The annual award puts her in the running for National Player of the Year in cross country, and gives our state two active recipients of the honor.
Leesville Road junior Nevada Mareno took her running game to a new level this past fall, winning the 4A state championship and finishing third at Foot Locker Nationals. As a result she has received quite a bit of national attention, and that in turn led to a new honor announced this week: Mareno has been named the 2015-2016 Gatorade North Carolina Cross Country Player of the Year. The selection also puts her in the running for National Player of the Year in this sport, and at that level she would be a candidate for the single Female National Athlete of the Year award.
Mareno joins Elly Henes (Green Hope) as active runners who have received this award (Henes earned hers in 2014). Past winners also include Kayla Montgomery (Mount Tabor), Megan Sullivan (Broughton), Sammy George (Millbrook), Darby Middlebrook (Watauga), and Wesley Frazier (Ravenscroft). The boys Players of the Year will be announced next week.
