Gatorade 2011-12 Athletes of the Year to be selected tonight

HOLLYWOOD, Calif. – Now this is what you definitely call icing on the cake.

One of the top annual celebrations of high school sports - the Gatorade High School Athlete of the Year Awards - takes place tonight at the Loews Hollywood Hotel.

It's a perfect finish to a long and prosperous school year. 

Many of the recent top names in sports have been named overall Athlete of the Year, including LeBron James (2003), Dwight Howard (2004), Candace Parker (2004), Allyson Felix (2003), Kevin Love (2007) and Maya Moore (2007) to name a few.

A panel of national sports writers voted from the group of 2011-12 national sport Athletes of the Year and the two overall winners – a boy and girl – will be announced tonight at a fanciful and star-studded dinner.

The scheduled list of presenters is former Gatorade winners Robert Griffin III, Alonzo Mourning, Lisa Leslie, Brandi Chastain, Landon Donovan and Oonna Nnamani.

The 2011-12 female national sport winners in alphabetical order are:

Morgan Andrews (soccer, Milford HS, N.H.) – The 5-foot-9 junior forward scored 31 goals and passed for six assists, leading the Spartans (11-6-1) to the Division II state quarterfinals. The returning Gatorade New Hampshire Girls Soccer Player of the Year, Andrews will captain Team USA at the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup in Azerbaijan this fall. She has 83 goals and 35 assists in three varsity campaigns. She's verbally committed to Boston College beginning in the fall 2013.

Jordan Burgess (volleyball, Berkeley Prep HS, Tampa, Fla.) – A 6-1 senior outside hitter, Burgess led her team to a 30-2 record and third consecutive state championship. She amassed 553 kills, 514 service receptions, 366 digs, 48 aces, 38 assists and 32 blocks while recording a hitting percentage of .457, earning honors as Florida Class 4A Player of the Year. Burgess is rated by PrepVolleyball.com as the No. 1 recruit at her position and No. 3 overall in the class of 2012. She will play at Stanford in the fall.

Geri Ann Glasco (softball, Oconee County HS, Watkinsville, Ga.) – Named the Class 3A Player of the Year, Glasco posted a 19-0 record with a 0.50 ERA in the circle while batting .564 with 62 RBI and a state single-season record of 24 home runs. The 5-6 senior right-handed pitcher led her team (38-2) to a Class 3A state championship. A four-time First Team All-State selection, Glasco struck out 213 batters in 113 innings, firing 13 shutouts and four no-hitters. Glasco also broke the state career record for home runs (47) and doubles (58).

Molly Seidel (cross country, University Lake HS, Hartland, Wis.) – Seidel won her fourth consecutive Division 3 individual state championship, crossing the finish line more than 40 seconds ahead of her next-fastest competitor. The 5-4 senior and 2011 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Area Runner of the Year claimed first place at both the Foot Locker Midwest Regionals (in 17:08) and the Foot Locker National Finals (in 17:22). She was the first Wisconsin runner to win the Foot Locker nationals. She joins three-time Olympian Suzy Favor-Hamilton as the only Wisconsin runners to win state cross country titles all four years of their high school careers.

Breanna Stewart (basketball, Cicero-North Syracuse HS, Cicero, N.Y.) – The 6-4 senior forward led the Northstars to a Section 3 Class AA championship and a berth in the Class AA state tournament semifinals. Stewart averaged 25.7 points, 13.1 rebounds, 3.5 blocks, 3.2 assists and 3.2 steals entering the postseason final four. A member of the USA Basketball Women's U19 National Team that won the 2011 FIBA U19 World Championship, she is New York's Section III career leader for points scored. Stewart will play basketball at the University of Connecticut this fall.

Shelbi Vaughan (track and field, Mansfield Legacy (Mansfield, Texas) – Vaughan, a 6-foot-2-inch senior, launched the discus 198 feet, 9 inches at the USA Junior Outdoor Track & Field Championships, setting the national high school and junior records in the event. She also finished fourth at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Track & Field with a throw of 195-9. One of only two girls in prep history to throw the discus over 190 feet, Vaughan has now crossed that barrier five times. She won the discus at the Class 5A state championships with a throw of 187 feet, 10 inches, and also took first by launching the shot put 50-1¼. A remarkable all-around athlete, Vaughan earned a volleyball scholarship to Texas A&M.

