Bella Connally runs up the JDHS record wall

Klas Stolpe
21 hours ago
6 min read

JDHS junior honored with addition of 100 and 200 meter sprint times

Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé junior Bella Connally had her 100- and 200-meter school records added to the JDHS track and field record board in the auxiliary gym on Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2026. From left are mother Melissa Connally, brother James Connally, coach Karina Reyes, father Chris Connally, Bella Connally, coach Louis Tagaban, coach Zack Bursell and coach Sean Goertzen. (Klas Stolpe / Juneau Independent)

By Klas Stolpe

Juneau Independent

Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé junior Bella Connally knocked another record — and another name — off the Crimson Bears track and field record wall.

This time it was her own as she continues to “prime up” to “run down” sprint records.

Connally was honored by JDHS track and field coaches Wednesday in a ceremony placing her name on the auxiliary gym wall for the 100 meters. Connally hit a 12.33 at last season’s Alaska School Activities Association State Track and Field Championships in Anchorage, losing in a photo finish to Dimond junior Nevaeh Watkins’ 12.32. Connally’s time beat her own previous record of 12.46 set at the state meet in 2025 as a freshman.

Dimond junior Nevaeh Watkins (239) wins in a photo finish over Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé sophomore Bella Connally (343) in the 100 meters during the Alaska School Activities Association Division I Track and Field State Championships at Anchorage's Dimond High School on Saturday, May 30, 2026. From left are South senior Anna Green, Chugiak freshman Sienna Johnson, Watkins, Connally, Kodiak junior Melia Gilbert and Soldotna junior Shiloh Zichko. (Klas Stolpe / Juneau Independent)

“It means a lot to me,” Connally said. “When I first started track my sixth grade year this was really a goal for me.”

Connally and now-senior Watkins, along with Chugiak High School sophomore Sienna Johnson and Bartlett High School sophomore Mya Smothers are expected to push those times even lower this season. Johnson finished third and Smothers fourth at state last season in 12.37 and 12.74, respectively.

Connally is chasing the 2015 state record time of 12.12 set by Mountain City Christian Academy junior Tanner Ealum in the 1A/2A/3A state championships and the Division I time of 12.27 set by Chugiak freshman Jihsana Williams in 2024.

Connally also seeks to run down Alaska’s fastest known time of 11.95 set by Delta Junction junior Hailey Williams in 2018 at the New Balance Outdoor National Track and Field Championships in North Carolina. Connally’s current 100-meter time is 0.04 seconds shy of breaking into the top 10 Alaska all-time placings.

For Connally, however, the true honor is having her name next to her brother James’ 10.64 mark, which he set as a senior in the 2022 Guy Thibodeau All Comers Meet at then-Thunder Mountain High School.

“He means a lot to me,” she said of her brother. “Especially seeing how far he has gone in track. I want to make sure I make it as far as he does. He is a big inspiration to me as well. Helping me, pushing me to keep on going. He is a key part of my training also, helping me work out at the gym.”

Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé senior James Connally wins the 100-meter dash during the Juneau Invitational Track & Field meet on Saturday, May 7, 2022. (Klas Stolpe / Juneau Independent).

James Connally ran track and field for Eastern Oregon University. He is still enrolled there but living in Juneau and studying online. He will travel to meets in the indoor and outdoor season to compete, but not for Eastern Oregon. He noted the biggest thing Bella must work on to reach the next level involves strength training.

“Probably just the gym,” he said. “The gym is the biggest thing. Getting stronger in the gym is just really important, and she has been doing that over the summer… It is super easy to train her because she is motivating herself. So you don’t really have to push her. She is just always wanting to learn, always wanting to do more, to work out more and better herself every day.”

Bella Connally noted the importance of seeing her brother set a school record.

“After seeing my brother break the school record for the 100, it was really just a big goal for me,” she said. “Especially for the 100, for me to break that and then adding on the 200 to the wall, that just means even more.”

JDHS also chose to put Bella Connally’s Brian Young Invitational 200-meter time of 25.39 set last June on the record board, replacing the mark of 26.03 set by Janelle Billingslea in 1996.

Since the ASAA Track and Field season ended on May 30, times set after that are not official high school state, region or school records, per ASAA.

The North Southeast All-Star team, from left, Sitka coach Jeremy Strong, JDHS rising junior Bella Connally, 2026 Wrangell graduate Boomchain Loucks, Sitka rising senior James Nellis, JDHS rising senior Kaia Mangaccat, 2026 Sitka graduate Cole McLaughlin, Sitka rising junior Finn Mullin, Ketchikan rising senior Henry Vail, and JDHS coach Brandy Adams pose at the Brian Young Invitational on Saturday, June 6, 2026. (Photo courtesy Jeremy Strong)

JDHS coaches noted they are placing the mark on the board per precedent, as a 400-meter mark of 49.30 set by Wilder Dillingham in the Brian Young Invitational on June 1, 2024, was previously acknowledged by the coaching staff. Dillingham does own the JDHS school record in the 200 meters with 22.20 set at the 2024 ASAA Track and Field Championships. Coincidentally, his previous 400-meter school record of 49.38 was set during a 2024 Region V ASAA-sanctioned meet.

Also, in May 2025, JDHS senior Nick Iverson set the boys’ 800-meter school record of 1:55.27 at the Ketchikan Invitational. That season Iverson won the 800 and 1,600 at the ASAA DI state championships, earning male athlete of the meet.

The BYI is not sanctioned by ASAA, so times and marks set are not Alaska high school region or state records or official school records. They are recorded by USATF Alaska, however, which covers youth through adult athletes, and are registered as Alaska times and marks.

The BYI allows athletes to qualify for national high school championships, and Connally competed at the 2026 Nike Outdoor Nationals and USATF under-20 championships June 18-22, at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon. Connally ran a 12.49 to place 32nd among 120 registered in her division. Dimond’s Nevaeh Watkins — running for The Alaska Running Academy — ran 12.35 for 24th.

“It was really nice seeing competition from all over,” Bella Connally said. “And seeing how I compared to girls down south, and not just in Alaska. But it was a really big accomplishment for me, it was really good.”

Connally’s 200 meter time is ninth among Alaska marks. Delta Junction’s Hailey Williams established the leading time of 24.05 at the 2019 New Balance Outdoor Nationals on the campus of North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Alaska all-time track and field records have been kept over the years by former Kodiak coach Marcus Dunbar and now by former Kodiak runner Arielle Himelbloom. Both include any time that was recorded up until an athlete enters their freshman year of college, thus post-season marks can be included. Alaska’s ASAA “state records” are really just state meet records and rarely are the top marks in Alaska prep history.

Bella Connally noted how difficult the tiny micro-seconds of improvement are.

“It is really hard,” she said. “There are just the littlest tweaks that you have to make in your running form and how you get out of the blocks and your reaction time. It is just the tiniest little things to take off those seconds.”