El Dorado High School STANDOUT NAMED
GATORADE Kansas GIRLS CROSS COUNTRY RUNNER OF THE YEAR
CHICAGO (January 13, 2011) — In its 26th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company, in collaboration with ESPN RISE, today announced Molly Milbourn of El Dorado High School as its 2010-11 Gatorade Kansas Girls Cross Country Runner of the Year. Milbourn is the first Gatorade Kansas Girls Cross Country Runner of the Year to be chosen from El Dorado 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 Milbourn as Kansas’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, Milbourn 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-5 senior raced to the Class 4A individual state championship at Wamego Country Club this past season with a time of 15:02.67, leading the Wildcats to eighth place as a team. The Preseason Cross Country Athlete of the Year as named by VYPE High School Sports Magazine, Milbourn placed 10th at the Nike Cross Nationals Heartland Regional championships in 18:29.01. She captured first place at the J.K. Gold Classic, Wamego Invitational, El Dorado Invitational and Ark Valley Chisholm Trail League Division III & IV Championships this past fall. Milbourn also finished third at the Cross Country Coaches National Youth Championships. She won the 2008 Class 4A individual state title as a sophomore in addition to finishing third at the 2009 Class 4A state meet as a junior and 13th at the 2007 Class 4A state meet as a freshman.
Milbourn has maintained a 4.0 GPA in the classroom and ranks No. 1 in her graduating class. In addition to serving as class secretary and on the student council, she has volunteered on behalf of Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, the National Honor Society and a nonprofit hunger relief organization.
“Molly’s exceptional dedication and self-discipline are what distinguishes her from the competition,” said El Dorado High head coach Ron Koppenhaver. “She is willing to make sacrifices in attending school social events, her diet and anything else that might interfere with her goal of being the best she can be. In my 45 years of coaching, I have had a few more talented athletes, but never one more dedicated and hard-working than Molly.”
Milbourn 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.
Milbourn joins Gatorade Kansas Girls Cross Country Runners of the Year Avery Clifton (2009-10 & 2008-09, Washburn Rural), and Laura Roxberg (2007-08, Blue Valley Northwest) as athletes who have won the cross country award since its inception in 2007.
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