Two individual titles and two state all-time records helped contribute to Jordyn Colter winning the Colorado Gatorade Athlete of the Year Honors. Photo by Alan Versaw.
CHICAGO (June 17, 2015): 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 Jordyn Colter of Cherry Creek High School as its 2014-15 Gatorade Colorado Girls Track & Field Athlete of the Year. Colter is the first Gatorade Colorado Girls Track & Field Athlete of the Year to be chosen from Cherry Creek 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 Colter as Colorado’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, Colter 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-5 senior won the 800-meter run with a state-record time of 2:04.56 and the 1,600-meter run in a state-record 4:46.22 at the Class 5A state meet this past season, leading the Bruins to sixth place as a team. The state’s 2011-12 Gatorade Girls Cross Country Runner of the Year, Colter also anchored the winning 4x800-meter relay squad that broke the tape in 9:07.54. Her 800-meter time at the state meet, her mile time of 4:41.10 at the Prefontaine Classic and her 1,600-meter time of 4:43.66 at the Arcadia Invitational all ranked as top-10 performances amongst U.S. prep competitors in 2015 at the time of her selection.
Colter has maintained a 3.56 weighted GPA in the classroom. A member of her school’s principal advisory and student athletic advisory committees, she has also volunteered on behalf of the Special Olympics and National Honor Society.
“As a coach, you hope to find athletes that can first understand what success really is, then you hope they will be willing to do the hard work and make the sacrifices and commitments that are necessary to achieve that success,” said Cherry Creek head coach Sally Adams-Moos. “Finally, you hope to find an athlete who when success is at hand can relax, have fun, enjoy the competition, and have the inner confidence to have their best performance. Jordyn Colter has been this type of student-athlete for Cherry Creek High School the last four years.”
Colter has signed a National Letter of Intent to compete in track and field on scholarship at the University of California, Berkeley 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.
Colter joins recent Gatorade Colorado Girls Track & Field Athletes of the Year Dior Hall (2013-14 & 2010-11, George Washington High School), Ana Holland (2012-13, Regis Jesuit High School), Valarie Allman (2011-12, Silver Creek High School), Eleanor Fulton (2009-10, Highlands Ranch), LaTraia Scott (2008-09, Coronado), Emily Blok (2007-08, Conifer), and Sarah Cocco (2006-07, Fairview) among the state’s list of former award winners.
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