Autumn Wilson (L) and Natalie Cook (R) both won individual indoor national championships this month
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After every season, there is a summation by Gatorade and they declare the most outstanding performer in each sport in each state and award them with the Player of the Year award. Many of the collegiate and professional track and field athletes are former winners of the award. We are here to look at who the potential girls candidates could possibly be this outdoor track and field season.
The award is however a little more than just an honoring of athletic achievement, it encompasses grades as well as community service. "We expect more from our athletes, that's why the Gatorade Player of the Year program recognizes the nation's most outstanding high school student-athletes for their athletic excellence, academic achievement and exemplary character," their website states. "That's what makes this award the most prestigious honor in High School sports," Gatorade boasts.
Camryn Dickson (Clear Brook)
Needs To Do: Dickson will need to win both events at the state meet this year. As if that isn't already a huge task in itself, it'll also take a little more to consider her the award.
Texas sprints are a big deal and there are some other runners who will be going for the award as well. Autumn Wilson is another sprinter who should be in the mix for two TAPPS state titles. The two will be compared by head to head races, but also by their times down the stretch of the season of wind legal and races in above allowable winds races.
Molly Haywood (Tomball Memorial)
Haywood is just a junior, but she is is already climbing up polls and clearing high bars. After not being able to qualify for state as a freshman because of a COVID shortened 2020 season, she took the opportunity by the horns last year to qualify for state and finished sixth.
Haywood has been even more stout this season. She has competed at a high level and jumped over 13 feet five times during the indoor season and has not only done it three times this outdoor season, but Haywood has cleared the 14-0 barrier this year.
Needs To Do: To be considered for the POY, she will have to both win state and jump over 14-4 to have a good shot, but if she wants to break Desiree Freier's 14-7 state record, that definitely won't hurt her chances.
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Suzan Ogunleye (Pflugerville Henderickson)
Ogunleye is a jumping sensation and she got things rolling in the indoor season when she went 18-8 in the long jump and 41-10 in the triple jump, both for PRs. She just finished her indoor season last weekend at the Nike Indoor and New Balance Indoor Nationals. She finished fourth at Nike and second at New Balance.
Outside, she has already added PRs in both jumps. Her 41-3.5 triple jump and 18-1.25 long jump rank Ogunleye in the top 10 in the state in both events.
Needs To Do: To be considered for POW, She'll either have to win state in both events and jump over 43 feet will put her in the TX All-Time top five performance or be the top national jumper in both events.
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Kat Kwiatkowski (Houston Episcopal)
Kwiatkowski, the SPC star had a quiet cross season after a fast start, but she did the same thing this track season and in late March and she is currently in a major rhythm. The Texas commit is known for distance running, but she is clearly working on her speed this season as she has competed in every event from the 100m to the 1,600 this outdoor season.
Skyler Schuller (Coppell)
Schuller is another pole vaulter with a chance to prove herself as the state's top track and field athlete. However, Schuller is more than a vaulter, she is the ultimate athlete and can compete at a high level in multiple events.
Her versatility and ability to compete for more than one state title are what has the Coppell Cowgirl in consideration. She is already a state runner-up pole vaulter who has a good shot at winning this year, but with her 14.41 (100H), 44.119 (300H), 18-6 (LJ), and 5-8 (HJ), she can be in the mix for more chances to win a state title.
Needs To Do: Consideration for POW relies on Schuller winning at least one state title. The Pole vault is where her highest chances are and it will need to come to fruition. Schuller will need to add one of the jumps and one of the hurdles to her state meet resume.
Simone Ballard (Katy Mayde Creek)
Ballard is building a fantastic 2022 track and field season and may not be one many are keeping an eye on for the state championships. She has taken her hurdling to the next level and she just keeps rising.
She recently ran a wind legal 13.65 in the 100H that ranks her No. 2 nationally, but more than that, she also has a 42.87 in the 300H that ranks her No. 3 in the state. Ballard's improvement in the hurdles is due to her focus on her leg speed. This year, she has run 11.61 in the 100m and 24.83 in the 200m, proving that she is not just a hurdler.
Needs To Do: No doubt about it, Ballard will have to win the UIL 6A state title in the 100 meter hurdles and the 300 meter hurdles. If she can run the top time nationally in the 100 meter hurdles, that will help her cause.
Adding another event and qualifying for the state meet would be very difficult, but very effective. If she could win state in one of the sprints, she'll definitely have an improved shot at winning POY.
Tairah Johnson (Fort Bend Marshall)
Johnson is another athlete that many may not be focusing on when it comes to this award, however that is a mistake.
The Fort Bend Marshall product is one of the few who already won a state title and she knows how to get the job done again. Johnson won last year's UIL 5A 100 meter hurdles state championship and was eighth in the long jump; so far this year, she has already run faster (13.71) and jumped farther (19-7) than she did at state.
