Gatorade Expands Player of the Year Awards to XC
Posted November 7th, 2007 at 12:23 PM by Jeanie Rebb
Section: News & Results, Nutrition, Hydration, Cross Country, High School
In its third decade of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company, in partnership with RISE Magazine, today announced the addition of boys and girls cross country to its celebrated high school awards program.
The program recognizes athletic excellence in conjunction with high standards of academic achievement and exceptional character displayed on and off the field. One boy and one girl in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia will be honored as the Gatorade State Cross Country Runner of the Year from among more than 400,000 high school cross country runners nationwide.
From the pool of state winners, one boy and one girl will be honored as the Gatorade National Cross Country Runner of the Year — the nation’s best all-around high school student-athletes in their sport. RISE works with nationally-focused sport-specific experts to evaluate the athletic, academic and extra-curricular resumes of the 102 candidates. Each national winner becomes eligible for the program’s culminating honor — the Gatorade High School Athlete of the Year award, presented at a ceremony prior to The ESPY Awards in July.
“The Gatorade Player of the Year program honors the best in high school sports, so it is only fitting that we celebrate the best cross country runners in the nation,” said Gatorade Senior Vice President of Sports Marketing Jeff Urban. “The addition of boys and girls cross country opens the door to a new group of deserving high school student-athletes, while building upon the legacy that the Gatorade Player of the Year program has established over the past 22 years.”
The Gatorade Player of the Year program annually recognizes one winner in the District of Columbia and each of the 50 states that sanction high school football, girls volleyball, boys and girls cross country, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls soccer, baseball, softball, and boys and girls track & field. The selection process is administered by RISE Magazine, which works with top sport-specific experts and a media advisory board of accomplished, veteran prep sports journalists to determine the state winners in each sport.
Former notable Gatorade National Players of the Year include:
Year Name High School/Hometown Accomplishments
2002-03 Allyson Felix Los Angeles Baptist, Reigning 200-meter world
North Hills, CA champion
1993-94 Peyton Manning Isidore Newman, 2007 Super Bowl Most
New Orleans, LA Valuable Player
1989-90 Lisa Leslie Morningside, WNBA all-time leading
Inglewood, CA scorer and rebounder
2000-01 Cat Osterman Cypress Falls, Softball gold medalist
Houston, TX
1995-96 Kerri Walsh Archbishop Mitty, Beach volleyball gold
San Jose, CA medalist
For more on the Gatorade Player of the Year program, including nomination information and lists of past winners and future announcement dates, visit http://www.gatorade.com/playeroftheyear.
Via: Gatorade, PR Newswire
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Tags: award, cross country, ESPN, ESPY, ESPY Awards, gatorade, Gatorade National Cross Country Runner of the Year, jeff urban, player of the year, player of the year program, RISE Magazine, XC
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November 8th, 2007 at 2:03 am