MADISON AREA MEMORIAL HIGH SCHOOL STANDOUT NAMED GATORADE MAINE BOYS TRACK & FIELD ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
CHICAGO (June 21, 2012) — In its 27th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company, in collaboration with ESPNHS, today announced Matthew McClintock of Madison Area Memorial High School as its 2011-12 Gatorade Maine Boys Track & Field Athlete of the Year. McClintock is the first Gatorade Maine Boys Track & Field Athlete of the Year to be chosen from Madison Area Memorial 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 track, distinguishes McClintock as Maine’s best high school boys track & field athlete. Now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Boys Track & Field Athlete of the Year award to be announced in June, McClintock joins an elite alumni association of state award-winners in 12 sports, including Ryan Hall (1999-01, Big Bear HS, Calif.), Meb Keflezighi (1993-94, San Diego HS, Calif.), Derek Jeter (1991-92, Kalamazoo HS, Mich.), Candace Parker (2001-02, Naperville Central HS, Ill.), Mark Sanchez (2004-05, Mission Viejo HS, Calif.) and Lolo Jones (1997-98, Roosevelt HS, Ia.).
The 5-foot-10 senior distance runner won the 1,600-meter run with a class-record time of 4:16.40 and the 3,200-meter run in a class-record 9:16.92 at the Class C state meet this spring. The state’s 2011-12 Gatorade Boys Cross Country Runner of the Year, McClintock also placed second in the 800-meter run in 2:01.67. He went on to win the 3,200 in 9:06.24 at the New England Interscholastic Outdoor Track & Field Championships this past season. McClintock’s 3,200 time at the New England championships ranked as the nation’s No. 65 performance among prep competitors in 2012 at the time of his selection.
Also a cross country standout, McClintock has maintained an A average in the classroom and earned class valedictorian honors. A member of the National Honor Society, he has volunteered on behalf of the Athens Craft Fair, the Madison Food Pantry and his school’s Thanksgiving dinner for senior citizens, in addition to donating his time as a youth athletic instructor.
“I saw him run at New Englands, where he won the two-mile,” said Steve Virgilio, head coach at Cheverus High. “That’s the fastest time I’ve seen in Maine high schools for awhile. He’s pretty quick. He’s got great times. He came within 10 seconds of setting the Maine and New England records, and he ran by himself, too. He’s a tough kid. He finds his pace, and he stays on it. I’m looking forward to seeing what he can at the Division I level.”
McClintock has signed a National Letter of Intent to compete on an athletic scholarship at Purdue University 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 ESPNHS and the Gatorade high school sports leadership team, which work with top sport-specific experts and a media advisory board of accomplished, veteran prep sports journalists to determine the state winners in each sport.
McClintock joins recent Gatorade Maine Boys Track & Field Athletes of the Year Jack Terwilliger (2010-11, Cheverus High School), Will Geoghegan (2009-10, Brunswick), Dan Smith (2008-09, Thornton Academy), and David Slovenski (2007-08, Brunswick) among the state’s list of former award winners.
