Athletes listed according to event, with school and high school graduation year.
Alan Webb is the decade's top athlete
100: Jeff Demps, South Lake (Groveland, Fla.), Class of 2008
Demps, now playing football at the University of Florida, earned his status with a mind-numbing 10.01 high school record in the 2008 Olympic Trials quarterfinals, which was second only to pro Tyson Gay. Earlier, he beat four Olympians-to-be with a 10.19 (-0.5w) at the Pre Classic and ran a windy 10.03 (+2.2w) in Florida.
200: Xavier Carter, Palm Bay (Melbourne, Fla.), Class of 2004
Carter, who would win nine state titles, took an unprecedented 100-200-400 triple at Arcadia as a junior, then wound up with U.S.-leading 200/400 times and an Adidas Outdoor double. His top performance, though, was a stunning high school-record 20.69 in the 200 at National Scholastic Indoor as a senior.
400: Lashawn Merritt (Woodrow Wilson, Portsmouth, Va.), Class of 2004
Now an Olympic and world 400 champ, Merritt had an epic senior year that included 200-400 doubles at Nike Outdoor and USATF Juniors, as well as a Nike Indoor 400 crown. His top achievement, though, was a 400 title (decade-best 45.25) at the World Juniors, plus legs on two World Jr. record-setting relays.
800: Robby Andrews, Manalapan (Manalapan, N.J.), Class of 2009
Andrews did his best racing indoors, setting two stunning high school records in 2009: a 2:22.28 in the 1,000 at the New Balance Collegiate, beating an Alan Webb mark, and a 1:49.21 in the 800 at National Scholastic. Outdoors, he ran a U.S.-leading 1:48.66 in Jersey, then won the Nike Outdoor 800 in 1:50.05.
Mile: Alan Webb, South Lakes (Reston, Va.), Class of 2001
Webb broke Jim Ryun's 36-year-old high school mile record with a 3:53.43 at the Pre Classic to cap off his Athlete of the Decade career.
2 Mile: German Fernandez, Riverbank (Riverbank, Calif.), Class of 2008
Fernandez's great 2008 campaign was marked by two historic feats. First, he authored the greatest single-day distance performance in prep history with a 4:00.29 in the 1,600 and 8:34.23 in the 3,200 at the CIF state finals. A few weeks later, he smashed the 29-year-old high school record in the 2-mile at Nike Outdoor with an 8:34.40.
110 HH: Wayne Davis II, Southeast Raleigh (Raleigh, N.C.), Class of 2009
Davis first won the Nike Outdoor and World Youth 110 hurdles as a soph. He then dominated two years indoors, with two Nike titles and high-school records at the 55 and 60 hurdle distances. He capped his career with a shocking 13.08 110H record, topping Renaldo Nehemiah's 1977 mark.
300/400 IH: Reggie Wyatt, La Sierra (Riverside, Calif.), Class of 2009
Wyatt had four great years, starting with three frosh and soph class marks over 300 and 400 hurdles. As a senior, he took down the 300 hurdle high school record in the state prelims, running 35.02, then ran 49.78 for 400 hurdles at the Nike Outdoor meet, which is No. 4 all-time.
HJ: Scott Sellers, Cinco Ranch (Katy, Texas), Class of 2005
Sellers won four Nike national titles, starting with a soph class record 7-03.25 in 2003, and continuing with a still-standing high school record 7-05.25 indoors as a junior in 2004. He also won three state and three Texas relay titles. His outdoor best of 7-05 is No. 4 all-time.
LJ: Marquise Goodwin, Rowlett (Rowlett, Texas), Class of 2009
Before his senior year, Goodwin had already won Nike Indoor and Outdoor titles, plus USATF and World Junior crowns, in two unbeaten seasons. But after a killer senior state meet, with three wins and two seconds, he capped off his career with a high school record 26-10 in the long jump.
