Gatorade Player of the Year awards explained

The Gatorade Player of the Year awards are given annually to up and coming high school student-athletes in the United States.^{[1] [2]} They are given for boys baseball, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls cross country, boys football, boys and girls soccer, boys and girls track & field, girls softball, and girls volleyball.^[1]

A "State Player of the Year" award is given to the best student-athlete in each of the twelve sports in the District of Columbia and each of the fifty states, where each sport is recognized as an interscholastic sport.^[3] Selection is based on three criteria: athletic achievement, academic excellence, and exemplary character (including sportsmanship, and participation in community and other activities).^[3] Twelve "National Player of the Year" awards are then given, to the best student-athlete in each of the twelve sports, chosen from the state winners in the respective sport.^[4]

Finally, one male Athlete of the Year and one female Athlete of the Year are selected from the twelve National Player of the Year recipients. The two winners are voted on by a national panel with about 400 sports journalists, coaches, and others.^[3] The two athletes of the year, Cooper Flagg and Sadie Engelhardt, received their awards at a special ceremony prior to The ESPY Awards.^[3]

The Gatorade Company established the awards in 1986.^[1] The selection process was administered by ESPN RISE which was ESPN's division for high-school sports. The selection process is currently run by the Gatorade Player of the Year Selection Committee.^[1]

Past national winners include Peyton Manning and Emmitt Smith for football, LeBron James and Kobe Bryant for basketball, Allyson Felix for track and field, and Kerri Walsh for volleyball.

Athletes of the Year

See also: Athlete of the Year. Awards include:

Male Athlete of the Year! Year! Winner! Sport! Hometown! College 2003 Basketball None 2004 Basketball None 2005 Football Duke (basketball), Syracuse (football) 2006 Basketball Ohio State 2007 Basketball UCLA 2008 Football USC 2009 Football Texas 2010 Basketball Kentucky 2011 Baseball None 2012 Football Texas 2013 Basketball Kansas 2014 Basketball Kentucky 2015 Football Texas A&M / Oklahoma 2016 Basketball Duke 2017 Baseball None 2018 Football USC / Georgia / West Virginia / Rice 2019 ^[5] Baseball None 2020 Football LSU / Georgia 2022 ^[6] Cross country None 2023 ^[7] Baseball None 2024 Basketball Duke

Female Athlete of the Year! Year! Winner! Sport! Hometown! College 2003 Track & Field USC 2004 Basketball Tennessee 2005 Volleyball Stanford 2006 Basketball UConn 2007 Basketball UConn 2008 Track & Field Tennessee 2009 Basketball Notre Dame 2010 Basketball Stanford 2011 Soccer Virginia 2012 Basketball UConn 2013 Soccer Notre Dame 2014 Basketball Notre Dame 2015 Track & Field None 2016 Track & Field Kentucky 2017 Track & Field Kentucky 2018 Cross Country, Track & Field NC State 2019 Softball 2020 Basketball UConn 2022 Basketball UCLA 2023 Softball Florida 2024 Track & field None

National Sports Winners

Awards include:

Baseball

Year	Winner	Hometown	College
1986			Did not attend
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992			Stanford
1993			Did not attend
1994			Miami
1995			Stanford (football)
1996			Did not attend
1997
1998			Michigan (football)
1999			Did not attend
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015			TCU
2016			Did not attend
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023

Basketball

See also: List of U.S. high school basketball national player of the year awards.

