CHICAGO (June 24, 2016) — In its 31st year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company, in collaboration with USA TODAY High School Sports, today announced Isaiah Rogers of Campbell High School as its 2015-16 Gatorade Georgia Boys Track & Field Athlete of the Year. Rogers is the first Gatorade Georgia Boys Track & Field Athlete of the Year to be chosen from Campbell 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 Rogers as Georgia’s best high school boys track & field athlete. Now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Boys Track & Field Athlete of the Year award to be announced in June, Rogers joins an elite alumni association of state award-winners in 12 sports, including Ryan Hall (1999-01, Big Bear HS, Calif.), Meb Keflezighi (1993-94, San Diego HS, Calif.), Derek Jeter (1991-92, Kalamazoo HS, Mich.), Candace Parker (2001-02, Naperville Central HS, Ill.), Mark Sanchez (2004-05, Mission Viejo HS, Calif.) and Lolo Jones (1997-98, Roosevelt HS, Ia.).
The 6-foot, 260-pound senior hurled the shot put 67 feet, 10 inches to break a 50-year-old state meet record and win the Class 6A championship this past season. Rogers also finished second in the discus and his winning effort in the shot ranked as the nation’s No. 8 performance among prep competitors in 2016 at the time of his selection. Rogers took fifth in the shot put at last week’s New Balance Nationals Outdoor and took first in the event at the Armed Forces Day Invitational and the Arcadia Invitational.
Rogers has maintained 3.88 GPA in the classroom. He has volunteered locally as part of multiple peer-leadership and community service initiatives in association with the National Honor Society.
“Isaiah combines exceptional athletic ability with a willingness and eagerness to learn,” said Campbell coach Brian Smith. “He’s constantly challenging himself and he has more than exceeded my expectations.”
Rogers has signed a National Letter of Intent to compete in track and field on scholarship at Texas Christian University 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 high school sports leadership team in partnership with USA TODAY High School Sports, 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.
Rogers joins recent Gatorade Georgia Boys Track & Field Athletes of the Year Ryan Clark (2014-15, Banneker High School), Kenny Selmon (2013-14, Pace Academy), Henry Dwyer (2012-13, Athens Academy), Jonathan Jones (2011-12, Carrollton High School), O'Neal Wanliss (2010–11, Holy Innocents Episcopal School), David Smith (2009-10, Lovejoy High School), Ken Gilstrap (2008–09, Miller Grove High School), Christian Taylor (2007-08, Sandy Creek High School), and Ben Hubers (2006-07, McEachern High School) among the state’s list of former award winners.
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