Starkville’s Scott set to compete at Pan Am U20 Championships
It has already been a good year for track athlete Sterling Scott, but the news keeps getting better for the Starkville High School Yellow Jacket.
After learning he was the 2022-23 Gatorade Mississippi Boys Track and Field Player of the Year last week, Scott also found out he will represent Team USA at the 2023 Pan Am U20 Championships on August 4-6 in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico.
Scott finished third at the
U-20 USA Track and Field Championships in the triple jump with a leap of 49-8 against college competition, but that was still good enough to qualify for the Pan Am event.
He looks forward to a little bit of redemption next month.
“It feels like I got a second chance,” Scott said. “I thought my season was over since I got third, but I'm still able to compete so that's amazing. This is probably the biggest meet a high schooler can go to so it was really good.”
In May, Scott won the
Class 6A State championship in the triple jump as the Jackets finished in an eighth place tie as a team.
That led to the Gatorade Boys Track and Field Player of the Year, which recognizes not only athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the field.
Scott is the first-ever male SHS track athlete to gain the honor for the Jackets. Kate Mattox also won the award for the Lady Jackets.
“It's quite an honor for him to be able to do that because obviously the accolades he gets is because he's an awesome guy on the track and the field,” SHS boys track coach Tory Reeves said. “He also has a high academic standing and that's what this award is about. It's not only the track but also the high academic achievement and outstanding character.”
Scott has volunteered his time locally preparing Thanksgiving holiday gift bags for families in need and has donated his time to the U.S. Youth Soccer Topsoccer
program, serving young athletes with physical and intellectual challenges. He maintained a 4.30 grade point average in the classroom and signed to continue his track career at the University of Missouri this fall.
The 5-foot-11, 151-pound Scott has achieved much success in the triple jump and won the event at the New Balance Nationals Outdoor.
"Despite being under 6 feet in height, Sterling Scott stood among the tallest on the national scene in the sand pits this spring,"
Rich Gonzalez, editor of Prepcaltrack.com, said in a press release. "He recorded the No. 2 all-conditions triple jump mark in the country with a 50-foot-11 effort to kick off his postseason, where he also soared 24-8 in the long jump. He is the only athlete in America with all-conditions top five marks in both horizontal jumps this spring."
Scott is now a finalist for the Gatorade National Boys Track and Field Player of the Year award to be announced later this month.