Gatorade Athlete of the Year race is wide open

HOLLYWOOD, Calif. – In the city where dreams are made and shattered, two high school athletic stars will be crowned the best in the country tonight at the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel.

Six males and six females will be honored in the ninth annual Gatorade High School Athlete of the Year Awards and the top vote-getter from each gender will be crowned the very best in a lavish ceremony that has featured some of sport's greatest stars.

LeBron James (2003), Dwight Howard (2004), Candace Parker (2004) and Maya Moore (2007) are just some of those who have been selected Athlete of the Year.

The Gatorade program has been in existence since 1985 and has picked state and national sport winners. Only since 2003 has it picked Athletes of the Year and its year-end celebration, in conjunction with ESPN's ESPYs, is renowned for its glitter and glamor.



Once again, ESPN's Stuart Scott will emcee the event and previous Gatorade winners Matt Stafford, Kevin Love, Lisa Leslie and Jessica Mendoza will present awards and inspiring speeches.

Last year's winners were two more basketball stars, Brandon Knight, a Florida phenom who starred at Kentucky last season and was picked with the eighth pick of last month's NBA draft by the Detroit Pistons, and Chiney Ogwumike, who last season starred at Stanford.

Though hoops has largely dominated the voting in year's past – 10 of the 18 crowned were basketball players – this year both races appear wide open.

Florida-bound Brad Beal Chaminade (St. Louis, Mo.) and UConn-bound Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.) are superb basketball picks, but don't be surprised if a trio of standout track and field and running athletes enter the fray.

Lukas Verzbicas (Sandburg-Orland Park, Ill.), a native of Lithuania, not only won his second straight national Foot Locker Cross Country championship, but he became just the second prep to ever break the magical four-minute mile barrier (3:59.71) in an all-high school run event. The other was legendary Jim Ryun.

Verzbicas was Gatorade's national cross country award-winner.



Its track and field representative Gunnar Nixon (Santa Fe-Edmond, Okla.) broke the national decathlon record with 8,035 points. Considering the event is tabbed "World's Greatest Athlete" the Arkansas-bound star has to be considered a strong contender.

Especially looking at his remarkable marks during the Albuquerque N.M. event: 100 meters (10.89 seconds), 400 (49.66), 110 hurdles (14.16), 1500 (5:01.74), long jump (24 feet, 5½ inches), high jump (7-0½), pole vault (14-11), shot put (49-11), discus (142-1) and javelin (175-5).

National girls cross-country winner Aisling Cuffe (Cornwall Central, New Windsor, N.Y.) not only won the Foot Locker national crown but she finished as the national track leader in the 1600 (4:40.56) and 3200 (9:56.16).

Cuffe will likely battle a pair of MaxPreps National Players of the Year, Mosqueda-Lewis and softball's Paige McDuffee (The Woodlands, Texas), for the big award.

McDuffee, a 5-9 junior left-hand pitcher, led the Highlanders (44-1) to a Class 5A state title, posting a 37-1 record with a 0.97 ERA with 227 strikeouts in 202 innings. She also posted a .405 batting average and 42 RBI and on the inspiration front, battled through a painful detached muscle n her left forearm during the postseason.

Mosqueda-Lewis, a 5-11 guard, led Mater Dei to a 32-1 record and second straight mythical MaxPreps national championship. She averaged 21.6 points, 6.1 rebounds, 2.7 steals and 2.6 steals per game.



Other female national winners and Athlete of the Year nominees are:

* Morgan Brian (Frederica Academy, St. Simons Island, Ga., soccer): The 5-7 senior midfielder scored a remarkable 71 goals and added 30 assists in 20 games for the Knights (17-2-1). She had 186 goals and 95 assists in her prep career and is headed to the University of Virginia.

* Krista VanSant (Redlands East Valley, Calif.) volleyball): The 6-2 senior outside hitter recorded 589 kills, 299 digs with a kill percentage of .557 leading the Wildcats to a 30-6 record. Considered the No. 1 recruit in her class by PrepVolleyball.com, she'll play at Washington in the fall.

* Amy Weissenbach (Harvard-Westlake, North Hollywood, Calif., track and field): The talented 5-9 junior set a National Federation record in the 800 meters while winning the state title in 2:02.04. She also ran the legs on a national-record-breaking distance medley team and national title sprint medley squad.

The boys' race is also wide open with a trio of traditional sport stars right in the mix.

* No baseball player has won the award, but Dylan Bundy (Owasso, Okla.) could change that. The MaxPreps Player of the Year went 11-0 on the mound with a 0.20 ERA and 158 strikeouts and just five walks in 71 innings. He also batted .467 with 11 homers and 54 RBI. He signed a letter of intent to Texas but was the fourth overall pick of the Major League draft by the Orioles.



* Justin Worley Northwestern (Rock Hill, S.C.), a 6-5 quarterback, had a football season to remember, leading the Trojans to a 15-0 record and Class 4A-II state title. He threw for 5,313 yards and 64 touchdowns, while completing a remarkable 428 of 589. He's head to Tennessee.

* Beal, a 6-4 senior shooting guard, averaged 32.4 points, 5.7 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 2.7 steals while shooting a remarkable 73 percent from the field for the Red Devils (27-1).

* The final male national winner is soccer's Luis Rendon Cosby (Midlothian, Va.), who had 16 goals and 13 assists in 12 games for the Titans. He's a member of the U.S. Soccer Federation Under-18 Men's National Team Player Pool.

Though the gaudy statistics for all the winners are stout, the Gatorade award also considers highly off-the-field accomplishments, such as community service and academics.

PREVIOUS WINNERS
Girls

2003 Allyson Felix (LA Baptist HS, Calif.) track and field
2004 Candace Parker (Naperville Central HS, Ill.) basketball
2005 Cynthia Barboza (Long Beach Wilson HS, Calif.) volleyball
2006 Tina Charles (Christ the King HS, N.Y.) basketball
2007 Maya Moore (Collins Hills HS, Ga.) basketball
2008 Chanelle Price (Easton HS, Pa.) track and field
2009 Skylar Diggins (Washington HS, Ind.) basketball
2010 Chiney Ogwumike (Cy-Fair HS, Texas) basketball



Boys
2003 LeBron James (St. Vincent-St. Mary's HS, Ohio) basketball
2004 Dwight Howard (Southwest Atlanta Christian Acadamy HS, Ga.) basketball
2005 Greg Paulus (Christian Brothers HS, N.Y.) football
2006 Greg Oden (Lawrence North HS, Ind.) basketball
2007 Kevin Love (Lake Oswego HS, Ore.) basketball
2008 Matt Barkley (Mater Dei HS, Calif.) football
2009 Garrett Gilbert (Lake Travis HS, Texas) football
2010 Brandon Knight (Pine Crest HS, Fla.) basketball