Addison Cox Named Gatorade NH XC Player of the Year
COE-BROWN NORTHWOOD ACADEMY STUDENT-ATHLETE NAMED
GATORADE NEW HAMPSHIRE GIRLS CROSS COUNTRY PLAYER OF THE YEAR
CHICAGO (April 8, 2021) — In its 36th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company today announced Addison Cox of Coe-Brown Northwood Academy as its 2020-21 Gatorade New Hampshire Girls Cross Country Player of the Year. Cox is the first Gatorade New Hampshire Girls Cross Country Player of the Year to be chosen from Coe-Brown Northwood Academy.
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 Cox as New Hampshire’s best high school girls cross country player. Now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Girls Cross Country Player of the Year award to be announced in April, Cox joins an elite alumni association of state award-winners in 12 sports, including Lukas Verzbicas (2010-11, 2009-10, Carl Sandburg High School, Orland Park, Ill.), Megan Goethals (2009-10, Rochester High School, Rochester Hills, Mich.), Jordan Hasay (2008-09, Mission College Preparatory Catholic High School, San Luis Obispo, Calif.) and Chris Derrick (2007-08, Neuqua Valley High School, Naperville, Ill.).
The 5-foot-4-inch senior distance talent capped an unbeaten campaign by winning the NHIAA Meet of Champions this past season, breaking the tape in a scholastic personal-best of 18:01.20 and leading the Black Bears to second place as a team. The clocking marked the state’s fastest girls 5K in 2020 and Cox represents the first girl from Coe-Brown to take home the MOC crown. Also the 2020 NHCC Runner of the Year and a four-time All-Division 2 selection, Cox captured the Division 2 title as well last fall, outpacing her next-closest competitor by 6.90 seconds with a time of 18:21.90—the fastest all-divisions time of the day—and sparking Coe-Brown to the divisional team title. Her state meet speed rating according to Dyestat and TullyRunners.com ranked No. 92 nationally among the Top 100 fastest competitors in the country. The season was one of redemption for Cox, who battled the effects of Lyme Disease throughout 2019.
President of her school’s Student-Athlete Leadership Team (SALT), Cox has volunteered as a peer consultant at the Coe-Brown Writing Center and on behalf of the New Hampshire Thunder Youth Track program. She is also a member of both the National Honor Society and Healthcare Occupation Students of America (HOSA), a student-leadership organization that promotes career opportunities in the healthcare industry and strives to enhance the delivery of quality health care to all people. “I don’t mean to sound flip, but frankly, this one is easy,” said Scott McGrath, head coach at Oyster River High School. “Addison won the New Hampshire Meet of Champions by 12 whole seconds [12.4]. She won the Division 2 state championship the week prior and ran the fastest all-divisions time on the divisional course. Addison had a perfect season individually. She was undefeated in the state of New Hampshire and is most deserving of recognition as the Gatorade State Player of the Year.”
Cox has maintained a 99.1 average in the classroom. She has signed a National Letter of Intent to run on scholarship at the University of New Hampshire 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 works with top sport-specific experts and a media advisory board of accomplished, veteran prep sports journalists to determine the state winners in each sport.
Cox joins recent Gatorade New Hampshire Girls Cross Country Players of the Year Caroline Fischer (2019-20, Bishop Guertin High School), Sophia Reynolds (2018-19, Merrimack Valley High School) and Jacqueline Gaughan (2017-18 & 2016-17, Exeter High School), among the state’s list of former award winners.
Through Gatorade’s cause marketing platform “Play it Forward,” Cox has the opportunity to award a $1,000 grant to a local or national youth sports organization of their choosing. Cox is also eligible to submit a 30-second video explaining why the organization they chose is deserving of one of twelve $10,000 spotlight grants, which will be announced throughout the year. To date, Gatorade Player of the Year winners’ grants have totaled more than $2.7 million across 1,117 organizations.
Since the program’s inception in 1985, Gatorade Player of the Year award recipients have won hundreds of professional and college championships, and many have also turned into pillars in their communities, becoming coaches, business owners and educators.
To learn more about the Gatorade Player of the Year program, check out past winners or to nominate student-athletes, visit www.playeroftheyear.gatorade.com, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/GatoradePOY or follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/Gatorade.