Main Line Track Star Wins PA Gatorade Track & Field Player Of The Year

WYNNEWOOD, PA — A local track and field star has earned recognition from a massive company for her efforts in the sport.

Gatorade recently announced honorees of its Track & Field Player of the Year award.

Friends' Central School's Avery Lewis was named the 2022-23 Gatorade Pennsylvania Girls Track & Field Player of the Year.

She is the first Gatorade Pennsylvania Girls Track & Field Player of the Year to be chosen from Friends' Central School.

The award recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the field.

Lewos is now a finalist for the Gatorade National Girls Track & Field Player of the Year award.

The winner will be announced in July.

Lewis joins an elite alumni association of state award-winners in 12 sports, including Jasmine Moore (2018-19, Lake Ridge High School, Texas), Sydney McLaughlin (2016-17, 2015-16 & 2014-15, Union Catholic High School, N.J.), and Lolo Jones (1997-98, Roosevelt High School, Iowa).

The 5-foot-9 junior won three state championships this past season, leading the Phoenix to a third-place finish at the state meet.

Lewis went on to set the state outdoor long jump record with her leap of 20 feet, 9.5 inches at New Balance Nationals Outdoor, which ranked No. 3 leap by a prep girl in 2023.

She also captured the long jump at the 2023 Penn Relays (20-4.5) and won the indoor NBNO title in the event.

Lewis set the state record in winning the state indoor title in the 60-meter dash in 7.22 seconds ranked No. 3 in the country this winter and she enters her senior year as a combined five-time All-American in those two events.

Lewis has donated her time working with peers on important school initiatives and by mentoring youth track athletes.

She is also a devoted parishioner of her church community.

"Avery Lewis has made a habit throughout her high school career of rising to the occasion with the most significant performances in the biggest moments, and this year was no exception," said Erik Boal, editor at DyeStat.com. "Lewis won the 100, 200 and long jump at the Pennsylvania Independent School Athletic Association state meet, then earned All-America honors in all three events at New Balance Nationals, capped by sweep of both outdoor and indoor long jump national titles."

Lewis has maintained a 3.25 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.