Bella Graham landed on the podium at the AAU Junior Olympic Games after a hamstring injury ended her spring season at The Bolles School.

Graham, a sophomore, placed third in the girls' 15-16 long jump on Thursday, Aug. 6, at Drake Stadium in Des Moines, Iowa, with a personal-best leap of 5.66 meters (18 feet, 7 inches).

The field was stacked. Graham cleared fourth place by a single centimeter, while the runner-up, Kaitlyn Boakye-Yiadom of MetroCobras TC, finished just 7 centimeters ahead at 5.73m. Fifth-place finisher Ameerah Jones-Rines of AOC Ambler Track Club landed at 5.64m, meaning the top five were separated by only 13 centimeters, according to FloTrack results.

Kadence Frisbie of Hot Feet Track Club won the event at 5.77m.

Graham competed as an unattached athlete at the 60th edition of the Junior Olympics, which ran Aug. 3–8. It was the eighth time Iowa hosted the national meet.

During the spring 2026 season, Graham helped the Bolles girls' track and field team capture both district and region team titles, according to the school's athletics news page. She then suffered a season-ending hamstring injury that cut her postseason short. Graham returned to competition at the national level in August.

The Bolles School congratulated Graham on X on Tuesday, Aug. 25, noting her personal-best mark and third-place finish.

Graham's bronze adds to a strong year for Bolles athletics overall. The school won the FHSAA Floyd E. Lay Sunshine Cup all-sports award for Class 3A in 2025-26, which recognizes a school's cumulative performance across all state series competition in its classification, according to the FHSAA.

Track and field is a spring sport at Bolles. Graham's next opportunity to compete for the Bulldogs will come when the 2027 season opens.