Allyson Felix surprises Aisling Cuffe with announcement of Gatorade honor

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This article is part of our National Girls & Women in Sports Day (NGWSD) celebration.

Today, high school cross-country and track & field star Aisling Cuffe got the surprise of her lifetime. Olympic and World Championships gold medalist Allyson Felix surprised Cuffe at her home in New York, along with 20 to 30 of Cuffe's friends and family members after she returned from her run. The occasion? Cuffe has been named the 2010-2011 Gatorade National Girls Cross-Country Runner of the Year.

I talked with Felix about pulling off the surprise as well as how participating in sports impacted her as a young girl, who her role models were, and how she makes an effort to connect with youth now that she is the role model. Check out the podcast below or click here to listen.

More, via release:

In its 26th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company, in collaboration with ESPN RISE, today announced Aisling Cuffe of Cornwall Central High School (New Windsor, N.Y.) as its 2010-11 Gatorade National Girls Cross Country Runner of the Year. Cuffe was surprised with the news during her sixth period class [due to the weather, Cuffe was surprised at her home] by professional runner and Summer Games gold medalist Allyson Felix, who won the Gatorade National Girls Track & Field Athlete of the Year award in 2002-03, then captured Gatorade Female High School Athlete of the Year honors in 2003.

“When I received the award in 2003, it was such a pivotal moment for me as an athlete. I’m grateful to be a part of this moment for Aisling, who is truly a phenomenal student-athlete on and off the racecourse,” said Felix, a seven-time IAAF World Champion. “Gatorade has been on the sidelines fueling athletic performance for years, so to be recognized by a brand that understands the game and truly helps athletes perform is a huge honor for these kids.”

The award, which recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the racecourse, distinguishes Cuffe as the nation’s best high school girls cross country runner. A national advisory panel comprised of sport-specific experts and sports journalists helped select Cuffe from nearly 202,000 girls cross country runners nationwide. Cuffe is now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade Female High School Athlete of the Year award, to be presented at a special ceremony prior to The ESPY Awards in July.

The 5-foot-4 senior enjoyed an unbeaten season and raced to the national title at the Foot Locker Cross Country Championships this past fall with a time of 16:53, breaking the tape 34 seconds ahead of her next-closest competitor. The state’s returning Gatorade Girls Cross Country Runner of the Year, Cuffe captured the Class A state title in 17:19.6 and won the all-class New York Federation Championship with a course-record time of 17:17. She added victories at the Great American Cross Country Festival, the Manhattan Invitational and the Foot Locker Northeast Regional championships (in 17:51).

Cuffe has maintained an A average in the classroom. A four-year member of the Cornwall Central Math Team and its returning high-scorer, Cuffe has donated her time to and fund-raised for multiple local and national community-service initiatives in association with her school’s Key Club chapter. Also a member of the National Honor Society, she has volunteered on behalf of area youth road races and track invitational meets.

“Aisling Cuffe more than fulfilled expectations as the top returner at Foot Locker nationals, tearing through her regular season undefeated and then triumphing in San Diego with disarming ease,” said ESPN RISE/Dyestat Senior Editor Dave Devine. “Her 34-second margin of victory at Foot Locker over Nike Cross Nationals Final champion Rachel Johnson was the race’s largest since 2001, and only emphasized Cuffe’s status as the top girl in the nation this fall.”

Cuffe, who is just the third female student-athlete from the state of New York to ever win Gatorade National Player of the Year honors in any sport, has verbally committed to an athletic scholarship at Stanford University beginning this fall.

“Without question, Aisling is deserving of recognition as the nation’s best high school girls cross country runners based on her statistics on the racecourse and the impact her accomplishments have had on Cornwall Central’s success,” said Gatorade Senior Vice President of Sports Marketing Jennifer Storms. “But she is also a shining example to peers and aspiring young athletes of what a leader and a student-athlete should be. She represents everything we hope for in a Gatorade Runner of the Year recipient.”

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.

For more information on the Gatorade Player of the Year program, including nomination information, a complete list of former winners, and future announcement dates, visit the Gatorade Player of the Year Web site at http://playeroftheyear.gatorade.com, on Facebook at facebook.com/GatoradePOY or follow us on Twitter at @Gatorade.

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• Cross Country, Running, Track & Field, Sports, Media, Podcasts, SportsPLUS, Inspiration, High School, Student-Athlete

This post is related to an event on our Calendar:

• National Girls and Women in Sports Day