The male national sport winners are:

Ema Boateng (soccer, Cate HS, Carpinteria, Calif.) – The 5-6-inch, 165-pound junior midfielder led the Rams to a 20-2-1 record and the CIF-Southern Section Division VII tournament championship. Boateng scored 32 goals, passed for 19 assists and was a repeat selection as the Southern Section Division VII Player of the Year. A two-time Division VII First Team All-State honoree, he concluded his prep soccer career with 79 goals and 49 assists. Boateng has signed to play soccer on an athletic scholarship at the University of California, Santa Barbara this fall.

Johnathan Gray (football, Aledo HS, Texas) – The MaxPreps National Football Player of the Year from Aledo High School (Texas) scored a national-record 205 touchdowns in his illustrious career, leading the Bearcats to 55 victories (against four defeats) and three consecutive Texas 4A state championships. With an entire nation watching, scrutinizing and gasping at his every move, to see how many national records he could set, Gray finished off his career with his best season yet, rushing for 3,906 yards (11.29 per carry) and 65 touchdowns to go along with 21 receptions for 480 yards (22.8 per catch) and another five scores. The 5-foot-10, 202-pounder finished with his name sprinkled around every national Top 10 rushing and scoring record imaginable, including No. 2 in career points (1,232), career 100-yard games (51) and touchdowns in a season (70). Gray is the only player to ever record 16 100-yard rushing games in a season twice. He's headed to the University of Texas.

Abraham Hall (track and field, South Grand Prairie HS, Texas) – Hall won the 100-meter dash with a personal best of 10.19 seconds and the 200 in 20.58 at the Class 5A state championships. The 5-11 senior led his high school team to a fourth-place finish. Hall's winning effort in the 100 ranked as the nation's No. 1 time among prep competitors in 2012 and No. 8 all-time and his 200 mark was No. 2 this season and No. 18 in prep history.

Lance McCullers (baseball, Jesuit HS, Tampa, Fla.) – The 6-2, 205-pound right-handed pitcher posted a 13-0 record with a 0.18 ERA and 140 strikeouts against 30 walks in 77.1 innings pitched this past season, leading his team to the Class 5A state semifinals. Winner of the 2011 Jackie Robinson Award as the country's top rising senior, Lance McCullers Jr., also a shortstop, batted .280 with two home runs and 21 RBIs, stealing 10 bases in 10 attempts. A MaxPreps All-American, he scored 27 runs while producing a .485 on-base percentage and .486 slugging percentage. McCullers was selected by the Houston Astros in the June amateur draft.

Jabari Parker (basketball, Simeon HS, Chicago) – Leading his team to a 33-1 record and a third consecutive Class 4A state championship, the 6-8, 220-pound junior wingman averaged 20.4 points, 9.2 rebounds, 5.1 assists, 3.4 blocks and 1.5 steals this season. Parker shot 55 percent from the field, 39 percent from 3-point range and 72 percent from the free-throw line. He also averaged 15.4 points and 6.4 rebounds for USA Basketball's U16 National Team during an unbeaten, five-game run to the 2011 FIBA Americas U16 Championship this past summer, capturing tournament Most Valuable Player honors and earning USA Basketball's prestigious 2011 Male Athlete of the Year award. Sports Illustrated recently tabbed him the best prep basketball player since James.

Futsum Zeinasellassie (cross country, North Central HS, Indianapolis) - Zeinasellassie, who has set nine career course records and won three consecutive state championships, dominated every in-state race that he ran during his senior season. He earned the state title with an unprecedented 44-second margin of victory and set the course record. In two premier national events, he won the Nike Cross Nationals with another course record and his only loss of the season was by one second at the Foot Locker Cross Country Championships. Zeinasellassie is a two-time Gatorade Runner of the Year for Indiana and holds numerous course and meet records for in-state competitions.

The Gatorade Player of the Year awards have around since 1985 and besides athletic accomplishment, the award recognizes achievement in the classroom and service in the community.

We've been honored to cover the last four events and it is first rate in every regard.

E-mail Mitch Stephens at mstephens@maxpreps.com or follow him on Twitter @MitchMashMax. He and the MaxPreps video team of Chris Stonebraker and Ryan Escobar will be on hand tonight.