CHICAGO — In its 31st year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company, in collaboration with USA TODAY High School Sports, has selected Cassondra Hall of Warner Robins High School as its 2015-16 Gatorade Georgia Girls Track & Field Athlete of the Year. Hall is the first Gatorade Georgia Girls Track & Field Athlete of the Year to be chosen from Warner Robins 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 Hall as Georgia’s best high school girls track & field athlete. Now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Girls Track & Field Athlete of the Year award to be announced in June, Hall joins an elite alumni association of state award-winners in 12 sports, including Allyson Felix (2001-02, Los Angeles Baptist, Calif.), Derek Jeter (1991-92, Kalamazoo HS, Mich.), Candace Parker (2001-02, Naperville Central HS, Ill.), Abby Wambach (1997-98, Our Lady of Mercy, N.Y.), Mark Sanchez (2004-05, Mission Viejo HS, Calif.), Lolo Jones (1997-98, Roosevelt HS, Ia.) and Bianca Knight (2006-07, Ridgeland HS, Miss.).
The 5-foot-8 senior won the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.49 seconds and the 200-meter dash in 23.88 seconds at the Class 5A state meet this past season, leading the Demons to second place as a team. Hall won the 100 at the Brooks PR Invitational and her season-best effort of 23.40 in the 200 ranked as the nation’s No. 3 performance among prep competitors in 2016 at the time of her selection.
Hall has maintained a 3.38 GPA in the classroom. A devoted member of her church community, she has served in the Student Council and has volunteered locally on behalf of the Beta Club and the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life.
“Cassondra does not let obstacles get in her way,” said Warner Robins coach Rebecca White. “Many athletes would have a big head if they were blessed with her talents, but she’s a very humble kid all around. She’s the one who always picks up her teammates and helps them along the way.”
Hall has signed a National Letter of Intent to compete in track and field on scholarship at Louisiana State 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.
Hall joins recent Gatorade Georgia Girls Track & Field Athletes of the Year Candace Hill (2014-15 & 2013-14, Rockdale County High School), Kendell Williams (2012-13, 2011-12, 2010–11 & 2009-10, Kell High School), Chalonda Goodman (2008–09 & 2007-08, Newnan High School), and Brittany Long (2006-07, Therrell High School) among the state’s list of former award winners.
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