CHICAGO (January 21, 2010) — In its 25th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company, in collaboration with ESPN RISE, today announced Kirubel Erassa of Grayson High School as its 2009-10 Gatorade Georgia Boys Cross Country Runner of the Year. Erassa is the first Gatorade Georgia Boys Cross Country Runner of the Year to be chosen from Grayson High School.
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 Erassa as Georgia’s best high school boys cross country runner. Now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Boys Cross Country Runner of the Year award to be announced in January, Erassa joins an elite alumni association of past state award winners in 12 sports, including Ryan Hall (1999-00 & 2000-01, Big Bear HS, Calif.), Derek Jeter (1991-92, Kalamazoo HS, Mich.), Candace Parker (2001-02, Naperville Central HS, Ill.), Kevin Garnett (1992-93, Maudlin HS, S.C.), Abby Wambach (1997-98, Our Lady of Mercy, N.Y.) and Mark Sanchez (2004-05, Mission Viejo HS, Calif.).
The 6-foot senior distance runner captured eighth place at the national Foot Locker Cross Country Championships this past season with a time of 15:34.2. A 2009-10 ESPN RISE Southeast Region Athlete of the Week, Erassa placed second at the Foot Locker South Regional championships in 14:43. Also the Runner of the Year as named by the Atlanta Track Club and Gwinnett Daily Post, he won the Class AAAAA state meet in 15:09.19, leading the Rams to ninth place as a team. A returning Atlanta Track Club All-Metro selection, Erassa finished 14th at the 2008 Class AAAAA state meet as a junior.
Also a track and field standout, Erassa has maintained a B average in the classroom. In addition to volunteering as part of a fundraising effort to benefit the school’s athletic program, the Ethiopian native has spent much of his free time preparing for the United States Citizenship test and interview and works part time to help support his family. He was recently granted U.S. Citizenship.
“Kirubel Erassa hands down was way better than any other runner in the state this year,” said Andrew Hudson, head coach of rival Collins Hill High. “He was way ahead of everybody else based on performance. I saw him run a number of times, and he completely dominated. He was winning by 30 or 40 seconds in every race. He did it in a lot of different ways. He beat people from start to finish; he stayed in the pack and made some late moves. He had a whole variety of ways he could beat you. Really, from Virginia to Texas, he was the second best runner in the South.”
Erassa remains undecided upon a collegiate destination.
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.
Erassa joins Gatorade Georgia Boys Cross Country Runners of the Year Taylor Lord (2008-09, Chapel Hill) and Zack Flickinger (2007-08, Lassiter) as athletes who have won the cross country award since its inception in 2007.
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