Chestnut Hill Academy STANDOUT NAMED
GATORADE Pennsylvania BOYS CROSS COUNTRY RUNNER OF THE YEAR
CHICAGO (January 23, 2012) — In its 27th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company, in collaboration with ESPNHS, today announced Dustin Wilson of Chestnut Hill Academy as its 2011-12 Gatorade Pennsylvania Boys Cross Country Runner of the Year. Wilson is the first Gatorade Pennsylvania Boys Cross Country Runner of the Year to be chosen from Chestnut Hill 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 racecourse, distinguishes Wilson as Pennsylvania’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, Wilson 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-6 senior raced to 13th place at the national Foot Locker Cross Country Championships this past season with a time of 15:29.4. Wilson won the Pennsylvania Independent Schools championship in 16:34.66 and earned victories at the Paul Short Run and the Briarwood Invitational. He finished fifth at the Foot Locker Northeast Regional championships.
Wilson has maintained 4.0 GPA in the classroom. He has volunteered as a peer tutor and has served as co-editor of his school’s literary magazine.
“Dustin is an outstanding student as well as a runner,” said Chestnut Hill coach Paul Hines. “He’s willing to sacrifice individual glory and has really helped our younger athletes develop.”
Wilson will attend Columbia University this fall, where he will compete in cross country and track and field.
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 ESPNHS 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.
Wilson joins Gatorade Pennsylvania Boys Cross Country Runners of the Year Zach Hedba (2010-11, North Hills Senior High School), Brad Miles (2009-10, North Penn), Ben Furcht (2008-09, Lower Merion), and Mark Dennin (2007-08, Boyertown Area Senior) as athletes who have won the cross country award since its inception in 2007.
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