Carlos Davis wins Gatorade Male Athlete of the Year


In its 30th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company, in collaboration with USA TODAY High School Sports, today announced Carlos Davis of Blue Springs High School as its 2014-15 Gatorade Missouri Boys Track & Field Athlete of the Year. Davis is the second Gatorade Missouri Boys Track & Field Athlete of the Year to be chosen from Blue Springs 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 track, distinguishes Davis as Missouri’s best high school boys track & field athlete. Now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Boys Track & Field Athlete of the Year award to be announced in June, Davis joins an elite alumni association of state award-winners in 12 sports, including Ryan Hall (1999-01, Big Bear HS, Calif.), Meb Keflezighi (1993-94, San Diego HS, Calif.), Derek Jeter (1991- 92, Kalamazoo HS, Mich.), Candace Parker (2001-02, Naperville Central HS, Ill.), Mark Sanchez (2004-05, Mission Viejo HS, Calif.) and Lolo Jones (1997-98, Roosevelt HS, Ia.).

The 6-foot-3, 280-pound senior throws specialist won the discus and the shot put at the Class 5 state meet this spring, launching the discus 209 feet, one inch and hurling the shot 60-5.75, leading the Wildcats to the championship as a team. A two-time First Team All-State selection, he took first at the Gary Parker Invitational, hurling the discus 214-4, which ranked as the nation’s No. 1 performance among prep competitors in 2015 at the time of his selection.

Davis has maintained a 3.05 weighted GPA in the classroom. He has participated in a service-mission trip to help build an orphanage in Jamaica and has volunteered locally at a homeless shelter and on behalf of the Salvation Army.

“Carlos Davis is a tremendous athlete,” said Matthew Warren, head coach at Lafayette High. “He absolutely dominated the throwing events the past several seasons and by all accounts he is a very nice and humble young man.”

Davis has signed a National Letter of Intent to play football on scholarship at the University of Nebraska 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 high school sports leadership team in partnership with USA TODAY High School Sports, 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.

Davis joins recent Gatorade Missouri Boys Track & Field Athletes of the Year C.J. Jones (2013-14, Cardinal Ritter College Prep.), Ezekiel Elliott (2012-13, John BurrougHigh School School), Dapo Akinmoladun (2011-12, Grandview High School), Daniel Everett (2010