WEST CHESTER TOWNSHIP, Ohio — Lakota West junior Evelyn Prodoehl was named on Monday morning the 2023-24 Gatorade Ohio Girls Cross Country Runner of the Year.
The award, which celebrates the nation’s top high school athletes for excellence on the field, in the classroom and in the community, distinguishes Prodoehl as Ohio’s best high school girls cross country runner.
"Evelyn is an extremely gifted athlete with an incredible work ethic," Lakota West athletic director Scott Kaufman. "Add to that a 4.8 GPA and you can see she excels at everything she puts her mind to. She has the 'never satisfied' mentality which makes me excited to see what's next for her."
Prodoehl broke the tape at the national RunningLane Cross Country Championships this past season, clocking a time of 17:32.80 to win by more than seven seconds.
Prodoehl also won the Ohio High School Athletic Association's Division I state title this past fall with an all-class best 17:23.77 - leading the Firebirds to eighth place as a team. She won all 12 races she entered last fall and won the Greater Miami Conference cross country championships in a personal-best 16:59.10.
Prodoehl, who serves on the Lakota West Student Athletic Advisory Board, has volunteered locally on behalf of Goodwill Industries, the Lakota West Campus Clean-Up Project and various running-related youth camps and events.
“The season ledger for Evelyn Prodoehl was quite literally perfection,” said Rich Gonzalez of PrepCalTrack. “It’s hard enough to win more meets than you don’t, even as an elite prep talent, but she accomplished the rare feat of going unbeaten.”
Prodoehl has maintained a 4.81 weighted GPA in the classroom. She will begin her senior year of high school 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 Player of the Year Selection Committee, which leverages 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, Gatorade Player of the Year winners’ grants have totaled more than $4.9 million across more than 1,600 organizations.
