In its 27th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company, in collaboration with ESPNHS, announced Jerayah Davis of Kelly Walsh High School as its 2011-12 Gatorade Wyoming Girls Track & Field Athlete of the Year.

Davis is the second Gatorade Wyoming Girls Track & Field Athlete of the Year to be chosen from Kelly Walsh 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 Davis as Wyoming’s best high school girls track & field athlete.

Now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Girls Track & Field Athlete of the Year award to be announced in June, Davis joins an elite alumni association of state award-winners in 12 sports, including Allyson Felix (2001-02, Los Angeles Baptist, Calif.), Derek Jeter (1991-92, Kalamazoo HS, Mich.), Candace Parker (2001-02, Naperville Central HS, Ill.), Abby Wambach (1997-98, Our Lady of Mercy, N.Y.), Mark Sanchez (2004-05, Mission Viejo HS, Calif.), Lolo Jones (1997-98, Roosevelt HS, Ia.) and Bianca Knight (2006-07, Ridgeland HS, Miss.).

The 5-foot-9 sophomore sprinter/jumper won three individual state championships this spring and led the Trojans to the Class 4A state title as a team.

Davis won the 100-meter dash with a time of 12.23 seconds, the 200-meter dash in 24.85 and the long jump with a leap of 18 feet, nine and one quarter inches.

A two-time First Team All-State selection, she was undefeated in both the 100 and the 200 in 2012.

Davis has maintained a 3.94 GPA in the classroom.

A devoted member of her church community, she has volunteered locally as a youth track and field coach and a mentor for students with special needs.

“Jerayah Davis is an extremely dedicated athlete who works very hard at all of her events,” said Kelly Walsh head coach Kevin Williams. “She is also a positive role model who takes the time to encourage and support her peers.”

Davis 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 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.

Davis joins recent Gatorade Wyoming Girls Track & Field Athletes of the Year Paula Andrie (2010-11, Campbell County HS), Baillie Gibson (2009-10, Natrona County), and Emily Moore (2007-08 & 2008-09, Campbell County), among the state’s list of former award winners.

More From WyoPreps