Colleen Quigley Gatorade Missouri Track & Field Atlete of the Year


 

 

CHICAGO (June 21, 2011) — In its 26th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company, in collaboration with ESPN RISE, today announced Colleen Quigley of Nerinx Hall as its 2010-11 Gatorade Missouri Girls Track & Field Athlete of the Year. Quigley is the first Gatorade Missouri Girls Track & Field Athlete of the Year to be chosen from Nerinx Hall.


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 Quigley as Missouri’s best high school girls track & field athlete. Now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Girls Track & Field Athlete of the Year award to be announced in June, Quigley joins an elite alumni association of state award-winners in 12 sports, including Allyson Felix (2001-02, Los Angeles Baptist, Calif.), Derek Jeter (1991-92, Kalamazoo HS, Mich.), Candace Parker (2001-02, Naperville Central HS, Ill.), Abby Wambach (1997-98, Our Lady of Mercy, N.Y.), Mark Sanchez (2004-05, Mission Viejo HS, Calif.), Lolo Jones (1997-98, Roosevelt HS, Ia.) and Bianca Knight (2006-07, Ridgeland HS, Miss.).


The 5-foot-9 senior distance runner won the 1600-meter run with a time of 4:52.17 and the 3200-meter run in 10:27.62 at the Class 4 state meet this spring, leading the Markers to a third-place finish as a team. The 2010-11 Gatorade Missouri Girls Cross Country Runner of the Year, Quigley won both the 1600 and the 3200 at the Kansas Relays and her state-title-winning performances in each event ranked among the nation’s top 40 performances by prep competitors in 2011 at the time of her selection.


Quigley has maintained a 4.09 GPA in the classroom. A member of the National Honor Society, she has volunteered locally as a peer tutor, a summer distance-running camp counselor and on behalf of Catholic Charities USA. “Colleen Quigley is a two-event state champion this year and is one of the finest distance runners in the state,” said Tom Gose, co-head coach of rival Lindbergh High. “She has certainly put in the time and effort that you love to see rewarded.”


Quigley has signed a National Letter of Intent to compete in track and field on scholarship at Florida State University 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 ESPN RISE 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.


Quigley joins recent Gatorade Missouri Girls Track & Field Athletes of the Year Tiffani McReynolds (2009-10, The Pembroke Hill School), Emily Sisson (2008-09, Parkway Central), and Alishea Usery (2007-08, McCluer South-Berkeley) among the state’s list of former award winners.


To keep up to date on the latest happenings, become a fan of Gatorade Player of the Year on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. For more on the Gatorade Player of the Year program, including nomination information, a complete list of past winners, and the announcement of the Gatorade National Player of the Year, visit playeroftheyear.gatorade.com.