CHICAGO (January 14, 2016) - In its 31st year of honoring the nation's best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company, in collaboration with USA TODAY High School Sports, today announced Bailey Hertenstein of Riverview High School as its 2015-16 Gatorade Florida Girls Cross Country Runner of the Year. Hertenstein is the first Gatorade Florida Girls Cross Country Runner of the Year to be chosen from Riverview 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 Hertenstein as Florida's best high school girls cross country runner. Now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Girls Cross Country Runner of the Year award to be announced in January, Hertenstein 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.), Abby Wambach (1997-98, Our Lady of Mercy, N.Y.) and Mark Sanchez (2004-05, Mission Viejo HS, Calif.).
The 5-foot-6 sophomore raced to the Class 4A individual state championship this past season with a course-record time of 17:32.55. Hertenstein finished first at the Region 2 championships, the District 7 championships and the flrunners.comInvitational. She was also named Florida Dairy Farmers Miss Cross Country.
Hertenstein has maintained a 3.95 GPA in the classroom. She has volunteered as a student ambassador in her school.
"Bailey is a hard worker and she's very team oriented," said Riverview coach Shanna Brown. "She started running without much of a running background but she has really soaked up all the knowledge given to her by her many coaches."
Hertentstein will begin her junior year of high school 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.
Hertenstein joins Gatorade Florida Girls Cross Country Runners of the Year Rafaella Gibbons (2014-15, Winter Park High School), Emily Edwards (2013-14, Fort Myers High School), Bridget Blake (2012-13, Dr. Phillips High School), Olivia Ortiz (2011-12, Lakewood Ranch High School), Kathryn Fluehr (2010-11 & 2009-10, The Community School of Naples), Ashley Brasovan (2008-09 & 2007-08, Wellington High School) as athletes who have won the cross country award since its inception in 2007.
