Newnan High School Standout Named 2008-2009 Gatorade Georgia Girls Track & Field Athlete of the Year

CHICAGO (June 17, 2009) — In its third decade of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company, in partnership with ESPN RISE, today announced Chalonda Goodman of Newnan High School as its 2008-09 Gatorade Georgia Girls Track & Field Athlete of the Year. Goodman is the second Gatorade Georgia Girls Track & Field Athlete of the Year to be chosen from Newnan 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 Goodman as Georgia’s best high school girls track & field athlete. Goodman is now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Girls Track & Field Athlete of the Year award to be announced in June.

The state’s returning Gatorade Girls Track & Field Athlete of the Year, Goodman won the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.54 seconds and the 200-meter dash in 23.91 at the Class 5A state championship meet—doubling in those events for the fourth consecutive year. The 5-foot-9 senior is the two-time defending Nike Outdoor Nationals champion in both the 100 and the 200, and won the 60-meter dash and 200 at the Nike Indoor Nationals this past March. Goodman’s time of 23.32 in the 200 at the Taco Bell Classic is the fastest prep time in the nation this year.

Goodman has maintained an A average in the classroom. Also a talented artist, she has volunteered locally with the March of Dimes, the Special Olympics and at an area nursing home.

“She works hard and she sets her standards very high,” said Lascelles Lewis, a coach with the New Horizon Track Club. “She’s getting closer and closer to realizing her potential … she’s going to be in the Olympics some day.”

Goodman has signed a National Letter of Intent to compete in track and field on scholarship at the University of Texas beginning 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. The selection process is administered by ESPN RISE, which works with top sport-specific experts and a media advisory board of accomplished, veteran prep sports journalists to determine the state winners in each sport.

Goodman joins recent Gatorade Georgia Girls Track & Field Athletes of the Year Brittany Long (2006-07, Therrell) and Kristi Castlin (2005-06, Chapel Hill) among the state’s list of former award winners.

For more on the Gatorade Player of the Year program, including nomination information, a list of past winners, and the announcement of the Gatorade National Player of the Year, visit gatorade.com/playeroftheyear.