CHICAGO (January 16, 2025) — In its 40th year of honoring the nation’s most elite high school athletes, Gatorade today announced Averi Lowen of Bowdon High School is the 2024-25 Gatorade Georgia Girls Cross Country Player of the Year. Lowen is the first Gatorade Georgia Girls Cross Country Player of the Year to be chosen from Bowdon High School.
Gatorade Player of the Year is the top honor in high school sports, celebrating the nation’s best high school athletes for their success on the field, in the classroom and in the community. The award distinguishes Lowen as Georgia’s best high school girls cross country athlete, and she joins an impressive group of alumni that spans CEOs, coaches and star athletes such as Jordan Hasay (2008-09, Mission College Preparatory Catholic High School, Ca.), Katelyn Tuohy (2017-18, 2018-19 & 2019-20, North Rockland High School, N.Y.) and Addison Ritzenhein (2023-24, Niwot High School, Co.).
The 5-foot-7 sophomore won the GHSA Class 1A Division 2 state meet this past season with an all-class best clocking of 17:52.5. Lowen earned First Team All-Region honors by winning the Nike Cross Southeast Regional Championship, one of her seven race wins in 2024. She is a two-time state champion and produced the state’s fastest 5K time last fall by 19 seconds.
A student leader with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Lowen has volunteered locally through the program via endeavors geared toward serving those in need. She has also donated her time by helping to plan and execute the 5K road race fundraisers in the community. “Over the final 10 weeks of the season, Averi Lowen was unbeaten and stormed to a more than 3-minute winning margin at the state meet— among the largest gaps in the nation—before impressively winning the Nike Cross Southeast Regional meet, which featured loads of interstate talent,” said Rich Gonzalez of PrepCalTrack. “With two seasons to go, she’s a quick-rising talent to watch on the national scene.”
Lowen has maintained a 4.00 GPA in the classroom. She will begin her junior year of high school this fall.
The Gatorade Player of the Year program annually recognizes one winner in the District of Columbia and each of the 50 states across 12 different high school sports – 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 leverages experts including coaches, scouts, media and others as sources to help evaluate and determine the state winners in each sport.
Lowen joins recent Gatorade Georgia Girls Cross Country Players of the Year Caroline Hood (2023-24, Pace Academy), Samantha McGarity (2022-23, Harrison High School), Katelynn Dollar (2021-22, Lyndon Academy) and Mary Brady (2020-21, St. Pius X Catholic High School), among the state’s list of former award winners.
As part of Gatorade’s commitment to breaking down barriers in sport, every Player of the Year also receives a grant to donate to a social impact partner. To date, the Gatorade Player of the Year program has provided more than $5.6 million in grants to winners across more than 2,000 organizations.
To learn more about the Gatorade Player of the Year program, check out past winners or to nominate student-athletes, visit playeroftheyear.gatorade.com or follow us on social media on Instagram at instagram.com/Gatorade, Facebook at facebook.com/GatoradePOY and X(Twitter) at x.com/Gatorade.
