In its 37th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, Gatorade announced Laila Campbell of Spring Grove Area High School is the 2021-22 Gatorade Pennsylvania Girls Track & Field Player of the Year.
The award, which recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the field, distinguishes Campbell as Pennsylvania’s best high school girls track & field athlete. Now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Girls Track & Field Player of the Year award to be announced in July, Campbell joins an elite alumni association of state award-winners in 12 sports, including Lolo Jones (1997-98, Roosevelt High School, Iowa), Allyson Felix (2002-03, Los Angeles Baptist High School, Calif.), Robert Griffin III (2006-07, Copperas Cove High School, Texas), Grant Fisher (2014-15 & 2013-14, Grand Blanc High School, Mich.) and Candace Hill (2014-15, Rockdale County High School, Ga.).
The 6-foot sophomore swept the 100- and 200-meter dash events at the Class AAA state meet for the second consecutive year, breaking the state record in the 100 with a time of 11.55. Campbell also clocked a winning time of 23.56 in the 200. She capped her season by racing to a national championship in the 100 at June’s New Balance Nationals Outdoor with a time of 11.56. She also took third in the 200 to become a dual-event All-American.
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.
To learn more about the Gatorade Player of the Year program, check out past winners or to nominate student-athletes, visit playeroftheyear.gatorade.com.
