Over the last week Gatorade has announced the state wide winners of the Cross Country Player of the Year Honors. Gatorade agreed with our pole asking "Who was the State XC MVP" from this season in choosing Stanford commits Connor Lane and Nevada Mareno.
Gatorade began honoring Players of the Year in cross country during the 2007-2008 cross country season. They honored track and field Players of the Year during the 1985-1986 cross country season.
The marks the second straight year Mareno has earned these honors in cross country making her the second female to earn the honors twice after Adrianne Soo (Durham Academy) did so in 2008 and 2009.
Both Lane and Mareno are the first from their schools, Cardinal Gibbons and Leesville Road to earn Gatorade Player of the Year Honors. Both capped their cross country seasons off with remarkable finished at Footlocker Nationals where Mareno took 2nd and Lane took 8th. They also both went undefeated this cross country season against North Carolina athletes. Both are getting their indoor track season underway and will likely be candidates for the Track and Field Gatorade Player's of the Year that will be announced this summer.
Congrats to both Connor and Nevada!