Baltimore Sun 2024 All-Metro girls outdoor track and field: Arundel’s Noel Evans named Athlete of the Year

Here are The Baltimore Sun’s All-Metro girls outdoor track and field teams for the 2024 season.

Athlete of the Year

Noel Evans, Arundel, senior

Coming off a junior season in which she won two indoor state championships and one outdoors, Evans was poised for a spectacular senior campaign.

However, a sprained ankle cost her a month of her indoor season and gave her a long road back to her championship form. But it also gave her a newfound outlook on the sport.

“This year, coming off of a good junior year, senior year is supposed to be full of good expectations; I was going to go run some crazy times,” Evans said. “And then my injury happened and I’m like, ‘This goal is farther away than I thought.’ But I think just coming back from the injury, I had to learn how to take pressures and expectations away from track and field and just enjoy the running aspect of it. It helped me fall back in love with track.”

Slowly but surely, Evans worked her way back.

“I was in the gym a lot during my injury so that’s what kind of kept me in shape, but my first race back I ran a minute [in the 400-meter race]. I hadn’t ran a minute since sophomore year, so I was devastated after that,” she said. “But I kind of slowly began to build back my times. Each race I ran I would have a season’s best, even by a second.”

By the end of the season, she was better than ever. Evans won the Class 3A state championship in the 200 (24.85 seconds) and 400 (54.9) and also ran on Arundel’s championship-winning 4×200 and 4×400 relays.

All the while, Evans helped the Wildcats rack up points toward its state title.

“It was a weird season for us,” she said. “Our girls team was small. It was always, though, this weird dream. We got third at counties, and we’re like, ‘We can put some big points up here.’ We got second at regionals, we were getting closer and closer. When it came to the 4×4, we looked at each other and said, ‘We got to get this done.'”

Bryce Hatcher and Grace Hickman joined Evans on both winning relays. Ta’Laiya Mellerson rounded out the 4×200 team, while Aiyana Gutrick was on the 4×400 group. Evans called her teammates “pillars in my recovery.”

“Coming back, I felt really behind, but my teammates kept me up and kept me going,” Evans said. “We’re all so close and they’ve been my No. 1 inspirations because they all have been working hard, and seeing them work pushed me to get back to where I was so I could be there for them.”

Coach of the Year

Adam Hittner, Hereford

Hereford’s girls went 3-for-3 during the 2023-24 school year, winning state championships in cross country, indoor track and field and outdoor track and field with Hittner guiding each team.

The girls outdoor team beat out Largo for the Class 2A state title by four points, thanks in part to the balance throughout the Bulls’ lineup. Rebekka Hillier’s win in the 3,200 was the team’s only gold medal at the state meet, but the team also earned three second-place finishes and scored in a range of events from distance runs and relays to the high jump and pole vault.

Hittner credited John Roemer IV for being by his side during the cross country and outdoor track seasons, as well as the team-first mindset of the group.

“The Hereford track and field program is way bigger than any one person or one coach, and that is the root of our success,” Hittner said. “You see every athlete on the team, whether they are a county or state champion or a ninth grader in their first season of the sport, cheering for every competitor on the team in every event. They support the people who finish in first place or in 15th place. We pick each other up when we fall down, and we celebrate successes and victories together.

“None of this happens without John Roemer IV, Bruce Lentz and Lauren Kennedy working with our distance groups. Russ Drylie, Sarah Brown, Amanda Coburn and Brad Long working with our field event athletes. I handle the sprints, hurdles and relays on a daily basis but the greatness of our team comes from the great work that each of these coaches puts in every single day.”

Roemer credited Hittner with bringing together a championship-level staff and doing all the necessary behind-the-scenes work. Speaking at the program’s banquet, Roemer told Hereford parents about Hittner: “He handled all of the thankless administrative nightmares. He recruited a band of event coaches to give the team the best shot at making your kids athletes to be reckoned with wherever they go.”

First team

Destiny Coleman, Woodlawn, sophomore

Coleman was the area’s top hurdler, winning the 4A state title in the 100 hurdles (13.86). She added a fourth-place finish in the 300 hurdles and ran on the championship 4×100 relay team.

Elena Cooper, McDonogh, junior

Cooper was the Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland A Conference champion in the 400 (56.25) and long jump (19 feet) and finished second in the triple jump.

Elise Cooper, McDonogh, junior

The All-Metro indoor track and field Athlete of the Year won four IAAM A Conference gold medals, winning the 100 (11.57) and 200 (23.1) and running on the winning 4×100 and 4×400 relays.

Ella Cooper, McDonogh, senior

Cooper finished second behind her sister Elise in the 100 and 200 at the IAAM A Conference championships. She was also on the winning 4×100 relay team.

Casey Gish, Broadneck, senior

Gish cleared 5-4 to win the 4A high jump state championship. She was the East Region champion and finished third at states in the triple jump.

Alicia Hall, Oakland Mills, junior

Hall won the 3A state title in the triple jump (38-11 1/4). She also placed fourth in the long jump and fifth in the high jump.

Rebekka Hillier, Hereford, senior

Hillier, a two-time indoor gold medalist, won the 2A state title in the 3,200 (11:29.46) and finished second in the 1,600.

Arayana Ladson, Woodlawn, senior

Ladson finished the 100 in 11.58 to win the 4A state title. She was the runner-up in the 200 and the 100 hurdles and ran on the championship 4×400 relay team.

Chayse Mitchell, Archbishop Spalding, sophomore

Mitchell won IAAM A Conference titles in the triple jump (39-1/2) and high jump (5-2) and was the runner-up in the long jump.

Emma Reaves, Westminster, senior

Reaves set a 3A state meet record in the discus, winning with a throw of 153-11. She added a second-place finish in shot put.

Shania Staats, Oakland Mills, senior

Staats was an integral part of the Scorpions’ state runner-up finish, winning the 100 (12.07) and long jump (18-5 1/2) titles in 3A.

Cailyn Stine, Century, junior

Stine was the 2A state champion in the 400 (2:14.49) and anchored the Knights’ championship 4×800 relay. She was also third in the 400.

Elizabeth Szybalski, Manchester Valley, junior

Szybalski won the 3A state championship in the 800 in 2:12.49. She was also the Carroll County and North Region champion in the 400.

Brielle Whitworth, Edgewood, junior

Whitworth was the best in the state in the 1,600, winning the 3A title in 4:56.45. She also took second in the 3,200.

Second team

Valerie Ashamu, Oakland Mills, senior

Destiny Baker, Harford Tech, junior

Carson Boteler, Broadneck, senior

Kelsey Coley, McDonogh, junior

Kristin DeBolt, Maryvale Prep, senior

Mary Gorsky, McDonogh, senior

Cori Malott, Oakland Mills, freshman

Ta’Laiya Mellerson, Arundel, junior

Julia Norris, McDonogh, junior

Emily Mitroka, Century, junior

Danielle Perez, Randallstown, junior

Ta’Leah Phillips, Pikesville, freshman

Leila Sollas, Patterson Mill, sophomore

Ogechi Uzoukwu, Western Tech, junior