Gatorade honors Southridge’s Jones as best in Florida
In its 37th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, Gatorade announced that Alyssa Jones of Miami Southridge Senior High School is the 2021-22 Gatorade Florida Girls’ Track & Field Athlete of the Year.
Jones is the fifth girl from Southridge to receive the honor.
The award recognizes athletic excellence, academic achievement and exemplary character on and off the field.
Jones is now a finalist for the Gatorade National Girls Track & Field Player of the Year, which will be announced in July.
The 5-foot-10 senior jumper and sprinter won four individual state titles at the Class 3A state meet this past season, headlined by a state-record leap of 20 feet, 11.75 inches in the long jump and a personalbest clocking of 23.49 seconds in the 200-meter dash, leading the Spartans to second place as a team.
A three-time Gatorade Florida Girls Track & Field Athlete of the Year, Jones produced three national Top 15 performances among prep girls this spring, including a U.S. No. 1 in the long jump (21-2.5), a national No. 7 in the high jump (5-11.75) and the nation’s No. 14 clocking in the 200 (23.49). She also ranked No. 50 in the 100meter dash (11.70).
An eight-time state champion, she collected four medals at June’s New Balance Nationals Outdoor, earning a gold and a silver in two relays — both of which produced 2022 national Top 15 prep times — while also grabbing a national title in the long jump along with a silver medal in the high jump. The threetime Miami Herald Track Athlete of the Year also owns an indoor national title in the long jump.
Jones has attained President’s Honor Roll status several times and has been recognized for her achievements at the Robert Morgan Educational Center Academic Awards Ceremony. A participant in her school’s Advanced Placement Capstone Seminar, she has done more than 200 hours of volunteer community service.
As a member of the National Honor Society, she has participated in reading sessions with preschool students, helped initiate an annual “Senior Prom” at a local nursing home and assisted in launching an annual twoday leadership conference for 9th grade students.
Jones has maintained a 5.0 weighted GPA on a 4.0 scale in the classroom. She has signed a letter of intent to compete on an athletic scholarship at Stanford 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 and field, and awards one National Player of the Year in each sport.
The selection process is administered by the Gatorade Player of the Year Selection Committee, which includes coaches, scouts, media and others.
Three-time winner Jones joins recent Gatorade Florida Girls Track & Field Players of the Year Jan'Taijah Ford (2018-19, Northeast High School) and Cailtin Collier (2017-18,
The Bolles School) among the state’s list of former award winners.
Through Gatorade’s “Play it Forward” platform, Jones has the opportunity to award a $1,000 grant to a local or national organization of her choosing that helps young athletes realize the benefits of playing sports.
Jones is eligible to submit a short video explaining why the organization she chose deserves one of twelve $10,000 spotlight grants, which will be announced throughout the year. To date, Gatorade Player of the Year winners’ grants have totaled more than $3.5 million across more than 1,300 organizations.
To learn more about the Gatorade Player of the Year program, check out past winners or to nominate student-athletes, visit playeroftheyear. gatorade.com or follow at facebook.com/ GatoradePOY, at instagram.com/Gatorade and Twitter (@Gatorade).
MATIAS COMMITS
Westminster Christian junior standout Emily Matias recently committed to play indoor volleyball and beach volleyball at NCAA Division I Coastal Carolina in Conway, South Carolina.
Matias, who will be a senior in the fall, had an outstanding junior year. She was awarded the All Dade Girls' Volleyball, Beach Volleyball and Overall Female Athlete of the Year awards by the Miami Herald.
Matias led Westminster Christian to its third straight Class 3A title game in girls’ volleyball and helped the Warriors reach the state quarterfinals in beach volleyball.
She was the Miami Herald’s All-Dade Girls’ Volleyball Player of the Year for Classes 4A-2A and one half of the Miami-Dade County Beach Volleyball Duo of the Year, alongside younger sister Zoey.
A MIAMI DADE HOF
David Schorr, the athletic director at Miami Edison Senior High School, and some of his athletic director friends are starting a Miami Dade High School Athletic Hall of Fame.
They encourage Miami Dade schools (public and private) to submit names (with accomplishments) of deserving alum and/or teams.
The plan is to convene a committee of local living legends from various sports to determine who should be inducted annually.
To nominate a studentathlete and/or coach and/ or team in any sport, email aschorr922@gmail.com or text 305-951-9721.Include the student athlete’s name, school, years played and accomplishments.
SEND US YOUR NEWS
If you have news of local, state, national and/or team awards for your varsity student athletes, email hssports@miami herald.com. We also are interested in college signings.
For high schools in Broward and Miami-Dade, if you have new sports administration and/or coaching hires to announce, email hssports @miamiherald.com.
For high school-age athletes in Broward and Miami-Dade, if you have summer results, top performers or statistics for this column, email hssports@ miamiherald.com.
Reports will run in the newspaper and online. Photos accepted, too. No deadline. Send after the game, the next day or weekly. You will be alerted when it will appear in the newspaper and online.
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