TJ: Kenny Hall, Tara (Baton Rouge, La.), Class of 2005
In one Herculean meet, Hall produced a series of jumps that were superior to anything anyone else did cumulatively in the decade. At the USATF Junior Olympics in Eugene, Ore., he smashed the high school record by more than a foot (54-10.25) and added a wind-aided 56-02.50 (+4.7).
PV: Tommy Skipper, Sandy (Sandy, Ore.), Class of 2003
Skipper set the still-standing high school record of 18-03 while winning the Golden West Invitational as a senior. He then went over 18 feet again (18-00.50) at the USATF Juniors, where he won his second title. His best height the previous year, 17-07.25, was a junior class record.
SP & DT: Mason Finley, Buena Vista (Buena Vista, Colo.), Class of 2009
Finley dominated the discus as a junior, setting a class record at 222-01, then as a senior took down Nik Arrhenius' 8-year-old national mark with a 236-06 at the High Altitude Challenge in Colorado. Equally impressive, he improved his shot-putting his final season and scored big doubles at Arcadia, Great Southwest, Golden West and Nike Outdoors. The Nike sweep was huge as he came in ranked No. 4 in the shot, then won in an upset with 71-08.75, beating three other 70-footers. He finished unbeaten in both events by preps, setting junior implement records in taking first and second at USATF Juniors, then winning twice at Pan-Am Juniors.
JAV: Sam Crouser, Gresham (Gresham, Ore.), Class of 2010
Crouser was the No. 2 sophomore in the country in 2008 in the javelin, then improved dramatically in 2009, eventually reaching 239-00, which is No. 2 on the all-time list.
HAM: Conor McCullough, Chaminade (Chaminade, Chatsworth, Calif.), Class of 2009
McCullough followed record-setting 2007 grad Walter Henning by taking down all of his hammer and weight records and adding more. In his junior and senior year, he destroyed the indoor weight mark twice and all four of the different-weight hammer records.
4x100 relay: Forest Brook (Houston, Texas), 2001
In the 2001 Texas 4A state meet, the team of Dante Ray, Ivory McCann, Enosh Lusk, and Willie Hodge blasted a 39.95 in the for only the second sub-40.00 in history and the best of the decade.
4x200 relay: Glenville (Cleveland, Ohio), 2004
Led by hurdle and football star Ted Ginn, Glenville rocketed to a 1:23.78 in the 2004 Adidas Outdoor Nationals to become No. 2 all-time. The squad also included Freddie Lenix, Stephon Fuqua, and Jamario O'Neal.
4x400 relay: New Bern (New Bern, N.C.), 2009
With Hendrix twins Anthony and Andrew, Miles Sparks, and Fuquawn Green, New Bern -- often competing as Track Eastern Carolina -- took down the indoor 4x400 record with 3:13.06, then completed a year of record-chasing around the country (unbeaten against other prep teams) with a stunning 3:08.05 win at Nike Outdoors, No. 2 all-time.
4x800 relay: Albemarle (Charlottesville, Va.), 2009
The school brought Luke Noble, Garrett Bradley, Zach Vrhovac and Anthony Kostelac back from a 2008 squad that ripped a 7:42.21, then improved enough to become the best ever. Their records were 7:36.99 at Nike Indoor, then 7:30.67 to win the Penn Relays outdoors.
Distance medley: South Lakes (Reston, Va.) 2001
In one of the decade's two greatest relays, South Lakes hammered a still-standing high school record with a 9:49.78 at the 2001 Adidas Outdoor Championships. The lineup was Richard Smith, Justin Smyser, Kanda Karmo and Alan Webb.
DEC: Curtis Beach, Albuquerque Academy (Albuquerque, N.M.), Class of 2009
Beach was fourth in the 2007 World Youth octathlon as a sophomore, and then added National Scholastic Indoor and Great Southwest outdoor titles as a junior. But as a senior, he broke all three sets of decathlon U.S. prep records (with different implements) and won both the USATF and Pan Am Junior meets.