GARDNER EDGERTON HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT-ATHLETE NAMED GATORADE KANSAS GIRLS TRACK & FIELD PLAYER OF THE YEAR CHICAGO (June 20, 2019) - In its 34th year of honoring the nation's best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company today announced Kendra Wait of Gardner Edgerton High School as its 2018-19 Gatorade Kansas Girls Track & Field Athlete of the Year. Wait is the first Gatorade Kansas Girls Track & Field Athlete of the Year to be chosen from Gardner Edgerton 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 Wait as Kansas' best high school girls track & field athlete. Now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Girls Track & Field Athlete of the Year award to be announced in June, Wait joins an elite alumni association of state track & field award-winners, including Lolo Jones (1997-98, Roosevelt High School, Iowa), Allyson Felix (2002-03, Los Angeles Baptist High School, Calif.), Robert Griffin III (2006-07, Copperas Cove High School, Texas), Grant Fisher (2013-14 & 2014-15, Grand Blanc High School, Mich.) and Candace Hill (2014-15, Rockdale County High School, Ga.).

The 5-foot-10 sophomore earned two individual victories at the Class 6A state meet this past season, winning the 100-meter dash with a time of 12.04 seconds and hurling the shot put 42 feet, 11.75 inches. Wait also placed second in the pole vault and finished fourth in the 200.

Wait has volunteered locally on behalf of the Special Olympics, food-donation drives and youth volleyball clinics. "Kendra is immensely talented, hard-working and methodical in her approach to training, but what really sets her apart is a fierce competitive desire to win," said Gardner Edgerton High School coach Larry Ward. "I'm especially impressed with her versatility. She readily transitions to whatever event we need her in for the sake of our team performance."

Wait has maintained a weighted 4.24 GPA in the classroom. She 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.

From the 12 national winners, one male and one female athlete are each named Gatorade High School Athlete of the Year. In all, 607 athletes are honored each year.

Wait joins recent Gatorade Kansas Girls Track & Field Athletes of the Year Dana Baker (2017-18, Olathe North High School), Cailie Logue (2016-17 & 2015-16, Girard High School), and Keiryn Swenson (2014-15 & 2013-14, Maize High School) among the state's list of former award winners.