Montgomery’s Hanne Thomsen signs with New Balance, becoming Sonoma County’s 1st NIL athlete

Hanne Thomsen is used to setting milestones.

The junior distance running star at Montgomery High School has already won four state titles, including three in cross country, and has become one of the top runners in not just the state but the nation.

She’s already in the conversation as one of the top female distance runners Sonoma County has ever produced, and she still has two seasons of track and field and one season of cross country left to add to her legacy.

And now, she’s breaking new ground off the track as well.

Thomsen is the first ever Sonoma County high school athlete to sign a name, image and likeness deal.

Her deal with New Balance, first reported by Citius Mag, a media outlet that covers running, will allow her to capitalize on the growing NIL movement.

In an interview with The Press Democrat on Tuesday, Thomsen said she signed with New Balance in October after the company first contacted her about a potential deal over the summer. She also said she has not signed with a sports agent.

“I knew what an NIL was, but I didn’t super understand it at first,” said Thomsen, 17. “Now I understand that there are a lot of different levels to NILs. This high school NIL thing is still super new and I think (New Balance) is still just starting to sign high school and even college athletes.”

The NIL movement began in California when the state passed the Fair Pay to Play Act into law in 2019 that allowed college athletes to be compensated for their names, images and likenesses. After a wave of similar bills were introduced and passed in other states, the NCAA amended its rules in 2021 to allow student-athletes to sign endorsement deals.

California was also the first state to pass legislation allowing high school athletes to sign NIL deals and as of October 2023, 30 states and the District of Columbia had followed suit.

Each state has its own rules for NIL deals. In California, the main stipulation is that any commercial endorsement from an athlete cannot be affiliated with their school or team. That means no school logos, insignia or mascot can be visible if or when Thomsen does any sort of endorsement of New Balance products.

Thomsen is being heavily recruited by top-tier college programs and now joins the growing ranks of high-level California prep athletes who have cashed in on this new era. Jada Williams, who plays for the University of Arizona women’s basketball team, became the first female high school basketball player to sign an NIL deal and was reportedly pulling in six figures when she was a senior at La Jolla Country Day School.

Bronny James, the son of NBA star LeBron James, had NIL deals valued at $7.5 million when he was a senior at Sierra Canyon, according to On3 NIL valuation, considered the industry standard. He’s still tops on that list at $5.8 million now as a freshman at USC, one of 20 athletes whose NIL deals are valued at seven figures.

Even No. 100 on the list, Tavien St. Clair, a junior quarterback from Ohio who is committed to Ohio State, has an NIL valuation of $572,000.

Thomsen’s deal is likely not worth anywhere close to those figures (her family said they could not disclose the exact details of their contract) but it does come with plenty of perks. She gets free gear from New Balance and will now be able to enter some of the company’s premier races, like the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix, which she competed in at the start of the month alongside some of the top professionals in the world.

“Hanne really wanted this,” said her father, Neils Thomsen. “It was really her choice and the experience we’ve had has been all good. New Balance is super nice and supportive and it’s given Hanne some new opportunities. I think specifically the indoor races are a little harder for California girls, but she gets the opportunity to travel there where they have their own indoor venue.

“And it’s a totally different experience, very intense. It’s very fun but the competition is national level, which can be a little hard for Hanne to come by running in California, except for like Arcadia or those other big invites.”

Other than being decked out head to toe in New Balance gear and running in their big events, Thomsen said she doesn’t expect to be the face of any ad campaigns anytime soon.

“It kind of just gives me a lot of cool opportunities,” she said. “I don’t think I’m going to be doing promotional stuff for them outside of high school running — like, we did do a shoot when I was in Boston for the New Balance Nationals backpacks, but beyond that it’s pretty mundane stuff, I would say.”

Her dad also added that Hanne’s contract won’t extend beyond high school, which will give her some flexibility when it comes time to commit to college.

New Balance has made a concerted push over the last few months to sign more high schoolers. It signed five premier up-and-coming track and field athletes in September, including Ventura High School junior star Sadie Engelhardt, who has won multiple state titles in track and cross country.

Thomsen is now a member of this elite group, an honor and responsibility that she does not take lightly.

“There’s a lot of expectation to have something like this,” she said. “But I would say most of it is really good because I have aspirations of going pro someday and I feel like with New Balance and this NIL thing, I have a pathway to go there if I want it eventually. I have connections now, which is really cool.”

You can reach Staff Writer Gus Morris at 707-304-9372 or gus.morris@pressdemocrat.com. On X (Twitter) @JustGusPD.