LOS ANGELES – As top-end as the glitzy 2009 Gatorade Athlete of the Year luncheon was Wednesday at the plush Biltmore Hotel, the ultimate winners couldn’t have been more down to earth.
Female Athlete of the Year Skylar Diggins.
Photo by Kirby Lee
“Mom, this is for you,” Diggins told about the 200 on hand which featured former Gatorade winners Kevin Durant, Matthew Stafford, Jessica Mendoza and Misty May-Treanor as presenters along with anchor Stuart Scott, of ESPN.
Diggins was one of 12 athletes at the luncheon, all of whom earned Player of the Year honors for their specific sports. All walked the red carpet at Wednesday’s ESPYs, which is taped and then televised Sunday on ESPN, but Diggins and Gilbert were able to attend the show and were announced at the Nokia Theatre.
Diggins, also the MaxPreps Basketball Player of the Year, averaged 29.0 points, 6.3 rebounds, 6.2 assists and 5.4 steals per game, leading the nation’s No. 2 team to a 26-1 record.
A 5-9 shooting guard, Diggins was also named MVP of the McDonald’s All-American Game and the WBCA All-American games in the same week. She holds school records in career points, single-season points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks. She led the USA Women’s Under-18 National Team to a 2008 FIBA Americas Championship in Buenos Aires, Argentina last summer.
The charismatic southpaw takes her game to Notre Dame next season
Award winners Garrett Gilbert and Skylar Diggins.
Photo by Kirby Lee
“Honestly, this is such a blessing,” Diggins told MaxPreps after the two-hour ceremony. “I have to take it all in. To sit back and think of all the great athletes who have won this in the past just makes me want to go work out.”
Gilbert was equally humbled.
Also the MaxPreps Male Football and Athlete of the Year, Gilbert backed up a remarkable junior season with an even better senior campaign.
Amazing considering he had a new head coach and was coming off shoulder surgery.
The 6-foot-4, 205-pound quarterback completed 302 of 436 passes for 4,851 yards and 55 touchdowns (with just six interceptions). He also rushed 115 times for 767 yards and 23 touchdowns. He’s the Texas state-record holder in career (12,537) and single-season (4,851) passing yards and he ranks second in career TDs (136), attempts (1,368) and completions (895).
He was even better in his final three playoff games, combining to complete 66 of 91 for 983 yards and 11 touchdowns, while rushing for 262 yards and six more scores. In the state title game, he completed 25 of 34 for 358 and four scores and rushed 16 times for 78 yards and two touchdowns.
Lake Travis finished 16-0 and he won his final 29 games in high school.
Gilbert is headed just down the road in Austin to play college ball at Texas.
“It’s an unbelievable honor just to be here, let alone win the award,” Gilbert said. “It’s such an honor to be mentioned in the same breath as Payton Manning. He has always been one of my idols so to win this after he did is an incredible honor.”
{VIDEO_b1521544-2383-46eb-a047-4bcfd882167c,floatRightWithBar}This is the 24th year Gatorade has honored the elite student athletes. Past Athlete of the Year winners included LeBron James, Kevin Love, Tina Charles, Greg Oden, Allyson Felix, Dwight Howard, Candace Parker and last year, football standout Matt Barkley (Mater Dei, Santa Ana, Calif.) and track and field starlet Channelle Price (Easton, Pa.).
The other 10 nominated and honored Wednesday were:
BOYS
Curtis Beach (Track and Field, Albuquerque Academy, N.M.)
The first Gatorade National Player of the Year from New Mexico, Beach broke a national high school decathlon record at the prestigious Arcadia Invitational with 7,909, shattering a 16-year record by almost 500 points.
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In that competition, he set personal best in the high jump (6.9 ½), shot put (44-8), javelin (155-9), 400-meter dash (48.16) and 1,500 (4:09.48). He won five state titles this season while leading his team to the state crown, taking the 110 hurdles (14.53), 200 (21.84), 400 (47.99), high jump (6-9½) and pole vault (15-3). He’s won 17 state titles in all and holds class state marks in the 200, 110 hurdles and long jump. He also took third in the Nike Outdoor Nationals in the 800 (1:50.75) and his 200 best of (20.94) was No. 3 in the nation this year.
He’s headed to Duke.
Reed Connor (Cross country, The Woodlands HS, Texas)
The fourth athlete in any sport from the greater Houston area to win a national Gatorade award, Connor won the Nike Cross National Finals, recording a time of 15 minutes, 13.6 seconds. He also set the second-fastest time in the history of the Texas state meet at Old Settler’s Park to win the 5A state title. He earlier broke course records with wins at the Andy Wells Invitational and Aldine Invitational.
He has yet to make his college choice.
Matt Hobgood (Baseball, Norco HS, Calif.)
The fifth pick of June’s amateur draft by the Baltimore Orioles, Hobgood tied for the national lead with 21 home runs which is amazing considering he was drafted as a pitcher.
