Gatorade National Girls Cross Country Runner of the Year: Jordan Hasay

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif., Jan. 28 /PRNewswire/ — In its third decade of
honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company, in
partnership with ESPN RISE Magazine, today announced senior distance runner

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 Hasay as the nation’s
best high school girls cross country runner. A national advisory board
comprised of sportswriters and sport-specific experts from around the country
helped to select Hasay from more than 190,000 high school girls cross country
runners nationwide. Hasay is now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade
Female High School Athlete of the Year Award, to be presented at a special
afternoon ceremony prior to The ESPY Awards in July.

A two-time Gatorade California Girls Cross Country Runner of the Year,
Hasay was unbeaten this past season and raced to a national title at the Foot
Locker Cross Country Championships. The senior, who also won the Foot Locker
championship as a freshman, captured the 2008 Division 5 state title with the
fastest time in any class, 17:18, and also broke the tape at the Mt. Sac
Invitational in October. The 5-foot-4 Hasay became the first runner ever to
win four Foot Locker Cross Country regional championships when she topped the
field at the 2008 West Regional in December.

The owner of nine national age-group records, Hasay finished 10th in the
1,500-meter finals at the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials last July, setting a new
high school record with a time of 4:14.5. The 2007 and 2008 USA Cross Country
Championships junior national champion, Hasay has also qualified to compete in
the 2009 IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Jordan.

Hasay has maintained a 4.53 GPA in the classroom. She is active in the
St. Patrick’s Parish Youth Ministry program, has volunteered in the People’s
Kitchen at the Prado Day Center for the homeless, and has donated her time to
the Special Olympics and the Invisible Children Project humanitarian-aid
initiative.

“She runs a very strategic race every single time,” said Joy Kamani, Chief
Operations Officer and Girls Recruiting Chair for the National Scholastic
Sports Foundation. “That sticks out to me more than anything else about her
because down the road, that’s what’s going to count. She’s beautiful to
watch. She’s all business until you see that glorious smile at the end.
She’s a beautiful runner to watch because she competes instead of just
running. A lot of distance kids start to decline as a junior and senior. She
has not. She has maintained and gotten better and turned herself into
arguably the best girls’ high school talent of the last generation.”

Hasay, who joins 2007-08 Gatorade National Girls Cross Country Runner of
the Year Ashley Brasovan as the only other female to win the honor, remains
undecided upon a collegiate destination.

“Without question, Jordan is deserving of recognition as the nation’s best
high school girls cross country runner based on her performance and the
tremendous ability she’s demonstrated,” said Gatorade Senior Vice President of
Sports Marketing Jeff Urban. “But she is also a shining example to peers and
aspiring young players of what a leader and a student-athlete should be. She
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 Magazine, 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
    -- 2007 Super Bowl Most Valuable Player Peyton Manning
    -- Two-time American League Most Valuable Player Alex Rodriguez
    -- WNBA all-time leading scorer and rebounder Lisa Leslie
    -- Beach volleyball gold medalist Kerri Walsh

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.

SOURCE Gatorade