CHICAGO (January 30, 2023) - In its 38th year of honoring the nation's best high school athletes, Gatorade today
announced Charlie Collins of Hampden Academy is the 2022-23 Gatorade Maine Boys Cross Country Player of
the Year. Collins is the second Gatorade Maine Boys Cross Country Player of the Year to be chosen from
Hampden 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 Collins as Maine's best
high school boys cross country player. Now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Boys Cross Country
Player of the Year award to be announced in February, Collins joins an elite alumni association of state award winners, including Parker Wolfe (2020-21, Cherry Creek High School, Greenwood Village, Colo.), Nico Young
(2019-20, Newbury Park High School, Newbury Park, Calif.), Megan Goethals (2009-10, Rochester High School,
Rochester Hills, Mich.) and Jordan Hasay (2008-09, Mission College Preparatory Catholic High School, San Luis
Obispo, Calif.).
Maine Boys Gatorade XC Player of Year History
The 5-foot-9, 150-pound senior raced to victory by nine seconds in the Class A State Championships this past
season, clocking a 16:29.57 to pace the Broncos to the state team title. Collins won nine of 10 races he entered last
fall. He broke the tape at the Maine XC Festival of Champions with a season-best time of 15:38.91.
Collins has volunteered locally with the Maine Special Olympics in addition to his duties as an altar server in his
church. "Four years after arriving at Hampden Academy as an accomplished middle school talent, Charlie Collins
transformed the program," said PrepCalTrack editor Rich Gonzalez. "By the time he was done, the Broncos were
back-to-back state team champions and he'd won an individual crown. Collins broke course records at the
Hampden and Saxl Park layouts last fall and also won the 678-runner Maine Festival of Champions meet."
Collins has maintained a 3.17 GPA in the classroom. He has signed a National Letter of Intent to run on scholarship
at the University of Maine this fall.
