CHICAGO (May 6, 2010) — In its 25th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company, in collaboration with ESPN RISE, today announced Jordan McCrary of Lassiter High School as its 2009-10 Gatorade Georgia Boys Soccer Player of the Year. McCrary is the third Gatorade Georgia Boys Soccer Player of the Year to be chosen from Lassiter 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 field, distinguishes McCrary as Georgia’s best high school boys soccer player. Now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Boys Soccer Player of the Year award to be announced in May, McCrary joins an elite alumni association of past state award-winners in 12 sports, including Alexi Lalas (1987-88, Cranbrook HS, Mich.), Derek Jeter (1991-92, Kalamazoo HS, Mich.), Candace Parker (2001-02, Naperville Central HS, Ill.), Kevin Garnett (1992-93, Maudlin HS, S.C.), Tony Meola (1986-87, Kearney HS, N.J.) and Mark Sanchez (2004-05, Mission Viejo HS, Calif.).
The 5-foot-8, 148-pound junior midfielder and defender led the Trojans (12-4) to the Class 5A state tournament this season, recording three goals and eight assists. A current member of the U.S. Soccer Federation Under-18 Men’s National Team, McCrary spent his sophomore year of high school in residency with the Under-17 Men’s National Team in Bradenton, Fla. He is the nation’s No. 26 recruit in the Class of 2011 as rated by TopDrawerSoccer.com.
McCrary has maintained a B average in the classroom. He has volunteered locally as a youth soccer coach and as part of a fundraising campaign to benefit diabetes research.
“His work ethic—that is what sets Jordan apart,” said Gregg Blasingame, director of coaching with the Concorde Fire. “Is he huge? No. But he’s got good pace and he’s strong. He just gives 110 percent every time he steps on the field. He’s continually working and he consistently performs at a high level.”
McCrary has verbally committed to play soccer on scholarship at the University of North Carolina beginning in the fall of 2011.
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.
McCrary joins recent Gatorade Georgia Boys Soccer Players of the Year Chris Thomas (2008-09, Greater Atlanta Christian), Connor Barbaree (2007-08, Walton), and Jimmy Maurer (2006-07, St. Pius X Catholic) among the state’s list of former award winners.
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