The 29 most dominant high school athletes in America

mone davis little league world series
Mo'ne Davis at the Little League World Series in 2014. Getty Images/Rob Carr

These 29 high-school-aged athletes are some of the very best in the entire country.

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They're breaking records, raising the bar in their respective sports, overcoming physical setbacks, and serving their communities — sometimes all at once.

Prepare to be inspired by some of sports' brightest young stars.

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Two years ago, Mo'ne Davis became the first girl to earn a win and pitch a shutout in a Little league World Series Game — but her favorite sport is basketball.

mone davis basketball
Getty Images/Brad Barket

Davis, now 15, plays varsity at Springside Chestnut Hill Academy in Pennsylvania.

Source: ESPNW

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Sydney McLaughlin, 17, ran for Team USA in Rio, and even though she didn't medal, she had the honor of being the youngest US track and field Olympian since 1972.

Sydney McLaughlin
Patrick Smith/Getty Images

She's now a senior at Union Catholic Regional High School in New Jersey.

Source: Team USA

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ESPN currently ranks DeAndre Ayton as the best high school basketball player in the entire country.

deandre ayton
AP/Gregory Payan

In fact, college recruiters and NBA draft experts have been buzzing about him since the summer before his sophomore year. Ayton is now a senior at Hillcrest Academy in Arizona. 

Source: ESPN, SB Nation

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With three X Games gold medals already under her belt, 16-year-old Chloe Kim has been called "the future of women's snowboarding."

chloe kim
Getty Images/Tom Pennington

Kim also plays guitar and speaks English, Korean, and French fluently. She's a student at Mammoth High School in California. 

Source: USA Snowboarding

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Laurie Hernandez, 16, dominated the Rio Olympics as a member of the Final Five.

Laurie Hernandez
Charlie Riedel/AP

She left Rio with a gold medal for the team all-around and a silver medal for her balance beam performance. She's been home schooled since the third grade, but plans to continue her education at the University of Florida. 

Source: NBC Olympics

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Hunter Gandee made the varsity wrestling team as a freshman. But he showed even more strength when he staged two charity walks to support his little brother, who has cerebral palsy.

hunter gandee
Hunter and his little brother, Braden. AP/Mike Householder

The walks have raised more than $200,000 to build a wheelchair accessible playground and fund cerebral palsy research, and in 2015, Gandee was recognized as Sports Illustrated's High School Athlete of the Year.

Now, he's is a junior at Bedford High School in Michigan.

Source: Sports Illustrated

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Hannah Aspden is about to swim in her first Paralympic Games. The 16-year-old was born with only one leg and has been swimming since age 8.

hannah aspden
Getty Images/Streeter Lecka

Aspden also overcame a nervous system illness earlier this year before making the Paralympic team. Now, she's a junior at Leesville Road High School in North Carolina. 

Source: Team USA

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This summer, Gregory Dorfman pitched five scoreless innings during NYC's Public School Athletic League championship game, helping his team (seeded 10th) topple the top-ranked team in the competition.

gregory dorfman
Courtesy Gregory Dorfman

Today, the 15-year-old is starting his sophomore year at Midwood High School in Brooklyn. 

Source: NY Daily News

 

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The US is not known for its rhythmic gymnastics program — but 16-year-old Laura Zeng could be the one to change that.

laura zeng rhythmic gymnastics
Getty Images/Maddie Meyer

Last year, she came in eighth place at the rhythmic gymnastics World Championships — it was the highest an American rhythmic gymnast had ever placed at the competition. She also placed 11th in the individual competition at the Rio Olympics, and hinted in a recent Instagram post that she may be back for more in Tokyo.

Zeng is currently a junior at Libertyville High School in Illinois. 

Source: Teen Vogue, Team USA

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Desmond Jackson had one leg amputated at age 1, but his mother urged him to participate in sports as he got older. Now, he trains with able-bodied runners and is about to compete in his first Paralympics.

desmond jackson
Getty Images/Francois Nel

Jackson, 16, is starting his senior year at Hillside High School in North Carolina. 

Source: Team USA

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Kate Marshall, 17, has been a leader on her soccer team, despite battling cystic fibrosis, a genetic disease that compromises lung function.

kate marshall
Courtesy Kate Marshall

Because of her incredible determination, Sports Illustrated named her a High School Athlete of the Month in December 2015. This year, Marshall is a senior at Berwick Academy in Maine. 

Source: Sports Illustrated

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Triathlete Ariana Luterman is the founder and CEO of Team Ariana, a charity that inspires kids to live healthfully. It's also raised well over $100,000 to combat youth homelessness.

Ariana Luterman
Courtesy Ariana Luterman

Luterman began competing in triathlons when she was only 7. Soon, she was facing off against — and beating — adults. The 16-year-old is now attending Greenhill School in Texas. 