Male Basketball Player of the Year! Year! Winner! Hometown! College 1986 North Carolina 1987 Louisville 1988 Georgetown 1989 Georgia Tech 1990 Indiana 1991 Michigan 1992 Arkansas 1993 LSU 1994 St. John's 1995 Georgia Tech 1996 Did not attend 1997 UCLA 1998 Did not attend 1999 Michigan 2000 Indiana 2001 Michigan State 2002 Did not attend 2003 2004 2005 Ohio State 2006 2007 UCLA 2008 2009 Kentucky 2010 2011 Florida 2012 Duke 2013 Kansas 2014 Kentucky 2015 LSU 2016 Duke 2017 Missouri 2018 Duke 2019 Memphis 2020 Memphis / Eastern Michigan 2021 Gonzaga 2022 Kansas 2023 2024 Duke

Female Basketball Player of the Year! Year! Winner! Hometown! College 1986 Texas 1987 Seton Hall 1988 Texas 1989 Tennessee 1990 USC 1991 Notre Dame / Tennessee 1992 Ohio State 1993 Georgia 1994 Virginia 1995 Purdue 1996 Western Kentucky 1997 North Carolina 1998 UConn 1999 UCLA 2000 Purdue 2001 Tennessee 2002 UConn 2003 Tennessee 2004 2005 Duke 2006 UConn 2007 2008 Stanford 2009 Notre Dame 2010 Stanford 2011 UConn 2012 2013 Tennessee 2014 Notre Dame 2015 UConn 2016 Notre Dame / Oregon 2017 UConn 2018 2019 2020 ^[8] 2021 South Carolina 2022 UCLA 2023 USC 2024 South Carolina

Cross Country

See also: Foot Locker Cross Country Championships.

Male Cross Country Athlete of the Year! Year! Winner! Hometown! College 2008 Naperville, IL Stanford 2009 The Woodlands, TX Wisconsin 2010 Orland Park, IL Oregon 2011 Orland Park, IL Oregon 2012 Indianapolis, IN Northern Arizona 2013 Newark, NJ Oregon 2014 ^[9] Grand Blanc, MI Stanford 2015 Grand Blanc, MI Stanford 2016 Purcellville, VA Oregon 2017 American Fork, UT BYU 2018 Provo, UT BYU 2019 ^[10] Larkspur, CA Stanford 2020 Newbury Park, CA Northern Arizona 2021 Greenwood Village, CO North Carolina 2022 Newbury Park, CA Northern Arizona 2023

Female Cross Country Athlete of the Year! Year! Winner! Hometown! College 2008 Wellington, FL Duke 2009 San Luis Obispo, CA Oregon 2010 Rochester Hills, MI Washington 2011 Cornwall, NY Stanford 2012 Hartland, WI Notre Dame 2013 Simi Valley, CA Oregon 2014 ^[11] Camas, WA 2015 Mishawaka, IN Notre Dame 2016 Colorado Springs, CO Oregon 2017 Aurora, CO California 2018 Thiells, NY 2019 ^[12] Thiells, NY 2020 Thiells, NY NC State 2021 Rawlins, WY Arkansas 2022 Natalie Cook Flower Mound, TX Oklahoma State 2023

Football

See also: USA Today All-USA high school football team.

Year	Winner	Hometown	College
1986		Indianapolis, IN	Purdue / Illinois
1987		Pensacola, FL	Florida
1988		Monroeville, PA	Pittsburgh
1989		Tabb, VA	Virginia
1990		Euclid, OH	Ohio State
1991		Winter Park, FL	Florida State / Central Florida
1992		St. Paul, MN	Miami (FL) / Minnesota
1993		Berwick, PA	Notre Dame
1994		New Orleans, LA	Tennessee
1995		Puyallup, WA	Washington
1996		Hyden, KY	Kentucky
1997		Baton Rouge, LA	Florida State
1998		Hampton, VA	North Carolina (football and basketball)
1999		Long Beach, CA	Stanford
2000		Shreveport, LA	Florida / Miami (FL)
2001		St. Paul, MN	Did not attend
2002		Oxnard, CA	Florida State
2003		Danville, CA	Miami (FL)
2004		Fort Collins, CO	USC
2005		Syracuse, NY	Duke (basketball) / Syracuse
2006		Springdale, AR	Arkansas / USC
2007		Ocala, FL	Florida
2008		Santa Ana, CA	USC
2009		Austin, TX	Texas / SMU
2010		Westlake Village, CA	UCLA
2011		Rock Hill, SC	Tennessee
2012		Aledo, TX	Texas
2013		Sammamish, WA	USC / Pittsburgh
2014		Chesapeake, VA	Virginia
2015	Kyler Murray	Allen, TX	Texas A&M / Oklahoma
2016		Lake Stevens, WA	Georgia / Washington
2017		Las Vegas, NV	Ohio State / Miami (FL) / UNLV
2018		Santa Ana, CA	USC / Georgia / West Virginia / Rice
2019		Scottsdale, AZ	Texas / USC / Arizona State
2020		Marietta, GA	LSU / Georgia / Nebraska
2021		Draper, UT	USC / Ole Miss
2022		Shillington, PA	Penn State
2023		Denton, TX	Oklahoma

