Gatorade® National Girls Cross
Country Runner of the Year:
Megan Goethals
Michigan standout named nation’s top high school performer
DETROIT (February 3, 2010) – In its
25th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The
Gatorade Company, in collaboration with ESPN
RISE, today announced Megan Goethals of Rochester High School (Rochester Hills,
Mich.) as its 2009-10 Gatorade National Girls Cross Country Runner of
the Year.
The award, which recognizes not only
outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic
achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the racecourse, distinguishes Goethals as the nation’s best high school girls
cross country runner. A national
advisory panel comprised of sportswriters and sport-specific experts from
around the country helped select Goethals from more than 198,000 high school girls
cross country runners nationwide. Goethals
is now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade Female High School Athlete of
the Year award, to be presented at a special afternoon ceremony prior to The
ESPY Awards in July.
The two-time Gatorade Michigan Girls Cross Country Runner of the
Year, Goethals completed an unbeaten season by winning the national Foot Locker
Cross Country Championships with a time of 17:06.9, during which she out-leaned
junior and three-time Gatorade Texas Runner of the Year Chelsey Sveinnson at
the tape to produce the most exciting finish in the event’s 31-year history. The 5-foot-8 senior also shattered her own
state meet course record by 16 seconds in 16:54.8, repeating as Division 1
champion despite a stiff headwind.
Goethals, who owns six course records in the state of Michigan, added
regular-season victories at the Spartan Invitational, the West Bloomfield
Invitational, and the Foot Locker Midwest Regional Championships in 2009.
Goethals has maintained a 3.66 GPA in the classroom. A member of the National Honor Society, she
has volunteered on behalf of Meals on Wheels as well as US Youth Soccer
TOPSoccer, a community-based
training and team placement program for young athletes with disabilities.
“Goethals backed up her national title by dominating Michigan all
fall and winning decisively at the Foot Locker Midwest Regional,” said Steve
Underwood, Senior Editor for ESPN RISE/DyeStat.com. “Her state meet victory—a
16:54.8 in the 5K that beat a great Division 1 field by a 1:15 margin—may have
been the best state meet performance by anyone in the country.”
Goethals, who also earned Gatorade Michigan Girls Track &
Field Athlete of the Year honors in the spring of her junior year, has verbally
committed to an athletic scholarship at the University of Washington this fall.
“Without question, Megan is deserving
of recognition as the nation’s best high school girls cross country runner
based on her statistics on the course and the impact her accomplishments have had
on Rochester High School’s success,” said Gatorade Senior Vice President of
Sports Marketing Jennifer Storms.
“But she is also a shining example to peers
and aspiring young players of what a leader and a student-athlete should
be. She represents everything we hope
for in a Gatorade Player of the Year recipient.”
More on Goethals from Gatorade
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, and awards one National Player
of the Year in each sport. The selection process is administered by ESPN RISE and the Gatorade high school sports
leadership team, which work 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:
·
Reigning American record-holder in the mile Alan
Webb
·
WNBA all-time leading scorer and rebounder Lisa
Leslie
·
Super Bowl MVP Peyton Manning
·
Two-time beach volleyball gold medalist Kerri Walsh
·
2009 American League MVP Joe Mauer
ALL-TIME GATORADE NATIONAL GIRLS CROSS COUNTRY
RUNNERS OF THE YEAR
YEAR |
NAME |
HIGH SCHOOL |
STATUS |
2009-10 |
Megan Goethals |
Rochester/Rochester Hills, MI |
High School Senior |
2008-09 2007-08 |
Jordan Hasay Ashley Brasovan |
Mission College Prep/San Luis Obispo, CA Wellington/Wellington, FL |
University of Oregon Duke University |
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