Source: Team Ariana, Addison Magazine, Dallas News

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Zion Williamson is one of the top high school basketball players in the country. He's already received scholarship offers from 32 colleges and counting.

zion williamson
AP/Gregory Payan

And earlier this summer, Williamson took first place in the Elite 24 slam dunk contest. He's now a junior at Spartanburg Day School in South Carolina. 

Source: USA Today, Sports Illustrated

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Wheelchair racer Alexa Halko qualified for her first 2016 Paralympic team earlier this year — and broke her own world record in the process.

alexa halko
Getty Images/Streeter Lecka

Halko, 16, is a junior at Jamestown High School in Virginia. 

Source: Team USA

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Who will fill the shoes of gymnastics greats like Gabby Douglas and Aly Raisman? Maile O'Keefe, 14, might be the next big thing in gymnastics.

maile o'keefe
Getty Images/Jared Wickerham

She snagged the all-around gold medal in the junior level at this year's P&G Championships, and she's been slowly rising through the ranks in junior elite competition. 

O'Keefe is currently a freshman at Odyssey Charter School in Las Vegas — and according to her Instagram, she's got her eye on the 2020 summer games. 

Source: USA Gymnastics

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Table tennis phenom Kanak Jha, 16, was the first athlete born in the 2000s to qualify for the US Olympic Team. He was also the US men's champion in 2016.

kanak jha
AP/Julie Jacobson

In Rio, he was eliminated during preliminary competition, but he's still planning to train seriously in table tennis. Jha takes classes online and is now a high school junior. (Read more about his Olympic journey right here.)

Source: Team USA, Sports Illustrated, NBC Olympics

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When she was 8 years old, swimmer McClain Hermes suffered retinal detachments that left her almost completely blind. Today, the 15-year-old is preparing for her Paralympic debut.

mcclain hermes
Courtesy McClain Hermes

In addition to swimming, Hermes and her father run a charity called Shoes for the Souls, which provides shoes for homeless individuals. Since 2009, the service has collected and donated more than 15,000 pairs of shoes. 

Hermes, now a sophomore, takes online classes through Gwinnett High School in Georgia.

Source: Team USA

 

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Brooke Raboutou started rock climbing at age 1. Now she's one of the world's top competitors in the sport. She set 7 climbing records before she turned 12.

brooke raboutou
Courtesy Brooke Raboutou

Raboutou, now 15, still attends school every day in Colorado. 

Source: Team ABC Boulder, Moja Gear

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Felicia Perez may only be four-foot-eight, but she's powerful: The junior is a linebacker and fullback on her school's varsity football team.

"Felicia is tough as nails," her coach at Brandywine High School recently told DelawareOnline. "The best way to describe it is she would much rather be the hammer than the nail."

Source: DelawareOnline

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Jake Hofheimer, 17, is the first openly transgender man to play varsity baseball in high school.

Even though Jake's not the strongest player on the team, the Los Angeles Times reports that his teammates have embraced him fully. Hofheimer is a junior at New Roads School in California. 

 Source: Los Angeles Times

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Brooklin Smith, 15, is a Crossfit athlete who can already dead lift more than 200 pounds. She's a sophomore at Westwood High School in Texas.

A photo posted by Brooklin Smith (@brooklin__smith_)

 

Source: Teen Vogue, Westwood Horizon

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Andrew Shapiro, 17, broke a world record by doing 7,306 pull-ups in 24 hours.

 

He staged the record-breaking feat at a Relay for Life event where he raised $4,000 for cancer research in honor of his father, a cancer survivor. He's now a senior at Langley High School in Virginia. 

Source: the Washington Post

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Evina Westbrook is the number-two female high school basketball player in the country, according to ESPN. She's a member of the under-18 US women's team, too.

Westbrook has even volunteered her weekends to coach a team of third and fourth graders. She's currently a senior at South Salem High School in Oregon. 

Source: HoopGurlz, ESPN, USA Basketball

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Lauryn DeLuca is a wheelchair fencer with cerebral palsy. Since she began competing in 2013, she's won three national championships and a gold medal in the 2016 Paralympic trials.

She's about to compete in her very first Paralympic games in Rio. When the games end, she'll return home for her junior year at Parma Senior High School in Ohio. 

Source: Team USA

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Jordyn Adams has been offered scholarships to play football and baseball at University of South Carolina. This video reveals that he's a dominant basketball player, too.

Adams is a junior at Blythewood High School in South Carolina. 

Source: The State

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Sisters Anastasia, Aislynn, and Alasia Hayes (senior, sophomore, and freshman, respectively) have all been offered basketball scholarships at Division 1 schools.

They play together at Riverdale High School in Tennessee, and they hope to attend the same college someday. Their youngest sister, Acacia, has also been offered D1 scholarships — and she's only in middle school. 

Source: The Tennessean

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Rene Gangarosa, 15, is a triple threat: She plays lacrosse, tennis, and boy's ice hockey. She's already committed to play hockey for Penn State.

Gangarosa also plays on an elite hockey team outside of school. This year, she's a junior at Brighton High School in New York. 

Source: USA Today

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