titles in her career. The eventual Michigan Wolverine won four titles in the 800, four more in the 1,600, one in the 3,200 and one as a member of Whitefish Bay’s 3,200 relay team in 2015. Her time of 2 minutes, 9.22 seconds in the 800 at the 2015 state meet as a sophomore was the second-fastest time in state history for seven years. She was also named the state’s Gatorade girls track player of the year following her sophomore season in 2015 and was named the WISTCA girls track athlete of the year in 2017.
Bonnie Draxler, Wrightstown, 2014
Draxler put herself in two exclusive medal clubs during her career at Wrightstown. She won 10 total titles and was one of five girls athletes to win four state titles in two different events. Before she set a San Diego State program record with an outdoor pole vault of 14-9.5 during the 2018-19 season, Draxler won four D2 titles in the pole vault, four more in the 400 and a pair of 100-meter titles. She also helped Wrightstown win the D2 state team title in 2011 as a freshman. Her vault of 13-3 at the 2014 state meet remains the D2 state record. Draxler was elected to the WISTCA Hall of Fame in 2024.
Suzy Favor, Stevens Point, 1986
Arguably the most-accomplished runner in state history regardless of gender, Favor won nine total WIAA state titles with five of them coming during track season. She swept the 1,600-meter state titles in Class A during her four years at Stevens Point. Her time of 4:43.79 in the 1,600 as a junior in 1985 remains the third-fastest time in state history. Favor went to the University of Wisconsin, where she set an NCAA record with nine national titles across the indoor track, outdoor track and cross-country seasons. She also captured 32 total Big Ten Conference titles and became a three-time Olympian in 1992, 1996 and 2000. She was awarded the Honda Sports Award in 1990, which is given to the nation’s best female collegiate track and field athlete. Favor was elected to the United States National High School Sports Hall of Fame in 2010.
Brooke Jaworski, Wausau West, 2018
Before she became a national team champion with Texas in 2023 and a six-time Big 12 Conference champion in the indoor and outdoor seasons following a transfer from Minnesota, Jaworski had a remarkable high school career at Wausau West. Jaworski won seven state titles and became the sixth athlete in state history to win the WISTCA girls track and field athlete of the year twice in 2016 and 2018. Her time of 41.40 seconds in the 300-meter low hurdles in 2018 is still the D1 state record and the overall statewide record. She also ran a leg on Wausau West’s record-setting 1,600 relay team in 2016 (3:50.75) that still sits as a D1 state record and resides as the second-fastest time in state history.
Joanna Schultz, Holmen, 2006
Schultz ended her career at Holmen as the first girls athlete to win four straight state titles in two different events. She captured the D1 200- and 400-meter state titles four years in a row, winning the WISTCA girls track athlete of the year twice in 2004 and 2006 before becoming a 12-time all-Big East Conference honoree during her four years at Notre Dame. She graduated from Notre Dame as the school’s 400-meter hurdle record holder (56.82) and the Big East’s indoor record holder in the 400 (53.16) in 2010. She was inducted in the WISTCA Hall of Fame in 2013.
Molly Seidel, University Lake School, 2012
Seidel followed in Joanna Schultz’s footsteps in more ways than one. Not only did the duo find themselves attending Notre Dame after high school, Seidel joined Schultz as a four-time state champion in two different events during her time at ULS. Seidel also won four D3 state cross-country titles, joining the likes of Suzy Favor as four-time WIAA cross-country champions. Seidel’s times in the 1,600 and 3,200 are D3 state records from 2011 and 2012, respectively. Her time of 4:44.42 in the mile at the 2011 New Balance Nationals is the fourth-fastest time in state history and her time of 10:09.89 in 2012 is the fastest time in the event across the state. She was selected as the WISTCA’s girls track athlete of the year and the national Gatorade female cross-country runner of the year in 2012. She went on to capture the bronze medal at the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in the marathon.
Tessa Thurs, Edgar, 2012
A recent selection to the WISTCA Hall of Fame in 2025, Thurs completed her stellar career at Edgar as a 10-time D3 state champion with a clean sweep of 1,600-meter titles, three more in the 300 hurdles, two more in the 100 hurdles and a triple jump in 2012. Thurs also helped Edgar win three of its four straight state titles from 2010 to 2013 with Thurs becoming one of just four in state history to win four state titles in a single meet in 2012 with gold in the 100 hurdles, 300 hurdles, triple jump and the 1,600 relay.
Who else should be on this list? Some suggestions:
Rachel Cleaver, Beloit Turner, 2023
Jaclynn Kriegl, Florence, 1998
Heather Hyland, Nekoosa, 1993
Hillary Hyland, Nekoosa, 1998
Brooke Novak, Kaukauna, 2001
Elizabeth Pospyhalla, Edgar, 2013
Jenni Westphal, Marinette, 1994
Roisin Willis, Stevens Point, 2022
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Vote for Wisconsin’s best-ever high school girls track and field athlete