Discover the hidden athletic pasts of some of your favorite A-list celebrities. From singers and rappers to actors and politicians, these stars found success on the track and field before hitting the big time.
Track and field is one of the most popular high school sports in America. In the 2023-2024 school year, a NFHS study showed that 625,333 boys and 506,015 girls participated in outdoor track and field —the most popular sport for girls and the second-most popular for boys (football was first).So it comes as no surprise that many of today’s A-list actors, pop stars, and celebrities dabbled in running, jumping, or throwing in their teen years.
Check out these other celebs who tried their hand (and feet) at track and field in high school. Chappell Roan (Kayleigh Amstutz) ran her 5K personal best of 20:06.96 as a cross-country athlete for Willard High School in 2012. As a freshman, she placed 149th at the Missouri State Cross-Country Championships. The “Hot To Go!” singer said in an interview that she thought she would run XC in college. But her life went in a different direction, and her days on the trails are over: “I love running,” she said. “But not anymore.” Kylie Kelce née McDevitt The newly minted podcast host of “Not Gonna Lie,” which launched in December 2024 to massive success, was a thrower in high school. Kelce, who’s married to former Philadelphia Eagle Jason Kelce, attended Lower Merion High School (where Kobe Bryant played), and did not discriminate on the infield: She threw shot put, discus, and javelin.Kelce’s personal best in the discus was 86 feet-3 inches; for shot put it was 27-10, and for javelin she threw 64-5. Offset The rapper, who has been married to Grammy-winning artist Cardi B, with whom he shares three children, competed in the long jump at Riverside Military Academy under his name, Kiari Cephus. The Migos member has just two meets recorded on MileSplit with a PB of 17 feet flat for the long jump. Benson Boone Singer-songwriter Benson Boone, known for “Beautiful Things”—which he performed at last week’s Grammys—has some 40 million monthly listeners on Spotify (for comparison Taylor Swift has 96 million). The Washington native released his first studio album in April 2024. But before Boone was performing his hit, “Ghost Town,” on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, The Kelly Clarkson Show, and Late Night with Seth Meyers, he was a cross-country runner and pole vaulter.Boone clocked a 20:00-minute 5K and a 13:13 two-mile run. On the field, he set a PR in the pole vault in 2018 with a mark of 12 feet-6 inches. Maybe that’s why he’s so good at backflips.Polo G (Taurus Bartlett), a.k.a. rapper Polo G, ran two cross-country meets in high school, according to MileSplit. And in a week’s time he dropped his time from 23:57 to 20:45.The “Finer Things” and “Pop Out” artist who’s from Chicago is the only rapper to have all of his albums certified as double platinum or higher by the Recording Industry Association of America, according to Hot New Hip Hop. Uzo Aduba Known best for her role as Suzanne “Crazy Eyes” Warren in “Orange is the New Black,” Uzo Aduba had a successful track and field career in high school and college. Her PR in the 100-meter dash in high school is 12.27 seconds, and her PR for the long jump in high school is 17 feet-7.75 inches.The Emmy-award winning actress from Medfield, Massachusetts, ran the 55 meters, 100 meters, and 200 meters at Boston University. She ran 7.07 in the 55 meters, just shy of the school record of 7.03, according to Bostonia magazine.Aduba is also a marathoner: She ran the 2013 New York City marathon (5:17), the 2015 Boston Marathon (5:03), and the 2019 New York City Marathon (7:40). Shailene Woodley Actress and environmentalist Shailene Woodley was a cross-country runner in high school before she had to leave the sport due to severe scoliosis, according to Strauss Scoliosis Correction. The Big Little Lies actress joined a running relay in 2016 to protest the Dakota Access Pipeline. Woodley ran three miles with the group in Ohio; the total trek was 2,000 miles from Sacred Stone Camp in North Dakota to Washington, D.C. Robin Williams Long before Robin Williams became a household name, making people laugh for generations, he was an accomplished high school runner. In 1969 he ran 1:58 for 800 meters, and his Redwood High School relay team held the 4x400-meter school record (3:21) for decades. Williams once said, “I love running cross-country … on the track I feel like a hamster.” (We can’t imagine what he thought about a treadmill.) Williams also ran the Dipsea trail race in 1984. Bernie Sanders The Vermont senator and former presidential candidate, Bernie Sanders, tested his mettle on the hills of the Van Cortlandt Park cross-country course in 15:18 when he was a junior in high school. The Brooklyn native ran a 4:37 mile in high school on a cinder track in those old-school spikes. He was also captain of the track team. Amy Adams The award-winning actress appears to have had a brief stint on the track in high school but opted for another passion
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