The third Californian to win the national baseball award, the 6-foot-4, 250-pound right-hander was 11-1 with a 0.92 ERA and 101 strikeouts in 68.1 innings. He also batted .475 with 55 RBI. He set school records in career pitching victories, games pitches, innings pitched, shutouts, strikeouts, career and single-season home runs and RBIs.
Hobgood signed with the Orioles in June, by-passing a scholarship to Cal State Fullerton. He was the MaxPreps National Baseball Player of the Year.
Dillon Powers (Soccer, Plano HS, Texas)
The third Texan to win the national soccer award, Powers had 16 goals and 24 assists leading the Wildcats (23-3-5) to a Class 5A state title. He finished with 39 career goals and 57 career assists.
He was a member of the U.S. Under-18 National Team that recently returned from the Lisbon International Tournament in Portugal and was a member of the U-18 gold medal squad at the Australian Youth Olympic Festival in January.
He’ll play at Notre Dame next fall.
Brandon Knight (Basketball, Pine Crest HS, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.)
The first Florida athlete to ever win the National basketball award, the 6-3 junior led the Panthers to their second straight 3A state title while averaging 31.8 points, 8.7 rebounds, 5.6 assists and 3.0 steals per game. He had 27 points, nine rebounds and four assists in the state title game, a 60-44 win over Jones.
He set a school record by sinking 127 3-pointers and committed just 63 turnovers in 864 minutes. He holds other school records for points in a game (55), career points (2,589), assists (594), single-game assists (16) and career 3-pointers (259).
MaxPreps’ No. 1 recruit for the Class of 2010 has been a varsity player since the eighth grade.
He’s the 11th junior (of 204 honorees) to win a National Player of the Year in any sport, joining other basketball players LeBron James, Greg Oden and Candace Parker.
GIRLS
Kenzie Fowler (Softball, Canyon del Oro HS, Oro Valley, Ariz.)
The first ever to win consecutive Gatorade National softball awards, Fowler backed up an obviously tremendous junior year with an even bigger senior year.
The powerful 6-foot pitcher led her team to a third straight 4A-I state title with a 25-2 record and remarkable 0.05 ERA and 344 strikeouts in 160.2 innings. She allowed just 23 hits and walked 16 while recording six no-hitters including four in a row, three of which were perfect games. She also hit .466 with seven homers and 45 RBIs.
For her career, Fowler posed a 105-8 record with 1,449 strikeouts in 685.1 innings and a 0.15 ERA. She had 30 no-hitters.
She’s signed a national letter of intent to the University of Arizona.
Jordan Hasay (Cross country, Mission College Prep HS, San Luis Obispo, Calif.)
The highly-acclaimed Hasay, MaxPreps National Female Athlete of the Year, won her second Foot Locker National cross country championship, topping a field of 40 elite runners while covering the 3.1-mile Morley Field course in Lake Balboa (San Diego) in 17 minutes, 22 seconds.
She also won her fourth straight California state title in the fall and in track, she captured her fourth straight state 3,200 crown. Her most crowning achievement however was breaking the national 1,500 record at 4:14.50 during a semifinal heat of the Olympic Trials last summer in Eugene, Ore.
She also was the first ever four-time Foot Locker west regional cross country champion.
Hasay will run next season at the University of Oregon.
Anna Jelmini (Track and Field, Shafter HS, Calif.)
The 15th Californian to win the track national honor in 22 years, Jelmini broke a national prep record by launching the discus 190 feet, 3 inches. The 2008 USA Junior Outdoor gold medalist, also went 54-4 ¾ in the shot put, the No. 2 mark all-time among American girls. She won both events (186-9 and 53-8) to become the first female to win both events in consecutive years at the state meet.
Jelmini will compete at Arizona State in the fall.
Rachel Quon (Soccer, Lake Forest HS, Ill.)
The senior midfielder and defender had 15 goals and 10 assists for Lake Forest (17-2-1). She started last fall on the U.S. Soccer Federation Under-17 women’s national team, which won the silver medal at the FIFA Women’s World Cup in New Zealand.
It was a remarkable senior season considered she missed her junior season with a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament and a meniscal cartilage tear in her right knee, along with a right collarbone fracture during training in July 2007.
She will play with 2007-08 Gatorade National Player of the Year Teresa Noyala at Stanford in the fall.
Gina Mancuso (Volleyball, Papillion-La Vista HS, Neb.)
The first player from Nebraska to win a Gatorade National volleyball award, Mancuso piled up 721 kills and 321 digs, leading her team to a second straight state Class A title. She had 32 assists, nine digs and five kills a three-game sweep over Northwest (Lincoln) in the state finals.
The three-sport standout – she also starred in basketball and track – Mancuso helped the 2008 U.S. Junior National volleyball team to a NORCECA Junior Continental title last summer.
Mancuso is set to play in the fall at the University of Nebraska.
Look for more stories and videos from the luncheon and The ESPYs throughout the next week.
