In its 28th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company, in collaboration with USA TODAY High School Sports, announced Will Horstmann of Jackson Hole High School as its 2012-13 Gatorade Wyoming Boys Soccer Player of the Year

Horstmann is the second Gatorade Wyoming Boys Soccer Player of the Year to be chosen from Jackson Hole 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 Horstmann as Wyoming’s best high school boys soccer player.

Now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Boys Soccer Player of the Year award to be announced in May, Horstmann joins an elite alumni association of past state award-winners in 12 sports, including Abby Wambach (1997-98, Our Lady of Mercy, N.Y.), Derek Jeter (1991-92, Kalamazoo HS, Mich.), Candace Parker (2001-02, Naperville Central HS, Ill.), Alexi Lalas (1987-88, Cranbrook HS, Mich.), Heather O’Reilly (2001-02, East Brunswick HS, N.J.) and Mark Sanchez (2004-05, Mission Viejo HS, Calif.).

The 5-foot-7, 145-pound junior forward has led the Broncs to a 14-0 record and a berth in the Class 3A state tournament, scheduled to begin May 16.

Horstmann scored 18 goals and passed for 13 assists in the regular season.

A First Team All-State selection, he was the Class 3A Underclassman of the Year in 2012.

Horstmann has maintained a 3.66 GPA in the classroom.

A member of his school’s Key Club and robotics team, he has volunteered on behalf of a local homeless shelter and Kids Across America, which provides summer camp experiences for urban youth.

“You have to pay special attention to him every game,” said Dick Edgcomb, head coach at Buffalo High. “He’s very fast, very skilled. He’s got good footwork and he’s a real positive leader for that team.”

Horstmann will begin his senior 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 high school sports leadership team in partnership with USA TODAY High School Sports, 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.

Horstmann joins recent Gatorade Wyoming Boys Soccer Players of the Year Vitor Nazareth (2011-12, Laramie High School), Kasey Esponda (2010–11, Buffalo High School), Kevin Cox (2009-10, Cheyenne Central), Ben Borin (2008–09, Cheyenne East High School), Zach Johnson (2007-08, Kelly Walsh), and Sam Hayden (2006-07, Jackson Hole) among the state’s list of former award winners.

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