Bulldogs triumph 70-57 against Duncanville High from Texas in finals showdown to become first girls program since Chandler High of Arizona in 2017 and 2018 to earn title repeat

By Erik Boal, DyeStat Editor

Unflappable demeanor, unbelievable competitive spirit, unbreakable team bonds, unfathomable depth and often unbeatable relay lineups have all been contributing factors to the girls track and field program at Bullis School in Maryland becoming not just one of the elite high school programs in the country, but one of the best in U.S. prep history.

All those characteristics were on display June 15-18 at New Balance Nationals Outdoor, when Bullis student-athletes Sydney Sutton, Mirai Bernard, Sage Hinton, Myla Greene, Kennedy Flynn, Gabby White, Morgan Rothwell, Lauren Leath, Kassidy Hopkins, Payton Payne, Jade Ofotan and Tatum Lynn combined to win national titles in the 4x100, 4x200, 4x400, 800-meter sprint medley, 1,000-meter Swedish sprint medley and 4x100-meter shuttle hurdles relays.

Whether it was in Florida, Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia or on home turf in Maryland, the Bulldogs demonstrated throughout the year they were much more than just those 12 athletes, showcasing improved throwers, inspired jumpers and an impressive middle-distance group as well.

So much so that the Bullis lineup this season was significantly better than the group that won the John Dye Dual Meet National Championship last year.

The Bulldogs capped the tournament’s seventh edition by defeating Texas 6A state champion Duncanville High by a 70-57 margin in the virtual final, securing back-to-back national titles.

Bullis defeated another Texas 6A winner in Flower Mound High by a 74-62 margin last season to secure the championship. The Bulldogs are the first girls program since Chandler High of Arizona in 2017 and 2018 to win back-to-back national crowns.

“It’s fun to hear. It’s exciting that all their hard work is paying off,” said Bullis coach Joe Lee, who arrived at the independent school in Potomac in 2013 and has transformed the program into one of the most decorated teams in the nation in the past decade.

“We do have goals, obviously, for the season and they do set them and they’ll give them to me at the beginning of the year. If you had told me that we would have won however many national titles they’ve won and the (all-time) national rankings, I would have been surprised, but not shocked because this is the hardest-working and most jelled group that I have ever been around and I am including last year’s team in that because pretty much all of them came back to do this thing again.”

Bullis is the No. 5 school in U.S. prep history in the 4x100 at 44.67 seconds, along with the No. 2 program in the 4x200 at 1:33.71 and the No. 4 all-time lineup in the 4x400 at 3:36.25.

The only other girls high school team that ranks in the all-time top five in all three relays is the 2004 lineup from Long Beach Poly High in California.

“You know I am biased and I believe this is the best team that has been put together,” Lee said. “I think there is a conversation for Long Beach Poly, I do, because you know me, that team, I study (them). But I think this is the best team and I’m biased, not just because of the accolades, but I think they’re the best team because they’re the best people that I know.”

Bullis prevailed against South County High from Virginia, Clinton High of Mississippi, Gahanna Lincoln from Ohio and a familiar rival in Union Catholic of New Jersey, before relying on a 55-27 advantage on the track against Duncanville to overcome an early deficit in the field events and secure its title repeat.

“We’re just having fun and working hard and doing what we do,” Lee said. “We don’t do this for all of the accolades, we do this to be the best people we can be, and I mean that from a character perspective and what happens off the track is more important than what happens on it.”

Bullis graduated Trinity Franklin, Ashley Thomas and Mikayla McFarland among the key scorers from last year’s dual-meet championship lineup. But the development of Aleah Schwartz and Madison Emery in the discus throw and shot put, along with the improvement of jumpers Morgan Bridges, Reagan Schwartz and Brianna Maxwell helped Bullis overcome the absence of pole vaulters as well as athletes in the longer distance events.

Their performances contributed to a group that featured four athletes under 12 seconds in the 100-meter dash, three competitors running sub-24 in the 200, a trio of individuals under 55 seconds in the 400 and a trifecta of sub-2:20 runners in the 800. In addition, Bullis had four performers under 14 seconds in the 100 hurdles, along with three athletes running sub-44 in the 300 hurdles, two of which also clocked 1:02 or faster in the 400 hurdles.

“The goal isn’t to go out and win eight national titles or break eight national records. Do we want to do that, yeah, but that’s not the goal,” Lee said. “The goal is to always be better people, myself and the coaching staff included, and we try to exemplify that.”

But there is always ambition for Bullis to race against the best Jamaican high school teams each year at Penn Relays, as well as squaring off against their elite U.S. prep peers annually at New Balance Nationals.

And those aspirations have now also extended to comparing the Bulldogs’ success to past dual-meet championship programs from Miami Northwestern High in Florida in 2016 or DeSoto High in Texas in 2019, in addition to the legacy of the 2004 Long Beach Poly team. Bullis only strengthened its case based on winning a potential matchup against last year’s national championship lineup by a 73-45 margin.

“We know in our heart of hearts that when we’re given the opportunity, we can compete with anybody on the planet,” Lee said. “Those teams did that back then and this team here has done the same thing.”

Bullis graduates eight student-athletes that contributed to this year’s run to the title, but the Bulldogs are excited about the potential in 2024 to become the first team, regardless of gender, to capture three John Dye Dual Meet championships in tournament history and continuing to demonstrate why they are leaders in the sport, both in Maryland and around the country.

“The thing I love about these girls, again, it’s a character thing and I give them a hard time and we joke around a lot,” Lee said. “But they’re such high-character people and I love them so much for it.” 

Meet Results