Soccer

Male Soccer Player of the Year! Year! Winner! Hometown! College 1986 Hazelwood, MO SIU Edwardsville 1987 Boise, ID Duke 1988 Storrs, CT Virginia 1989 Everett, WA UCLA 1990 Ellicott City, MD North Carolina 1991 Newark, NJ Virginia 1992 St. Louis, MO Saint Louis 1993 Batavia, IL Virginia 1994 Chagrin Falls, OH Virginia 1995 Milford, CT Maryland 1996 Milwaukee, WI Maryland 1997 Dallas, TX Indiana 1998 Redmond, WA Maryland 1999 Westport, CT Virginia 2000 Oradell, NJ Virginia 2001 New Lenox, IL Indiana 2002 Mission Viejo, CA UCLA 2003 Poway, CA Notre Dame 2004 Wilbraham, MA Wake Forest 2005 Plano, TX Indiana 2006 Portage, MI Indiana 2007 West Orange, NJ Seton Hall 2008 Severn, MD Virginia 2009 Plano, TX Notre Dame 2010 Dearborn, MI Michigan 2011 Midlothian, VA Duke 2012 Accra, Ghana UC Santa Barbara 2013 Pico Rivera, CA Washington 2014 Takoradi, Ghana^[13] UCLA 2015 Bolton, England Wake Forest 2016 Arlington, VA Virginia 2017 Tamale, Ghana^[14] Michigan 2018 Millbrook, NY Stanford 2019 Dalton, GA Wake Forest 2020 Olathe, KS Liberty / UMKC / MidAmerica Nazarene University 2021 Keller, TX Notre Dame 2022 Baltimore, MD Georgetown 2023 Newark, NJ Clemson

Female Soccer Player of the Year! Year! Winner! Hometown! College 1998 San Jose, CA Santa Clara 1999 Massapequa, NY Penn State 2000 Lakewood, CO BYU 2001 ^[15] Lakewood, CO North Carolina 2002 West Hills, CA UCLA 2003 East Brunswick, NJ North Carolina 2004 Satellite Beach, FL North Carolina 2005 Rancho Santa Margarita, CA USC 2006 Indianapolis, IN UCLA 2007 Garland, TX Notre Dame 2008 Palo Alto, CA Stanford 2009 Lake Forest, IL Stanford 2010 Durham, NC Duke 2011 St. Simons Island, GA Virginia 2012 Milford, NH Notre Dame 2013 Milford, NH Notre Dame 2014 Forest, VA Tennessee 2015 Highlands Ranch, CO UCLA 2016 Loganville, GA Duke 2017 Cerritos, CA Stanford 2018 San Juan Capistrano, CA Santa Clara 2019 Atherton, CA Duke 2020 Flemington, NJ Rutgers 2021 Studio City, CA Stanford 2022 Roswell, GA 2023 Southlake, TX

