CHICAGO (June 20, 2014) — In its 29th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company, in collaboration with USA TODAY High School Sports, today announced Kenny Selmon of Pace Academy as its 2013-14 Gatorade Georgia Boys Track & Field Athlete of the Year. Selmon is the first Gatorade Georgia Boys Track & Field Athlete of the Year to be chosen from Pace Academy.
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 Selmon 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, Selmon 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-2, 180-pound senior won two individual titles and anchored the winning 4x400 relay quartet at the Class 1A state meet this spring, leading the Knights to the championship as a team. Selmon won the 110-meter high hurdles in 13.96 seconds and captured the 300-meter intermediate hurdles in 37.21. A bronze medalist in the 400-meter hurdles at the 2013 World Youth Games, he won a national title in the 400 hurdles at this month’s New Balance Nationals Outdoor championships in 50.48, which ranked as the nation’s No. 1 performance among prep competitors in 2014 at the time of his selection.
Selmon has maintained a B average in the classroom. He has raised funds to benefit breast cancer awareness and has volunteered on behalf of Books for Africa, which collects and distributes books and school supplies for African children.
“Kenny’s dedication to his sport is unmatched,” said Pace Academy head coach Jolie Cunningham. “He’s going to achieve greatness at the next level and will be a role model while doing it.”
Selmon has signed a National Letter of Intent to compete in track and field on scholarship at the University of North Carolina 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.
Selmon joins recent Gatorade Georgia Boys Track & Field Athletes of the Year 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), Ken Gilstrap (2008–09, Miller Grove), Christian Taylor (2007-08, Sandy Creek), and Ben Hubers (2006-2007, McEachern) among the state’s list of former award winners.
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