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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., July 1 /PRNewswire/ -- In its third decade
of honoring the nation's best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company,
in partnership with ESPN RISE, today announced senior decathlete
Curtis Beach of Albuquerque Academy (Albuquerque, N.M.) as its 2008-09
Gatorade National Boys Track & Field Athlete of the Year.
Beach is the first student-athlete from the state of New
Mexico to win Gatorade National Player of the Year honors in any sport. He
is also the first decathlete to be named a Gatorade National Boys Track
& Field Athlete of the Year.
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 Beach as the
nation's best high school boys track & field athlete. A national
advisory board comprised of sportswriters and sport-specific experts from
around the country helped select Beach from more than 548,000 high school
boys track & field athletes nationwide. Beach is now a finalist for the
prestigious Gatorade Male High School Athlete of the Year award, to be
presented at a special afternoon ceremony prior to The ESPY Awards in July.
The 6-foot, 166-pound senior decathlete broke the national
prep decathlon record at the Arcadia Invitational this spring, scoring
7,909 points to shatter the 16-year-old former record of 7,417 points. In
that competition, Beach set personal bests in the high jump (6-9.5), the
shot put (44-8), the javelin (155-9) the 400-meter dash (48.16 seconds) and
the 1500-meter run (4:09.48). A three-time Gatorade New Mexico Boys Track
& Field Athlete of the Year honoree, Beach also led the Chargers to the
Class 4A state championship as a team, winning five individual state titles
in the process. He took first place in the 110-meter hurdles (14.53), the
200-meter dash (21.84), the 400-meter dash (47.99), the high jump (6-9.5)
and the pole vault (15-3).
A 17-time individual state champion in New Mexico's Class 4A,
Beach holds all-class state records in the 200, the 110 hurdles and the
long jump. Beach took third in the 800-meter run at the Nike Outdoor
Nationals with a time of 1:50.75, the nation's 11th-fastest prep clocking
in 2009. His season-best time of 20.94 in the 200 ranks No. 3 in the nation
among prep competitors.
Beach scored 7,466 points and won the Great Southwest Track
and Field Classic in Albuquerque for the third straight year. Using
international junior implements, he eclipsed a 37-year-old record of 7,359
points set by South Eugene (Oregon) star Craig Brighamin 1972. He
also won the 2009 USA Track & Field Junior Outdoor Championships
decathlon title, scoring 7,599 points using junior implements.
Beach has maintained a weighted 3.75 GPA in the classroom. He
has volunteered locally as a youth coach with the Albuquerque Track Club,
in a co-coordinating role on behalf of the Whittier Elementary School
Health Fair and as part of multiple fundraising initiatives to benefit
cancer research. Beach's senior project involved an internship with the
Sandia Chile Grill during which he developed a business plan that sold more
than 600 sandwiches.
"It's certainly been an amazing year for Beach,"
said Albuquerque Academy Head Track and Field Coach Adam Kedge. "It
has only been outdone by his loyalty to his performance and his loyalty to
his team. He is truly the epitome of the ultimate multi-sport athlete. I've
seen him put in five-, six- or seven-hour days just training with his
coaches. Then he still finds the time to be a good student and give back to
his community."
Beach has signed a National Letter of Intent to compete in
track and field on scholarship at Duke University beginning this fall.
"Without question, Curtis is deserving of recognition as
the nation's best high school boys track & field athlete based on his
statistics on the track and the impact his accomplishments had on
Albuquerque Academy's success," said Gatorade Senior Vice President of
Sports Marketing Jeff Urban. "But he is also a shining example to
peers and aspiring young players of what a leader and a student-athlete
should be. He represents everything we hope for in a Gatorade Player of the
Year recipient."
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, 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.
Former notable Gatorade National Players of the Year include:
- Reigning 200-meter world
champion Allyson Felix
- Reigning American
record-holder in the mile Alan Webb
- 2006 IAAF World Athlete of
the Year and 400-meter American record-holder Sanya Richards
- NFL all-time leading rusher
Emmitt Smith
- Softball Olympic gold
medalist Cat Osterman
- Super Bowl Most Valuable
Player Peyton Manning
- Kansas City Royals ace Zach
Grienke
- WNBA all-time leading scorer
and rebounder Lisa Leslie
For more on the Gatorade Player of the Year program, including
nomination information and lists of past winners and future announcement
dates, visit gatorade.com/playeroftheyear.
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