CHICAGO — In its 33rd year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company, today announced Karlee Freeman of Raymond High School as its 2017-18 Gatorade Washington Girls Track & Field Athlete of the Year. Freeman is the first Gatorade Washington Girls Track & Field Athlete of the Year to be chosen from Raymond 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 Freeman as Washington’s 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, Freeman 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-6 senior won the discus throw, shot put and javelin event at the Class 2B state meet this past season, leading the Seagulls to a sixth-place finish as a team. Freeman’s winning put of the shot—48 feet, 6 inches—set a meet record and ranked No. 7 in the nation among prep competitors at the time of her selection. Her top discus throw of 173-3 ranked second in state history and No. 5 in the nation this spring. Freeman, who won the 100-meter hurdles at the state meet as a sophomore, also placed fourth at this year’s state meet in the 100-meter dash.
Freeman has volunteered locally as a nursery school aide and as a youth basketball and volleyball coach and referee. “Karlee Freeman is a phenom of an athlete; she can sprint and throw with the best,” said Sal Lopez, head coach of Asotin High. “She is the complete package colleges are looking for.”
Freeman has maintained a 3.69 GPA in the classroom. She has signed a national letter of intent to compete on an athletic scholarship at the University of Southern California 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. The selection process is administered by the Gatorade Player of the Year Selection Committee, 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.
Freeman joins recent Gatorade Washington Girls Track & Field Athletes of the Year Taylor Roe (2016-17, Lake Stevens High School), Chinne Okoronkwo (2015-16 & 2014-15, Mountlake Terrace High School), Alexa Efraimson (2013-14 & 2012-13, Camas High School), Amy-Eloise Neale (2011-12 & 2010–11, Glacier Peak High School), Maddie Meyers (2009-10, The Northwest School), Andrea Geubelle (2008–09, Curtis Senior), and Courtney Kirkwood (2007-08 & 2006- 07, Othello) among the state’s list of former award winners.
As a Gatorade Player of the Year, Freeman will be able to select a national or local youth sports organization to receive a grant as part of the Gatorade Play It Forward program. Every Gatorade Player of the Year state winner receives a $1,000 grant to donate and will have the opportunity to enter for an additional $10,000 spotlight grant by writing a brief essay explaining why their selected organization deserves additional support. 12 spotlight grants – one for each sport – will be announced throughout the year.
For more on the Gatorade Player of the Year program, including nomination information, a complete list of past winners and the announcement of the Gatorade National Player of the Year, visit www.gatorade.com/poy.
