A BROAD GRIN breaks out on Mia Maxwell’s face when she is invited to return to a moment in time this past August, never-to-be-forgotten. Shortly after crossing the finish line in Eugene, Maxwell realized she had claimed World Junior 100 gold. It was the ultimate goal since the beginning of a unique senior year, as she and her twin sister Mariah trained and competed with APXP Speed Development (and Nike Elite) instead of their school, Atascocita HS.
She didn’t know she’d won at first, her 11.14 just 0.03 ahead of Jamaica’s Shanoya Douglas. “It was just like, ‘What just happened? Did I win?’” she says. “I remember thinking, ‘I feel like that was a pretty well-executed race.’ And then I looked at the clock and the board, and it said my name first…”
That was it. The usually very chill Texan practically roared, like a lioness, with a rarely seen triumphant intensity.
“It’s hard to describe the emotions that went through me,” she recalls. “Just like, ‘Wow, I did it.’ I wanted to win so bad, and worked so hard the entire season just for that moment… I was literally like, ‘Yes! Thank you! Yes!’ I kept saying out loud, ‘Thank you, God! Thank you, God! We did it!’ (Continued below)
“Whatever happens in my career, I will never forget that race and that feeling. The crowd was crazy. My parents and my little sister were there, and sharing that moment with all my loved ones was just an amazing experience.”
It was the first half of Maxwell’s 100/200 double at U20 Worlds, which might have been a triple had the U.S. women’s 4 x 100 squad, sans both Mia and twin sister Mariah in the heats, qualified for the final. That’s one thing that fellow Texan Tate Taylor, her T&FN Boys HS AOY counterpart, has over her.
“Yes, I told him that!” she laughs, “I said ‘You’re so lucky!’ Yeah, we both would have had triple gold, but it’s OK.” That said, Maxwell had something in ’26 that Taylor lacks: A third individual event where she ranks No. 1.
Maxwell didn’t smash any records this year, like her counterpart did, but she earned No. 1 All-America ratings in the 100, 200 and triple jump and ascended to No. 4 and No. 5 on the all-time lists in the latter two. Her head-turning 44-6 TJ at the North Texas Jumps Showcase in December missed Ke’Nyia Richardson’s indoor HSR by less than an inch. Her 11.08 best in the 100, to win the U.S. Junior title, would have made her No. 6 all-time — if she wasn’t already slotted there with her 11.04 PR from ’25.
Three No. 1 rankings, epic performances in diverse events from early winter through late summer, under the tutelage of APXP’s Danny McCray and her long-time jumps coach, Marlin Hargrove, it all adds up to Maxwell becoming our 2026 T&FN High School Athlete of the Year.
When we visited with Mia and Mariah in April, Mia was taking a break from competition after an indoor campaign that — besides the big TJ — included a HS-record-tying 7.13 time in the 60 (just 0.01 ahead of Mariah at the USATF meet). It concluded at the Nike Indoor, where she bounced back from a tough runner-up finish to Mariah in the 200 to claim victory in the concurrent triple jump. Mia’s heroics brought her HS Girls Indoor AOY status.
Both Maxwells had strong outdoor marks in February and March, but then Mia backed off while Mariah showed strong at the Texas Relays and Tom Jones meet in Florida, among others.
“It was definitely tough. I think some people underestimate the mental toll that track & field can have on the younger athletes,” she says. “I was going through a lot during that time. Deciding not to run for my school was a tough decision just because it made me sacrifice a lot. I lost a lot of people who I thought were for me and a lot of relationships during that time, and it kind of just made me sit and question just like, ‘Why am I doing this?’ And it made me put like a lot of pressure on myself just because like I felt like now that I’m not running for my school, I have to show out and prove that I made the right decision.”
By the U.S. Juniors in mid-June, Mia’s mind was in the right place. She had run a windy (2.6) 11.01 at Lone Star GP 2 weeks earlier. “I knew how important it was to me to make the team, but I wasn’t stressed,” she says. “The U.S. Juniors was one of the most fun track meets I’ve ever been to.”
“When I ran 11.08 [first half of a double, which included 22.49 as well], I just remember I told my coach, ‘Worlds is gonna be something special.’ I remember thinking the break I took was tough, but it was much needed and worth it.”
The Maxwells were each striving for the top of the podium in the U.S. and World Junior dashes; only one could do so. As it often does, however, Mia and Mariah’s special family dynamic prevailed during and after Mia won World gold and Mariah took 5th in the century.
“That morning before we ran the 200 prelims, we took a walk, and we just talked about kind of how we both felt emotionally about the [100 final],” says Mia. “She shared with me how she felt, and I shared with her how I felt about it, and we were just completely open and honest with each other. At the end of the day, that’s my twin sister. I’m gonna be there for her, and she’s gonna be there for me, too.”
Mia says they have their parents to thank for that. “They drilled this into us all the time, even back to when we first started competing in sports. My mom has always said, ‘You are your sister’s keeper, so you keep her close and she’s gonna keep you close no matter what happens.’
The furlong that day, of course, saw Mia earn her second gold (22.37), but also Mariah (22.77) making the podium with her bronze medal.
“My dad’s always told me, ‘Steel sharpens steel. She gonna sharpen you up, and you need to sharpen her up at the same time.’ So, like, my parents have both drilled these two different things into us, and they’re kind of similar, but I think just knowing what my parents have taught us is, at the end of the day, that family is gonna come first. That these are gifts that God has blessed us with, and can be taken away at any moment, but family is forever.”
Now up in Austin, Mia and Mariah are getting used to Coach Edrick Floréal and his staff and competing for a school again. There’s been a gradual easing-in period, some welcome (albeit tough) academic challenges, and, for the first time, the twins are… weight training.
Maxwell notes that Longhorn Athletic Performance Coach Tyler Courtney “was really patient with both me and Mariah, because I was like, ‘Hey, I’ve never done this before.’… But I’m doing really good. I just got a new PR today in front squat. I think it was 115.”
And if you think that just because Mia Maxwell is sprinting for the Longhorns she’s going to forget her other favorite event, well, guess again.
“I could never give up triple jump,” she declared, “and Coach Flo is really good with that. One of the things that I told him while he was recruiting me is that jumping is really important to me, and I want to see where jumps can take me. There’s a lot that I need to learn, but I’m really excited to do it.”
Above all, Maxwell is really happy to “get the college experience while also getting an elite amount of coaching and elite level schoolwork.” She’s focused not so much on particular marks or honors, but more on her identity, merging who she’s been and what she’s learned with new lessons and experiences.
“Right now it’s to just stay true to myself, and to the athlete that I am, because Coach McCray taught me a lot about the sport. I want to keep all the discipline things that he’s taught me and everything else, because those are really beneficial and I really just don’t see myself without any of those things.”