Softball

Year	Winner	Hometown	College
1998		Cypress, CA	UCLA
1999		West Hills, CA	Stanford
2000	^[16]	Santa Ana, CA	Washington
2001		Cypress, TX	Texas
2002		Fairfield, CA	Arizona
2003		San Diego, CA	UCLA
2004		Fairfield, CA
2005		Palm Harbor, FL	LSU
2006		Keller, TX	Baylor
2007		River Ridge, LA	Louisiana-Lafayette
2008		Oro Valley, AZ	Arizona
2009
2010		Dunnellon, FL	Florida/Arkansas
2011		The Woodlands, TX	UCLA
2012		Watkinsville, GA	Georgia/Oregon
2013		Central, SC	Stanford/LSU
2014		Mission Viejo, CA	Arizona
2015		Palmdale, CA	UCLA
2016		Merced, CA
2017		Norco, CA	Cal State Fullerton
2018		San Diego, CA	UCLA
2019		Sharpsburg, GA	Washington
2020		The Colony, TX	Oklahoma
2021		Papillion, NE
2022		Indianapolis, IN	Florida
2023		Montgomery, TX

Track and Field

Male Track and Field Athlete of the Year! Year! Winner! Hometown! College 1986 Carmichael, CA Stanford 1987 Reno, NV Nevada 1988 Sandy, OR Oregon 1989 Pittsburgh, PA Florida 1990 Fallbrook, CA Georgia 1991 Jasper, TX Rice 1992 Dallas, TX Houston 1993 Waco, TX Mississippi State 1994 Sanford, FL Auburn 1995 Sacramento, CA Stanford 1996 Bell Gardens, CA UCLA 1997 Springfield, VA Arkansas 1998 Fremont, CA Stanford 1999 Warwick, RI Manhattan 2000 Elmhurst, IL Stanford 2001 Reston, VA Michigan 2002 Austin, TX Houston 2003 LaPorte, TX Florida 2004 Cedar Hill, TX South Carolina 2005 Harrisburg, PA Arizona State 2006 San Ramon, CA Oregon 2007 Los Angeles, CA USC 2008 Riverbank, CA Oklahoma State 2009 ^[17] Albuquerque, NM Duke 2010 Gresham, OR Oregon 2011 Edmond, OK Arkansas 2012 Grand Prairie, TX Army 2013 St. Petersburg, FL Baylor 2014 ^[18] Cherryville, NC Florida State 2015 Murrieta, CA USC 2016 Murrieta, CA USC 2017 Lafayette, LA LSU^[19] 2018 Plantation, FL Auburn 2019 ^[20] Houston, TX Georgia 2020 Newbury Park, CA Northern Arizona 2021 Ann Arbor, MI Northern Arizona 2022 Benton, KY Ole Miss 2023 Montverde, FL Texas A&M

Female Track and Field Athlete of the Year! Year! Winner! Hometown! College 1986 Denver, CO Colorado 1987 Pomona, CA UCLA 1988 Dallas, TX Stanford 1989 Oxnard, CA UCLA 1990 Bakersfield, CA Cal St.-Bakersfield 1991 Oxnard, CA North Carolina (track and basketball) 1992 Thousand Oaks, CA North Carolina (track and basketball) 1993 Thousand Oaks, CA North Carolina (track and basketball) 1994 Modesto, CA UCLA 1995 Riverside, CA UCLA 1996 Thousand Oaks, CA UCLA 1997 Carson, CA USC 1998 Chino, CA USC 1999 Ellettsville, IN Auburn 2000 San Diego, CA UCLA 2001 Luling, TX Texas 2002 Fort Lauderdale, FL Texas 2003 North Hills, CA USC 2004 Inglewood, CA South Carolina 2005 Tracy, CA Tennessee 2006 Ridgeland, MS Texas 2007 Lindsey, OH Michigan 2008 Easton, PA Tennessee 2009 Shafter, CA Arizona State 2010 Oakland, CA Miami (FL) 2011 Studio City, CA Stanford 2012 Mansfield, TX Texas A&M 2013 Marietta, GA Georgia 2014 Charleston, SC Southern Illinois 2015 Conyers, GA Did not attend 2016 Dunellen, NJ Union Catholic/Kentucky 2017 Dunellen, NJ Union Catholic/Kentucky 2018 Thiells, NY NC State 2019 Mansfield, TX Georgia 2020 Beavercreek, OH Arkansas 2021 Rawlins, WY Arkansas 2022 Catonsville, MD Stanford 2023 Allegany, NY NC State

