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ASICS Future Stars: Sophomore Girls Update #1

ASICS Future Stars: Sophomore Girls Update #1

Sep 14, 2015 by Lincoln Shryack
ASICS Future Stars: Sophomore Girls Update #1




By: Johanna Gretschel for Milesplit

The official ASICS Future Stars series kicks off with an inside look at the nation's best female distance runners in the Class of 2018. With a full year of high school running logged on their shoes, who stands out this fall? Find out below!

What is the ASICS Future Stars series?

The ASICS Future Stars series will highlight the nation's best underclassmen runners throughout the fall cross country season. MileSplit and FloTrack will publish articles focusing solely on the top freshman boys, freshman girls, sophomore boys and sophomore girls, respectively, to highlight their accomplishments and get to know the runners who will one day be the next Grant Fishers and Allie Ostranders.

What is an ASICS Future Star?

To make the list, you must be a freshman or sophomore in high school. These are athletes who the editorial staff feels are already running at a nationally elite level, or an elite level for their age group with an indication of continued achievement in high school.

Annie Hill (Glacier, MT)

Annie Hill of Glacier High School in Montana holds the nation's second-fastest three mile time this year in 16:25.69. She was the top freshman at Foot Locker Nationals last fall, where she placed eighth overall with a time of 17:52. Her 16:25 is an all-time PR by nearly 15 seconds.

Lindsey Payne (Glenbard West, IL)

Lindsey Payne has stepped in for an injured Lindsay Graham to keep title hopes alive for the Glenbard West girls. The sophomore from Illinois owns the nation's third-fastest three mile time (16:28.4). It's not a fluke, as the race this weekend marks her second sub-17 minute run in a row.

Jocelyn Long (Barrington, IL)

After a spring track season that saw her run 10:44 for 3200m and place fourth at the Illinois state meet, Jocelyn Long of Barrington High School is ready for a breakout season. The sophomore placed runner-up at the First to the Finish Invitational in a new personal best of 16:49, as she broke 17 minutes for the first time. Her time is the fifth-fastest three mile in the nation and she placed behind only U.S. No. 1 Judy Pendergast.

Audrey Ernst (St. Charles North, IL)

Audrey Ernst, who is also an accomplished triathlete, broke 17 minutes for the first time by pacing with Lindsay Payne at the Harvey Braus Invitational. She not only ran a new PR of 16:53, but set the nation's sixth-fastest three mile time. She took 13th at the Illinois State XC Championship last fall and fourth in the 1600m at the state track meet.

Sophie Whicher (Minnetonka, MN)

The Minnetonka leader is poised for big things this fall, as she destroyed her old course PR (18:50.90) on the NXN Heartland course by nearly a minute this weekend with her 17:52.82 victory at the Nike Heartland Pre-Regional. Her time leads the nation's sophomores over 5000m. Her only other result this fall was an 11:20.7 win in the Irish Invitational two mile, which is another PR by nearly a full minute.

Allie Chipman (Mountain Vista, CO)

Allie Chipman led an impressive Mountain Vista team to the team title at the large school race of the St. Vrain Invitational in Lyons, Colorado this weekend. The sophomore ran a huge personal best of 17:55 to out-distance the competition by nearly a minute.

Rafaella Gibbons (Winter Park, FL)

The diminutive Rafaella Gibbons is the fearless leader of the Flo50 #20 ranked Winter Park girls team. She finished 27th at NXN as a freshman and is enjoying a consistent fall thus far, with an individual win at the DeLand Invitational and a third-place finish at the Coach Benson Double Dip Invitational behind only five-time Georgia state champion Lindsay Billings and Foot Locker finalist Emma Grace Hurley. Gibbons has led Winter Park to two straight team titles.

Sara Leonard (Canyon Anaheim Hills, CA)



Sara Leonard finished third in the seeded section at the Cool Breeze Evening Invitational, the first large-scale invitational in California this year. The sophomore ran 17:25.54, which is a big personal best from her 17:51 at Woodbridge last fall, and she finished only behind Desert Vista's Baylee Jones and Great Oak's Evelyn Mandel, two big-time contributors to powerhouse programs.

Bryn Morley (Bigfork, MT)

Bryn Morley finished runner-up to fellow sophomore standout Annie Hill at the Billings Invitational, where she clocked her personal best of 16:54.1 for three miles. The experienced competitor advanced to Foot Locker Nationals last fall as a freshman, where she placed 26th overall. She is also the younger sister of multiple-time All-American Makena Morley, currently a freshman at the University of Montana.

Anne Forsyth (Ann Arbor Pioneer, MI)

Anne Forsyth is undefeated thus far this cross country season, including a win over All-American Sarah Kettel. She owns a season-best mark of 18:35 from the SEC Jamboree #1 with a 15-second improvement. Forsyth was seventh at the Michigan state cross country championship last fall.

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