Who was the top girls track and field athlete in the Class of 2025?
Below are five candidates looking for your votes. These candidates all rank among the absolute elite nationally in the class in their respective events and among the best in CA regardless of class. And they are all CIF-State champions. It took a State Meet title to make the list in this deep 2025 class of elite girls.
MileSplitCA Athletes of the Year candidates are selected based off criteria to include performances at the State Meet, section championships, and rankings within the class in CA and nationally.
This poll is open until Wednesday at 3 p.m.
MileSplitCA Sophomore Girls AOTY Candidates
Athletes are listed alphabetically
Rylee Blade
Santiago - Corona (SS)
Rylee needed a 68.32 final lap and a 19-second improvement to win the 3200-meter race at the State Final in 10:02.19. She put herself in the mix of a historic season in the eight-lapper that, for the first time in Southern Section history, three girls broke 10:05. Blade's State Meet title time ranks U.S. No. 3 in the class, U.S. No. 16 overall, and CA No. 5 overall. That capped a season where she ran 4:46.28 to place second at Southern Section Masters in the 1600m (U.S. No. 8 in the class). She won the 3200m at Masters and CIF-SS Division 1, as part of nine wins in as many 3200-meter races.
Kaylin Edwards
Wilson - Long Beach (SS)
Not only did Kaylin win a State Meet individual title in the 300-meter hurdles, she also ran on the 4x400-meter relay team that placed second (3:42.49), and the 4x100-meter relay that placed third (46.66) as the Wilson Bruins won the State Meet girls team title. Kaylin's winning time of 41.57 in the 300m hurdles ranks CA No. 1, U.S. No. 2 in the class, and U.S. No. 12 overall.
Sadie Engelhardt
Ventura (SS)
Sadie is a two-time 1600m CIF-State champion, who set the meet record this spring with a U.S. No. 1 time of 4:33.45 (just off her 4:33.29 CA record from a year ago), and then she went out and did the unthinkable, doubling in the 800m with a late kick for a 2:07.22 victory to defeat the defending champion and current national leader. It was only the second time in State Meet history that a girl had won both the four-lap race and the two-lap race in the same meet (and she had to run qualifiers on Friday in both just to earn the chance to compete). Forget rankings in the class with Sadie, she completed the season as the national leader in the 1600m, U.S. No. 3 in the mile (4:36.26), U.S. No. 4 for 1500 (4:18.64), and U.S. No. 4 for 3200m (9:51.49). She ranks U.S. No. 3 in the class for 800m (2:06.71).
Aja Johnson
Notre Dame - Sherman Oaks (SS)
Aja is the top combo thrower in the U.S. in the class of 2025. Her PR in the shot put of 46-10 at Southern Section Masters ranks CA No. 1 overall and U.S. No. 1 in the class. A year after placing second as a freshman, Aja won the State Meet shot put title with a throw of 44-0.75. She also won at Southern Section Division 3 crown (43-0.25) and at Mt. SAC (43-9). She PR'd in the discus throw in the State Meet finals at 154-3 to earn a fourth-place medal. That mark also ranks U.S. No. 1 in the class and CA No. 5 overall.
Joelle Trepagnier
Culver City (SS)
Joelle was a triple-medalist and double-gold medal winner at the State Meet. Her winning time of 23.62 (1.3) in the 200-meter dash ranks U.S. No. 4 in the class and CA No. 2 overall for wind-legal times. Her all-conditions best of 23.55 (3.9) for third at Southern Section Masters ranks U.S. No. 5 in the class and CA No. 3 overall. Joelle's 400m best of 53.46 for second place at Southern Section Masters ranks U.S. No. 1 in the class and CA No. 2 overall. She placed second in the 400m at the State Meet in 53.55. She split 52.11 on her anchor leg in carrying Culver City to the 4x400m title at State in 3:41.08, the fastest winning time since 2014.