Volleyball

Year	Winner	Hometown	College
1996		San Jose, CA	Stanford
1997	^[21]	Lisle, IL	Notre Dame
1998	^[22]	Pelham, AL	Stanford
1999		Salt Lake City, UT	Stanford
2000		Newport Beach, CA	USC
2001		Bloomington, IL	Stanford
2002	^[23]	Tucson, AZ	Arizona
2003	Kristin Richards^[24]	Orem, UT	Stanford
2004		Long Beach, CA	Stanford
2005		Long Beach, CA	Stanford
2006		Durham, NC	Penn State
2007	^[25]	Manhattan Beach, CA	Stanford
2008	^[26]	Wilmington, IL	Florida
2009		Papillion, NE	Nebraska
2010		Shakopee, MN	Minnesota
2011		Redlands, CA	Washington
2012		Tampa, FL	Stanford
2013		Aurora, IL	Wisconsin
2014		Louisville, KY	Auburn
2015		West Point, IA	Nebraska
2016		Phoenix, AZ	USC
2017		Solana Beach, CA	Texas/Nebraska
2018		Roebuck, SC	Florida
2019		New Orleans, LA	Illinois
2020		Livonia, MI	Michigan/Penn State
2021		Katy, TX	Nebraska/USC
2022		Lucas, TX	Baylor/Texas
2023		Ann Arbor, MI	Nebraska
2024		Prosper, TX	Texas

State winners

See

See also

• Wendy's High School Heisman (student-athletes in various sports)
• National High School Hall of Fame
• Naismith Prep Player of the Year Award
• Mr. Basketball USA
• List of U.S. high school basketball national player of the year awards
• List of sports awards honoring women

