CHICAGO — In its 30th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company, in collaboration with USA TODAY High School Sports, has announced Ryan Clark of Banneker High School as its 2014-15 Gatorade Georgia Boys Track & Field Athlete of the Year. Clark is the first Gatorade Georgia Boys Track & Field Athlete of the Year to be chosen from Banneker 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 track, distinguishes Clark as Georgia’s best high school boys track & field athlete. Now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Boys Track & Field Athlete of the Year award to be announced in June, Clark joins an elite alumni association of state award-winners in 12 sports, including Ryan Hall (1999-01, Big Bear HS, Calif.), Meb Keflezighi (1993-94, San Diego HS, Calif.), Derek Jeter (1991-92, Kalamazoo HS, Mich.), Candace Parker (2001-02, Naperville Central HS, Ill.), Mark Sanchez (2004-05, Mission Viejo HS, Calif.) and Lolo Jones (1997-98, Roosevelt HS, Ia.).
The 6-foot, 176-pound senior won the 100-meter dash with a time of 10.26 seconds and the 200 in 20.79 at the Class 5A state meet this spring, setting state records in both events and leading the Trojans to a second-place finish as a team. Clark also anchored the 4x400 relay to another state record with a clocking of 3:12.03. His winning time of 10.18 in the 100 at this month’s Caribbean Scholastic Invitational ranked as the nation’s No. 1 performance among prep competitors in 2015 at the time of his selection as well as No. 8 in U.S. prep history. Clark took first in the 200 at the prestigious Prefontaine Classic and won the 60 at this past winter’s New Balance Nationals Indoor.
Clark has maintained an A average in the classroom. A member of the Beta Club, Clark has served as an elementary school mentor and has volunteered locally on behalf of youth track programs.
“Ryan has always trained for the 400, but he had some injuries and this year we changed his workouts to concentrate on the shorter races,” said Banneker coach Nigel Carter. “He loved it and he really seemed to excel. He’s a dedicated kid and a versatile runner and he’s had a pretty miraculous season.”
Clark has signed a National Letter of Intent to compete in track and field on scholarship at the University of Florida this fall.
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 the Gatorade high school sports leadership team in partnership with USA TODAY High School Sports, 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.
Clark joins recent Gatorade Georgia Boys Track & Field Athletes of the Year Kenny Selmon (2013-14, Pace Academy), Henry Dwyer (2012-13, Athens Academy), Jonathan Jones (2011-12, Carrollton High School), O'Neal Wanliss (2010–11, Holy Innocents Episcopal School), David Smith (2009-10, Lovejoy), Ken Gilstrap (2008–09, Miller Grove), Christian Taylor (2007-08, Sandy Creek), and Ben Hubers (2006-07, McEachern) among the state’s list of former award winners.
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