CHICAGO (June 29, 2022) - In its 37th year of honoring the nation's best high school athletes, Gatorade today announced Jordan Anthony of Tylertown High School is the 2021-22 Gatorade Mississippi Boys Track & Field Player of the Year. Anthony is the second Gatorade Mississippi Boys Track & Field Player of the Year to be chosen from Tylertown 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 field, distinguishes Anthony as Mississippi's best high school boys track & field athlete. Now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Boys Track & Field Player of the Year award to be announced in July, Anthony joins an elite alumni association of state award-winners in 12 sports, including Lolo Jones (1997-98, Roosevelt High School, Iowa), Allyson Felix (2002-03, Los Angeles Baptist High School, Calif.), Robert Griffin III (2006-07, Copperas Cove High School, Texas), Grant Fisher (2014-15 & 2013-14, Grand Blanc High School, Mich.) and Candace Hill (2014-15, Rockdale County High School, Ga.).
The 5-foot-11, 160-pound senior swept the 100- and 200-meter dash at the Class 3A state meet, leading the Chiefs to the state title. He also won both events at the 2022 Mississippi T&F Meet of Champions. Anthony's personal-best time of 10.14 seconds this spring in the 100 set a state record and ranks No. 7 in U.S. prep history. His personal best of 20.35 in the 200 this season also established a new state record and ranks No. 14 in U.S. prep history. He capped his high school career by breaking the tape in 200 at the USATF U-20 National Championships to earn a national title.
A member of the Mesa Mt. Olive Baptist Church community, he has volunteered locally on behalf of the Xcel Athletics Track and Field Club, providing instruction for youth athletes. "Jordan Anthony graduates as the greatest high school sprinter the state of Mississippi has ever produced," said Erik Boal, an editor at DyeStat. "His U.S. No. 1 in the 200 this spring along with the nation's No. 2 prep time in the 100 in 2022 is awfully impressive. He's got a bright future in the NCAA."
Anthony has maintained a B average in the classroom. He has signed a National Letter of Intent to compete on an athletic scholarship at the University of Kentucky 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 Player of the Year Selection Committee, which leverages experts including coaches, scouts, media and others as sources to help evaluate and determine the state winners in each sport.
Two-time winner Anthony joins recent Gatorade Mississippi Boys Track & Field Players of the Year Cameron O'Neal, and Cameron Crump, among the state's list of former award winners.