Needs To Do: Johnson will have to win state again and run faster than the previously mentioned Ballard or any other 6A hurdler. She'll also have to win the 5A long jump title this year to give herself a good shot at winning POY.
Haley Tate (Katy Seven Lakes)
Tate is an interesting take when it comes to POY. Her team aspirations of winning the 2022 UIL 6A team title will rely heavily on Tate's assistance in the relays. If she is able to run two individual events, she could be right in the mix of all of this.
Tate can win the 400m state title after finishing runner-up last year in 52.97. She has already gone 53.99 and her 24.33 PR in the 200m shows her turnover is there to run faster.
Needs To Do: Maybe state meet performances aren't all that Gatorade will look at. If Tate can get the 400m title this year and run low 52 or faster, that could potentially be substantial and with a little help of elite marks in the 200m before state, her chances in the POY conversation will be better.
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Kailey Littlefield (Lucas Lovejoy)
Littlefield is another athlete who is already a track and field state champion. The sophomore won the UIL 5A state meet last year and was sixth in the 1,600m. She ran 2:08.04 last spring in her premiere event and has already ran 2:09.18 this season as well with a 4:55.75 last weekend at the Texas Distance Festival.
Needs To Do: Winning another state title in the 800m will be a step in the right direction. It will be a difficult task as the competition is as high as ever, but if she can do so in impressive fashion, it'll help. Something impressive like bettering the 2:07.39 5A state record or the 2:06.71 UIL state record are in reach and will be helpful.
Littlefield will also need to run fast in one of her complementary events, either the 400m or the 1,600m.
Autumn Wilson (Austin St. Dominic Savio)
Wilson is another one of the couple of sprinters in the state who will be vying for the POY award. She is perhaps in the driver's seat at this point. She just finished her indoor season with a national title in the 60m (7.32) at the New Balance Nationals Indoors and a runner-up in the 200m (23.53). Wilson also had a 7.26 PR in the 60m this indoor season.
Even though Wilson has been focusing on the indoor season, which is evident by her indoor schedule, she did fit in an outdoor meet when she competed at the Texas A&M Bluebonnet High School Invitational, where she ran 11.36 in the 100m and 23.14 in the 200m.
Needs To Do: The TAPPS 6A defending champion needs to win the 100m and 200m state titles once again. She'll also have to put together as impressive of an outdoor season as possible, like she did indoors. She won't have the luxury of having the same challenging outdoor schedule as the UIL athletes, so she'll have to run fast and as all of the sprint athletes hope to get lucky to have some wind legal races.
Wilson isn't only competing against the other sprinters; they all have to outperform the field event athletes on this list as well s the distance event athletes. With Jasmine Montgomery winning last year, Wilson has the formula to winning over a top notch distance runner.
Montgomery had to beat out Brynn Brown last year and Wilson has Natalie Cook this year. Brown won the cross country Gatorade POY last season and was even more so impressive during the track season by going 2:09.60, 4:41.29, 9:58.77, and 15:56.89, but Gatorade viewed Montgomery's times (although wind aided) as more impressive.
If Wilson can emulate or improve on Montgomery's glowing performance bu running 11.09 or 22.94 or better she could she could win the POY and have a shot at the national award. Running faster will be better for her chances, because unlike the Montgomery/Brown situation, Cook is the National POY and is a knocking on the door of being the best high school distance runner this country has ever seen.
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Natalie Cook (Flower Mound)
Everyone is going for what Natalie Cook already has, on Feb 2, 2022, she won both the National Gatorade Player of the Year award after winning the Texas award. Now, the track award could be next for her.
She opened up her track season at the Coppell Relays on March 5th by running 2:12.52 in the 800m , and 4:44.70 in the 1,600m. Both times were PRs for Cook and the 1,600m time was the sixth fastest All-Time for a Texas girl.
A week later, she became a national champion for the third time this calendar year when she won the two-mile at the New Balance Nationals Indoor with the US No. 2 All-Time 9:44.44 and anchored the national record 4 x one-mile.
Needs To Do: Cook not only needs to win her first state title on the track, but she will need to win both the UIL 6A 1,600m and the 3,200m state title to have a shot at winning the POY.
As we saw last year, a strong sprinter could still pull the favor of Gatorade for the award if they have a great state meet even if a distance runner wins two state titles. Cook can put all of that to rest if she breaks two state records. Her 4:44 is only a few seconds off the UIL 3200m state record of 4:40.97 and her 9:44 indoors is already way faster than the 9:58.77 set last year by Brown. In fact, it's already faster than the 9:47.88 national record. If she breaks one or two national records, she could have her second POY in the bag.
The award could likely be between Wilson and Cook as last year's award was between Montgomery and Brown. It would be amazing if both young ladies broke a national record or two making this award really interesting to look forward to.