FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Lauren Rollins (312-729-3607)
Northwest High School STANDOUT NAMED
GATORADE Maryland BOYS CROSS COUNTRY RUNNER OF THE YEAR
CHICAGO (January 20, 2011) — In its 26th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company, in collaboration with ESPN RISE, today announced Chris Miller of Northwest High School as its 2010-11 Gatorade Maryland Boys Cross Country Runner of the Year. Miller is the first Gatorade Maryland Boys Cross Country Runner of the Year to be chosen from Northwest 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 racecourse, distinguishes Miller as Maryland’s best high school boys cross country runner. Now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Boys Cross Country Runner of the Year award to be announced in January, Miller joins an elite alumni association of past state award-winners in 12 sports, including Ryan Hall (1999-00, 2000-01, Big Bear HS, Calif.), Derek Jeter (1991-92, Kalamazoo HS, Mich.), Candace Parker (2001-02, Naperville Central HS, Ill.), Kevin Garnett (1992-93, Maudlin HS, S.C.), Abby Wambach (1997-98, Our Lady of Mercy, N.Y.) and Mark Sanchez (2004-05, Mission Viejo HS, Calif.).
The 5-foot-8, 140-pound senior raced to the Class 4A individual state championship this past season with a time of 16:09. The 2010 Maryland Gazette Runner of the Year and a 2010 Washington Post All-Met selection, Miller also won the Montgomery County Championships in 15:37.31 and took first at the Glory Days Grill Invitational, crossing the line in 15:35.
Miller has maintained a 3.0 GPA in the classroom and represents one of the state’s top academic candidates in meeting the Gatorade Award’s broad criteria. An Eagle Scout with the Boy Scouts of America and a devoted parishioner of his church community, he has volunteered locally on behalf of area homeless shelters.
“What Chris Miller did this year, winning with such a remarkable time on a very difficult course at the state meet, was simply amazing,” said Andrew Villwock, head coach of rival Old Mill High. “I can’t think of another runner who I would put in the same class.”
Miller remains undecided upon a college destination.
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 ESPN RISE and the Gatorade high school sports leadership team, 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.
Miller joins Gatorade Maryland Boys Cross Country Runners of the Year Andrew Palmer (2009-10, Walt Whitman), Zach Sullivan (2008-09, Archbishop Spalding), and Joey Thompson (2007-08, Howard) as athletes who have won the cross country award since its inception in 2007.
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