Gatorade honors Ventura standout Sadie Engelhardt again
VENTURA, Calif. - In its 38th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, Gatorade today announced Sadie Engelhardt of Ventura High School is the 2022-23 Gatorade California Girls Track & Field Player of the Year. Engelhardt is the first Gatorade California Girls Track & Field Player of the Year to be chosen from Ventura High School.
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 Engelhardt as California’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, Engelhardt 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 state’s returning Gatorade Girls Track & Field Player of the Year, the 5-foot-9 sophomore became the first girl in the history of the CIF state championship meet to win both the 800- and 1600-meter runs in the same season. Engelhardt’s winning 1600 time of 4:33.45 ranked No. 1 nationally among girls prep competitors in 2023. She also ranked No. 1 nationally in the 1500, placing sixth in 4:13.04 against a field of professional athletes at the Portland Track Festival. She ranked No. 2 nationally in the 3200-meter run (9:51.49) and No. 3 in the mile (4:36.26). All four of her national marks rank in the top 10 in girls prep history.
A member of Runners for Public Lands, which helps raise money for a local trail system in Ventura and Ojai, Engelhardt has participated in multiple fundraising campaigns to benefit the Land Conservancy that is opening up the hills above Ventura by building public trails and maintaining the land. She has also volunteered locally at running events and marathons. “Sadie Engelhardt continued to demonstrate why she is the most well-rounded distance runner in the country and one of the elite competitors in U.S. prep history,” said Erik Boal, editor at DyeStat.com. “After winning her first New Balance National indoor mile title in March, Engelhardt was impressive from 400 to 3200 meters during the outdoor season, becoming the first California high school female athlete to win state titles in the 800 and 1600 in the same season.”
Engelhardt has maintained a 4.56 weighted GPA in the classroom. She will begin her junior 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.
Two-time winner Engelhardt joins recent Gatorade California Girls Track & Field Players of the Year Mia Barnett (2020-21, Crescenta Valley High School), Paige Sommers (2019-20, Westlake High School), and Jocelynn Budwig (2018-19, Fowler High School), among the state’s list of former award winners.
(Article courtesy of Gatorade)
