Valor Christian’s Cole Sprout named top boys track athlete by Gatorade
Valor Christian senior Cole Sprout has been named Colorado’s boys track and field athlete of the year by Gatorade.
This is the third consecutive year Sprout has won the boys track award — he becomes the first three-time winner in the sport. Last fall, Sprout became a three-time Gatorade winner in cross country.
Only one three other athletes in Colorado have ever won the Gatorade award three times in their sport. Sprout is the most decorated athlete in Colorado in terms of the Gatorade player of the year program, which started in 1985-86.
Sprout is the 13th athlete from Valor Christian to win a Gatorade player of the year award.
Though Sprout’s senior track season was canceled by the COVID-19 pandemic, he finished third in the 1500-meter run at the Reykjavik International Games in 3:54.23. That time was the nation’s top high school performance during the 2020 indoor season.
In April, Gatorade announced that it would continue to honor spring sport athletes despite the cancellation of the season nationwide.
Sprout was a three-time state champion in cross country, and won the 1,600 and 3,200 meter races at the 2019 state track and field championships. He holds the state record in the 3,200 with a time of 9:01.53.
Sprout, who has a 3.98 GPA, will run at Stanford starting this fall.
