Gilbert's Vance Nilsson caps off one of greatest seasons by Arizona HS track athlete (2024)

State champion. National champion. Now, world champion.

One of the greatest single seasons from an Arizona high school track and field athlete has finally wrapped up.

While Phoenix South Mountain’s Dwayne Evans’ remarkable 1976 season, in which he won a bronze medal in the 200 meters at the Montreal Olympics as a 17-year-old, still remains the gold standard, it could be argued the next best season ever just took place.

Gilbert’s Vance Nilsson ended his 2024 season with an Under-20 World Athletics Championship in Lima, Peru, winning the 400-meter hurdles in 49.26. The time is a new world U-20 lead and caps off a spring from the recently graduated senior from Gilbert that will be forever remembered.

In all, Nilsson did the following this season:

• Set the Arizona state record in the 300-meter hurdles.
• Set the state record in the 110-meter hurdles.
• Set the U.S. high school national record in the 300-meter hurdles.
• Won the 400-meter hurdles at Nike Outdoor Nationals.
• Won the 400-meter hurdles at the National Junior Olympics Championship.
• Made the semifinals of the 400-meter hurdles at the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials.
• Won the U-20 World Athletics Championship in the 400-meter hurdles.

Nilsson nearly set his second high school national record of the season with his 49.26, but because he officially started classes at Florida the week before the U-20 World Championships, it may not count as Track and Field News considers “the season to go through August 31 of an athlete’s senior year or until they begin college, whichever comes first.”

Nonetheless, Nilsson has left his mark on the sport in the state. Jayson Vazquez, one of Nilsson’s club coaches at the Arizona Flames and the father of former Mesa Red Mountain star hurdler Yan Vazquez, was with Nilsson in Florida before they both headed off to Peru.

Vazquez still remembers Nilsson coming up to him and James Smith, who’s in charge of the Flames, and telling them he wanted to make the U-20 World Championships. That was in September 2023.

“It’s what I had been striving for the whole season,” Nilsson said. “I wanted to make that team. I wanted to do as well as I could there. It still really hasn’t sunk in yet because it hasn’t been very long. It’s crazy how pretty much every goal I set for myself, I have accomplished. Sometimes, I don’t know why, self-doubt creeps in. You set these goals, but you don’t always truly believe you’ll reach them. I think I literally did every single thing I wanted to do.”

Now, Nilsson’s name is associated with the state’s best to do it.

“He’s up there with Devon Allen, Will Claye, Dwayne Evans,” Vazquez said. “On the female side, you have Jasmine Todd, Ky Westbrook, Hannah Carson, there’s so many. These are people who went on to do amazing things, international teams. It puts him as one of the highest to ever do it from Arizona. It’s going to be a lasting legacy. The future looks promising. It’s bright. He’s going to enjoy this roller coaster of a ride that’s he about to walk into because I think he’s going to do very well at the NCAA level and that will open doors.”

A familiar scene emerged in Lima, one that also happened in Mesa after Nilsson broke the high school record at the Arizona Interscholastic Association State Championships. Nilsson was trying to leave the stadium but people kept stopping him to either ask for a photo or to congratulate him.

As his coach followed Nilsson after the U-20 Championships, it happened again.

“Everyone wanted to take a picture with him,” said Vazquez.

After the meet, for the first time since he began preparing last September, Nilsson indulged in something he hadn’t in a year — pizza. A whole large pepperoni to himself.

It’s all a part of Nilsson winding down after a long 12 months of hard work, a “life-changing” season for the 18-year-old. And for the next two weeks, he’ll get to be just that: an 18-year-old kid as his coaches at Florida gave him instructions to do nothing for a little bit until workouts for the indoor track and field season begin.

But Nilsson is already itching to get back out there.

“The thought of knowing I won’t have anything for two more weeks, I feel unproductive,” Nilsson said. “I’m excited for lifting because I haven’t been lifting recently, I’ve been trying to taper down for racing. I’m definitely excited to get back into it, but I also want to give my body enough rest so I can make it through this whole next season. It’ll be very similar to a regular college student’s life these next two weeks. And then I can start having some fun.”

Logan Stanley is a sports reporter with The Arizona Republic who primarily focuses on high school, ASU and Olympic sports. To suggest ideas for human-interest stories and other news, reach out to Stanley at logan.stanley@gannett.com or 707-293-7650. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter: @LSscribe.