Paula Andrie of Gillette Wins WY Gatorade Girls T&F Athlete Of The Year

In its 26th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company, in collaboration with ESPN RISE, announced Paula Andrie of Campbell County HS as its 2010-11 Gatorade Wyoming Girls Track & Field Athlete of the Year.

Andrie is the third Gatorade Wyoming Girls Track & Field Athlete of the Year to be chosen from Campbell County HS.

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 Andrie 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, Andrie 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-6 senior captured the Class 4A state championship and set a state record in the pole vault with a clearance of 12 feet at the state meet this spring, leading the Camels to second place as a team.

A 2011 Milward Simpson Athlete of the Year finalist, Andrie also took second-place in the 100-meter high hurdles with a time of 15.90 and was runner-up in both the long jump with a leap of 17 feet, two inches and the triple jump (35 feet, 11 inches).

Andrie led all participants with 34 individual points at the state class meet. Andrie has maintained a 4.0 GPA in the classroom.

She has volunteered locally as a youth track and field coach and as part of multiple community service initiatives in association with the National Honor Society.

“Paula Andrie is a great athlete and I have enjoyed watching her compete over the years,” said Shelly Coventry Head Coach of rival Natrona County High. “She has excelled in four events over the years and has set many records in the pole vault. She’s a good teammate and a great kid.”

Andrie has signed a National Letter of Intent to compete in track and field on scholarship at the University of Nebraska 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 ESPN RISE 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.

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