Quincy Wilson May Be The Brightest Star, But The Bullis Girls Team Could Be The Deepest In History

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

John Nepolitan photos

After a whirlwind four meets in eight days to close out December, the prospects for a spectacular 2025 are coming into focus at Bullis School of Maryland. 

Not only is Bullis the first high school in American history to have a returning Olympic men's gold medalist on the team, with Quincy Wilson, the program helmed by coach Joe Lee may now have the greatest girls team in history. 

Consider that last weekend at the Ocean Breeze Holiday Invitational, two Bullis 4x400 relay teams ran 3:42. 

The top four in the Class of 2025, the seniors, took on the best of the non-seniors. 

"The seniors were our A team," Lee said. "The B team was the freshmen, the sophomores and juniors. It was close, but the B team won. No one on either team was slower than 56 (seconds)."

That was No. 15 all-time for the B team, which ran 3:42.14, and No. 17 all-time for the A group, which clocked 3:42.59. 

"There's a lot more in us," Lee said. 

The coach generally holds up the 2018 girls team that featured Masai Russell and Leah Phillips as the greatest in school history. Russell won the Olympic gold medal in the 100-meter hurdles last summer in Paris. And Phillips, after a successful career at LSU, has returned to Potomac, Md. to train and become one of Lee's assistant coaches.

But the depth of the current girls squad, across sprints, hurdles and relays is unmatched. 

 Yes, it's early in the season. But there are five members of the Bullis girls team in the top eight, nationally, in the 300 meters. All those performances were achieved at the Coach Saint Invitational on Dec. 20, the JAMBAR Coaches Hall of Fame Invitational on Dec. 21, the Ocean Breeze meet on Dec. 27 and the U.S. Marine Corps Holiday Classic on the 28th. 

Senior Morgan Rothwell is US#1 in the 400 and US#2 in the 600. 

Freshman Chrishelle Campbell is already US#4 in th 400 with 55.77 seconds and teammate Tatum Lynn is US#6 with 55.94. 

Junior Kassidy Hopkins is US#3 in the 55-meter hurdles and is also in the top 10 of the 200, 300 and 400. 

Senior Payton Payne is US#2 in the 55-meter dash, US#3 in the 200 and US#7 in the 300. 

Sophomore Kennedy Brown is US#2 in the 300 and US#4 in the 200. 

Senior Sydney Sutton, who was third in the 400 final at last year's New Balance Nationals Indoor, is US#5 in the 300 after her first individual race of the season on Saturday.

Solai Russell, a sophomore and the younger sister of Masai, is currently the third-fastest hurdler on the team, at US#14, behind Hopkins and senior Gabby White (US#5). 

Another athlete who hasn't competed yet is freshman Parker Coes, the New Balance Nationals Outdoor middle school champion last year in the 100 and 200 who owns a best of 19-8 in the long jump. 

As for the boys, all eyes are on Wilson, of course, after he broke national high school records in the indoor and outdoor 400 meters as a sophomore. He turns 17 next week. He's the first American teen male since decathlete Bob Mathias (1948) to win an Olympic gold medal, albeit as part of the 4x400 relay pool. 

Wilson's biggest challenge may be in dealing with his peers and other fans who are eager to take selfies with him. 

He's track and field royalty, already. 

"He's dealing with it well," Lee said. "Better than most would, I think. In our days, it would have been people wanting an autograph. Now everyone wants a picture with him, and he does a ton of them. But it does get tiring."

Wilson began training a month later than his teammates, in mid-October, with a long term vision on trying to make the U.S. team next summer that will compete at the World Championships in Tokyo in September. 

Wilson began his season last weekend, with a 2:01 anchor leg on a 4x800 relay at Ocean Breeze, followed by a much better No. 2 all-time 1:17.19 the next day in the 600 meters at The Armory. 

Wilson went through his first 400 in 48.54 before tying up a bit on the last lap. 

He's still working on his fitness in the longer races. 

"For him to run that PR in the 600 at this point in the season, it's unreal," Lee said. 

Wilson will have capable relay teammates with the return of Colin Abrams, Cameron Homer and Alex Lambert. 

Abrams is US#3 in the 1,000 meters. Lambert is US#3 in the 500 meters. Homer is US#9 in the 300. 

Yet another athlete still under wraps is four-star football player Connor Salmin, a recent transfer from Woodgrove VA, who won Virginia's Class 4A title in the 100 with 10.44w last spring as a sophomore. 

Although football is his primary sport, he brings tantalyzing track credentials that could enhance an already strong sprints group. 

Seniors Mickey Green (22.22 200m) and Demetrius Lewis Jr (22.60 200m) add even more depth to the Bullis relay pool.