Friday was a complete full circle moment for Ellery Lincoln. The sophomore from Lincoln High School put together a dominant performance on Friday night in the girls mile at the Nike/Jesuit Twilight Relays at Jesuit High School. A tough kick in the final 200 meters gave her enough to overcome Lakeridge’s Chloe Huyler and win in four minutes, 39.37 seconds. It was just one day shy of exactly a year since Lincoln burst onto the scene as a freshman and won the same event in the 2024 Twilight Relays. Since then, she’s won the Class 6A state title in the 1,500. She’s signed a name, image and likeness deal with Nike and competed in elite events all over the country. But what made Friday extra special for Lincoln was it meant that she was finally seeing a year of health battles in the rearview mirror. “This was a pretty magical meet last year and to come back here after a really tough year, I can’t think of a better word than special,” Lincoln said. “It just warms my heart to come out here and be back.” Lincoln contracted whooping cough from a teammate at the state championships last year. It started a domino effect that threatened to uproot her track career. “From there it was kind of like a decline into this pretty bad sickness,” she said. Lincoln’s recovery took months, as she dealt with breathing issues that kept her from running at 100%. She finished third at the Class 6A cross country state championships in the fall and helped lead the Cardinals to a team championship. In the 2024-25 indoor season, Lincoln looked to be back in full form while racing in the University of Washington Invitational and the Millrose Games in New York. But just as she landed in New York for Nike Indoor Nationals in early March, Lincoln came down with pneumonia and couldn’t compete. “I was really devastated because I was just starting to feel like I was in shape to start running fast again,” Lincoln said. So while many of her Oregon peers started the 2025 track season in March, Lincoln didn’t really start running competitively again until April 12. But when she returned to training, Lincoln said she’s more focused than ever before. “I was taking a lot of time reflecting and working on my mindset and believing in myself again because it was almost a whole year of just not being able to trust my body even when I was so focused on the race, my body just couldn’t respond,” she said. Lincoln’s goal for the 2025 season was to break 4:40 in the mile. Having accomplished that in her first attempt of the year, she said she’s setting herself up to far eclipse her breakout freshman campaign. “I feel like now that I’m healthy sickness was a big thing holding me back, but I think I’m ready for a really special season and really a comeback season for sure.” The 4:39.37 finish puts Lincoln at No. 2 all-time in Oregon history. She passed Jesuit’s Chloe Foerster, who ran a 4:40.27 in 2022. Mozambican Maria Mutola — who spent a year training at Springfield High School and went on to win Olympic gold in the 800 at the Sydney Olympics in 2000 — ran 4:36.09 in 1991. Subscribe to the High School Sports+ newsletter Sign up here to get exclusive news and insights from high school sports editor Nik Streng. -- Nik Streng covers high school sports in Oregon. Reach him at nstreng@oregonian.com or @NikStreng