Notes and References

1. Web site: A History of Honoring the Future . Gatorade Player of the Year . Stokely-Van Camp, Inc. . July 11, 2019 . November 15, 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20171115000109/http://playeroftheyear.gatorade.com/about . dead .
2. Web site: Gatorade Player of the Year Award . . ESPN High School SPORTS . October 24, 2011 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20111031083943/http://rise.espn.go.com/all-sports/Gatorade/Gatorade-POY-2010-2011.aspx . October 31, 2011.
3. Web site: Gatorade State High School Players of the Year . Gatorade Player of the Year . Stokely-Van Camp, Inc. . July 12, 2019.
4. Web site: Gatorade Player of the Year All-Time National Winners . Gatorade Player of the Year . Stokely-Van Camp, Inc. . July 12, 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190331015449/http://playeroftheyear.gatorade.com/winner/national . March 31, 2019 . dead .
5. News: Kelley Lynch, Bobby Witt Jr. Named Gatorade Athletes of the Year . July 10, 2019 . Carroll . Charlotte . July 11, 2019.
6. Web site: ESPN News Services . Kiki Rice (girls basketball), Colin Sahlman (cross country) named national prep athletes of year . ESPN . January 13, 2024 . July 19, 2022.
7. Web site: Associated Press . Max Clark, Ava Brown named high school players of the year . ESPN . January 13, 2024 . July 11, 2023.
8. Web site: UConn commit Bueckers named Gatorade POY. 2020-03-09. ESPN.com. en. 2020-03-10.
9. News: Grant Fisher named Gatorade National Boys Cross Country Runner of the Year . January 30, 2014 . . . usatodayhss.com . July 12, 2019.
10. Jung . Tristan . Liam Anderson Named 2018-19 Gatorade National Boys Cross-Country Athlete of the Year . . February 27, 2019 . July 6, 2019.
11. Web site: Alexa Efraimson named Gatorade National Girls XC Runner of the Year . February 27, 2014 . . . usatodayhss.com . July 12, 2019.
12. Chavez. Chris. Katelyn Tuohy Wins Gatorade National Girls Cross Country Runner of the Year Award. Sports Illustrated. February 7, 2019. July 6, 2019.
13. Web site: UCLABruins.com - UCLA Athletics. www.uclabruins.com.
14. Web site: Ghanaian teen Farouk Osman voted Gatorade National Boys Soccer Player of the Year for third time. social_image.
15. Web site: Mary McDowell Profile . North Carolina Official Athletic Site - Women's Soccer . tarheelblue.cstv.com . https://web.archive.org/web/20090604104830/http://tarheelblue.cstv.com/sports/w-soccer/mtt/mcdowell_mary00.html . June 4, 2009 . dead.
16. Web site: Player Bio: Tia Bollinger :: Softball . Official Athletic Website of the University of Washington . gohuskies.cstv.com . https://web.archive.org/web/20080504163707/http://gohuskies.cstv.com/sports/w-softbl/mtt/bollinger_tia00.html . May 4, 2008 . dead.
17. Web site: Curtis Beach NM Wins National Gatorade Track and Field Boys Athlete of the Year Award . June–July 2009 . DyeStat (ESPN RISE) . 2010-08-31.
18. Web site: Trentavis Friday named Gatorade Athlete of the Year . June 30, 2014 . . . usatodayhss.com . July 12, 2019 . July 11, 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140711164116/http://www.usatodayhss.com/article/trentavis-friday-named-gatorade-athlete-of-the-year . dead .
19. Web site: Mondo Duplantis Bio. LSUsports.net. en. 2018-12-31. January 1, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190101051514/http://www.lsusports.net/ViewArticle.dbml?ATCLID=211685600&DB_OEM_ID=5200. dead.
20. News: Strake Jesuit's Matthew Boling wins Gatorade National Boys Track Athlete of the Year . . June 28, 2019 . Coleman . Adam . July 6, 2019.
21. Web site: Denise Boylan Bio :: Notre Dame Women's Volleyball :: UND.COM :: The Official Site of ND Athletics. cstv.com. October 17, 2008. June 1, 2008. https://web.archive.org/web/20080601194155/http://und.cstv.com/sports/w-volley/mtt/boylan_denise00.html. dead.
22. Web site: Player Bio: Sara Sandrik :: Women's Volleyball . Stanford University Official Athletic Site . gostanford.cstv.com . https://web.archive.org/web/20070204021615/http://gostanford.cstv.com/sports/w-volley/mtt/sandrik_sara00.html . February 4, 2007 . dead.
23. Web site: Player Bio: Bre Ladd . 2008-10-17 . https://web.archive.org/web/20090529151620/http://www.arizonaathletics.com/sports/w-volley/mtt/ladd_bre00.html . 2009-05-29 . dead .
24. Web site: Kristin Richards Profile . Stanford University Official Athletic Site . gostanford.cstv.com . https://web.archive.org/web/20081224074230/http://gostanford.cstv.com/sports/w-volley/mtt/richards_kristin00.html . December 24, 2008 . dead.
25. Web site: Alix Klineman Profile . Stanford University Official Athletic Site . gostanford.cstv.com . https://web.archive.org/web/20081221062522/http://gostanford.cstv.com/sports/w-volley/mtt/klineman_alix00.html . December 21, 2008 . dead.
26. Web site: Kelly Murphy . GatorZone.com . https://web.archive.org/web/20140223195620/http://gatorzone.com/volleyball/bios.php?year=2008&player_id=21 . February 23, 2014 . dead.