LAWRENCE HIGH SCHOOL STANDOUT NAMED GATORADE® KANSAS BOYS CROSS COUNTRY RUNNER OF THE YEAR
Photo by Chris Auck
CHICAGO (January 21, 2010) — In its 25th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company, in collaboration with ESPN RISE, today announced Roy Wedge of Lawrence High School as its 2009-10 Gatorade Kansas Boys Cross Country Runner of the Year. Wedge is the first Gatorade Kansas Boys Cross Country Runner of the Year to be chosen from Lawrence 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 Wedge as Kansas’ best high school boys cross country runner. Now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Boys Cross Country Runner of the Year award to be announced in January, Wedge 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.), Kevin Garnett (1992-93, Maudlin HS, S.C.), Abby Wambach (1997-98, Our Lady of Mercy, N.Y.) and Mark Sanchez (2004-05, Mission Viejo HS, Calif.).
The 5-foot-10 senior distance runner won the Class 6A state meet this past season with a time of 15:43.86, leading the Lions to the state championship as a team. The Athlete of the Year as named by the Lawrence Journal-World, Wedge finished 49th at the Foot Locker Midwest Regional championships in 16:33. He also won the Class 6A Regional in addition to finishing second at the Rim Rock Farm Classic this past fall. A returning Class 6A All-Metro selection as named by the Kansas City Star, Wedge placed second at the 2008 Class 6A state meet as a junior.
Also a Kansas Science Olympiad state champion, Wedge has maintained a 4.02 weighted GPA in the classroom. The senior class homecoming king as well as a member of the school’s chess club and orchestra, he has volunteered at the Lawrence Public Library, as a mentor to youth athletes and as part of multiple community-service initiatives on behalf of the National Honor Society.
“He has the ability to put racing in perspective and keep focused on his goals,” said Lawrence Head Coach Brian Anderson. “He leads his teammates through the first mile with confidence, finishes as high as he can in the competition and helps the other members of the team achieve their goals. He leads by example in every practice, approaches obstacles from a positive viewpoint and is more concerned with the team’s results than his own.”
Wedge remains undecided upon a collegiate destination.
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.
Wedge joins Gatorade Kansas Boys Cross Country Runners of the Year PJ Greer (2008-09, Saint Thomas Aquinas) and Bryce Volz (2007-08, Bishop Carroll Catholic) as athletes who have won the cross country award since its inception in 2007.
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