Phenoms Earn 2018 High School Performer of the Year Awards

Track and field fans voiced their choices in this week's DyeStat's Pro Performer of the Year poll, while DyeStat's editors made their own selection.

Readers’ Choice: Katelyn Tuohy

With 45.90 percent of the vote, Katelyn Tuohy won our Readers’ Choice vote, beating Armand "Mondo" Duplantis with his second-place tally of 40.29 percent.

Tuohy is the top high school girl distance runner in the country. She has shown throughout the year that she is nearly untouchable at anything from 1,500 meters to 5,000 meters.

Tuohy broke two high school records in 2018. She took down Mary Cain's 5,000-meter record in an indoor race, running 15:37.12. Tuohy went on to win the two-mile at New Balance Nationals Indoor Also competing indoors, she ran the fourth-fastest 3,000 meters of all-time in 9:05.26.

Competing outdoors, Tuohy improved her 1,500-meter best to 4:14.45 at the New York State Meet, good for eighth on the all-time prep performer list. She followed that with a high school outdoor record in the mile at New Balance Nationals Outdoor of 4:33.87.

As a distance runner, Tuohy also gets credit for her 2018 cross country performances. she went undefeated in her junior season for North Rockland NY, culminating in her second straight NXN title. Her time of 16:37 for the 5K NXN course broke her own course record.

Tuohy's long-term goal is to qualify for the 2020 Olympics in the 5,000 meters. Those games will take place following her senior year of high school.

Editors’ Choice: Mondo Duplantis

Tuohy is a good choice, but the DyeStat Editors want to highlight another top-flight high school athlete. Flight happens to be a good descriptor in this case, as Armand "Mondo" Duplantis is the most successful pole vaulter American high schools have ever seen.

Duplantis entered 2018 as the high school record holder, as well as the indoor and outdoor world U-20 record holder. Those marks were all broken.

Outside of competing for his high school, Lafayette LA for his senior season, Duplantis primarily competed on the professional circuit where he continued to impress spectators and competitors alike.

Duplantis finished seventh at the IAAF World Indoor Championships. He won the IAAF World U-20 Championships. And most impressively, he won the European Athletics Outdoor Championships, his first senior title.

That last performance was even more impressive as Duplantis kept raising the bar and clearing new heights. His best clearance came at 19-10.25 (6.05m) That ranks him as the fourth-best pole vault performer of all-time, regardless of age. It also broke the Swedish and American records (the rule has since been changed to disallow future American records by Duplantis or other athletes who are U.S. citizens, but do not represent the U.S. internationally).

With his skills at defying gravity, it is difficult to know what Duplantis' limits might be. To find out, however, he has enrolled at LSU and plans to compete for the Tigers in 2019.