Cold Springs distance runner Ethan Edgeworth was named at the Gatorade Alabama Boys Track & Field Player of the Year today. He is the first athlete from Cold Springs to earn the Gatorade honor.
The award, which celebrates the nation’s top high school athletes for excellence on the field, in the classroom and in the community, distinguishes Edgeworth as Alabama’s best high school boys track & field player.
The 5-foot-11, 130-pound senior distance talent set a state record in the 1,600-meter run and won the 800 as well at the Class 2A state meet this past season, leading the Eagles to the team title. Edgeworth’s time of 4:03.96 in the 1,600 ranked sixth nationally among prep boys competitors this spring. At the Arcadia Invitational in April, he took sixth in the 3,200 in 8:38.49, which is also a new state record. That time ranked No. 6 nationally as well. Ranked No. 23 in the MileSplit 50 and the 2023-24 Gatorade Alabama Boys Cross Country Player of the Year, he ran a personal-best mile of 4:02.27 to win the national RunningLane Track Championships and record the nation’s No. 9 time in that event.
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A member of the National Honor Society, his school’s Fellowship of Christian Athletes chapter and its Student Government Association, Edgeworth has volunteered locally on behalf of Future Farmers of America and is a member of the Cold Springs Math Team. “Edgeworth picked up where he left off in cross country and left no doubt that he’s one of the top distance talents in the country,” said Rich Gonzalez, editor for PrepCalTrack.
Edgeworth has maintained a 4.14 weighted GPA in the classroom. He has signed a national letter of intent to compete on an athletic scholarship at the University of Tennessee this fall.
Edgeworth joins recent Gatorade Alabama Boys Track & Field Players of the Year Alex Leath (2022-23, Vestavia Hills High School), Maddox Hamm (2021-22, Scottsboro High School), Ethan Strand (2020-21, Vestavia Hills High School) and Josiah Harry (2019-20, Mobile Christian School), among the state’s list of former award winners.
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 Player of the Year Selection Committee, which uses experts including coaches, scouts, media and others as sources to help evaluate and determine the state winners in each sport.
As part of Gatorade’s commitment to breaking down barriers in sport, every Player of the Year also receives a grant to donate to a social impact partner. To date, the Gatorade Player of the Year program has provided more than $4.9 million in grants to winners across more than 1,900 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.
