In its 33rd year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company announced Aidan Troutner of Timpview High School (Provo, Utah) as its 2017-18 Gatorade National Boys Cross Country Runner of the Year.

Troutner was surprised with the news at his home. Check out the surprise video here.

 The award, which recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the course, distinguishes Troutner as the nation’s best high school boys cross country runner. A national advisory panel comprised of sport-specific experts and sports journalists helped select him from 266,000 high school boys cross country runners nationwide. Troutner is now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade Male High School Athlete of the Year award, to be presented at a special ceremony prior to The ESPY Awards in July.

The 5-foot-9, 123-pound senior raced to the national championship this past season with a time of 15:03.9 at the Nike Cross Nationals Final. Troutner won the Class 5A individual state championship in 14:48.8 and broke the tape at the NXN Southwest Regional championships in 14:50. He also finished first at the Highland Invitational, the BYU Autumn Classic, the Nebo Invitational and the Region 7 championships.

A youth leader with his church, Troutner has volunteered locally as an Eagle Scout with the Boy Scouts of America.

“Troutner missed qualifying for Nike Cross Nationals Final by one spot, and two seconds, as a junior,” said Doug Binder, editor for Dyestat.com. “He lived with that for months and it spurred him to train smarter and dedicate himself even more to try to follow in the footsteps of 2016-17 Gatorade National Runner of the Year, Casey Clinger. His ability to sustain a hard pace and then kick at the finish was a revelation at the end of the season, and the other top boys in the country had no answer for it at the NXN Final.”

Troutner has maintained a 3.89 GPA in the classroom. He has signed a National Letter of Intent to compete in cross country and track and field on scholarship at Brigham Young University after completing a two-year mission with his church.

“Aidan is an exceptional student-athlete who has earned recognition as the nation’s best high school boys cross country runner while also excelling in the classroom and making a difference in his community,” said Gatorade senior vice president and general manager Brett O’Brien. “Aidan’s statistics on the trail speak for themselves, but even more impressive is the impact he has had on his teammates and the example he sets for younger student-athletes. Aidan represents everything we look to celebrate in a Gatorade Player of the Year recipient.”

As a part of Gatorade’s cause marketing platform “Play it Forward,” Troutner also has the opportunity to award a $1,000 grant to a local or national youth sports organization of his choosing. He is also eligible to win one of twelve $10,000 spotlight grants for his organization of choice, which will be announced throughout the year.

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 sports leadership team in partnership with the Gatorade Player of the Year Selection Committee, 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.

Former notable Gatorade National Players of the Year include:

  • Super Bowl Most Valuable Player Peyton Manning
  • 2015 NBA first overall pick Karl-Anthony Towns
  • Three-time WNBA champion Maya Moore
  • Four-time track & field gold medalist Allyson Felix
  • Three-time beach volleyball gold medalist Kerri Walsh
  • Three-time Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw

For more information on the Gatorade Player of the Year program, including nomination information, a complete list of former winners and future announcement dates, visit the Gatorade Player of the Year Web site at PlayeroftheYear.Gatorade.com.