TUPELO HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT-ATHLETE NAMED GATORADE MISSISSIPPI BOYS CROSS COUNTRY PLAYER OF THE YEAR
CHICAGO (February 13, 2025) -- In its 40th year of honoring the nation's most elite high school athletes, Gatorade today announced Andrew Brown of Tupelo High School is the 2024-25 Gatorade Mississippi Boys Cross Country Player of the Year. Brown is the second Gatorade Mississippi Boys Cross Country Player of the Year to be chosen from Tupelo High School.
Gatorade Player of the Year is the top honor in high school sports, celebrating the nation's best high school athletes for their success on the field, in the classroom and in the community. The award distinguishes Brown as Mississippi's best high school boys cross country athlete, and he joins an impressive group of alumni that spans CEOs, coaches and star athletes such as Lukas Verzbicas (2009-10 & 2010-11, Carl Sandburg High School, Illinois), Edward Cheserek (2012-13, St. Benedict's Preparatory School, New Jersey) and Daniel Simmons (2022-23 & 2023-24, American Fork High School, Utah).
The 5-foot-9, 146-pound sophomore raced to the Class 7A state title this past season, clocking a time of 15:42.15 to finish more than 20 seconds ahead of his next-closest competitor while leading the Golden Wave to second place as a team. Brown also broke the tape at the Tupelo Invitational in a 5K personal-best 15:09.80 --the state's fastest time by a prep boy in 2024. He broke 15:45 five times last fall.
A member of his school's chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, the DECA club and THS Sports Communication, Brown has volunteered locally as part of multiple community service initiatives in association with his Harrisburg Baptist Church youth group. He has also donated his time to the Special Olympics and the Modern Woodmen of American Youth Service Club. "Andrew Brown's statement win at the 7A meet makes him hard to ignore," said Rich Gonzalez of PrepCalTrack. "He appears poised to make some real noise throughout the South over the next two years."
Brown has maintained a 4.0 GPA in the classroom. He will begin his junior year of high school this fall.
The Gatorade Player of the Year program annually recognizes one winner in the District of Columbia and each of the 50 states across 12 different high school sports -- 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.
Brown joins recent Gatorade Mississippi Boys Cross Country Players of the Year Jaquavion Bryant (2023-24, Pearl High School), Sidney Stegall (2022-23, Heritage Academy), Keegan Leverett (2021-22, Saint Stanislaus Catholic High School) and Christian Balcer (2020-21, East Central High School), among the state's list of former award winners.
As part of Gatorade's commitment to breaking down barriers in sport, every Player of the Year also receives a grant to donate to a social impact partner. To date, the Gatorade Player of the Year program has provided more than $5.6 million in grants to winners across more than 2,000 organizations.
To learn more about the Gatorade Player of the Year program, check out past winners or to nominate studentathletes, visit playeroftheyear.gatorade.com or follow us on social media on Instagram at instagram.com/Gatorade, Facebook at facebook.com/GatoradePOY and X(Twitter) at x.com/Gatorade.