Brodie Roden Of Riverton Wins 2018 B T&F Gatorade Award

In its 33rd year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company, announced Brodie Roden of Riverton High School as its 2017-18 Gatorade Wyoming Boys Track & Field Athlete of the Year.

Roden is the second Gatorade Wyoming Boys Track & Field Athlete of the Year to be chosen from Riverton 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 Roden as Wyoming’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, Roden joins an elite alumni association of state track & field award-winners, including Lolo Jones (1997-98, Roosevelt High School, Iowa), Allyson Felix (2002-03, Los Angeles Baptist High School, Calif.), Robert Griffin III (2006-07, Copperas Cove High School, Texas), Grant Fisher (2013-14 & 2014-15, Grand Blanc High School, Mich.) and Candace Hill (2014-15, Rockdale County High School, Ga.).

The 6-foot, 175-pound senior swept the 100-, 200- and 400-meter dash at the Class 3A at the Wyoming All-State Track & Field Championships this past season, leading the Wolverines to a fifth-place finish as a team.

In addition to clocking the fastest all-class times in the 100 (10.98 seconds) and 200 (22.24), Roden’s 400 time of 48.78 set a new Class 3A meet record. He was also part of Riverton’s the third-place 4x400-meter relay quartet at states.

The school record-holder in all three events (100: 10.70; 200: 21.94; 400: 48.78), Roden did not lose a head-to-head race in 2018.

Voted the Riverton High School Student of the Year by school staff members, Roden was twice named First-Team All-State for Class 3A by the Wyoming Coaches Association.

A football standout as a wide receiver and strong safety, Roden is a member of the school’s Leadership Committee.

He has donated his time fundraising for the Make-a-Wish Foundation as well as PAWS for Life.

He has also volunteered locally with Community Entry Services, an empowerment agency for the disabled, in addition to serving as a youth football and baseball coach.

“Brodie got better year after year, and that was due to a lot of hard work, good coaching, and being a real student of the sport,” said Ben Gose, head coach at Lander Valley High, who was the 1986-87 Wyoming Gatorade Boys Track and Field Athlete of the Year at Riverton.

“He has mastered things like the start and accelerating properly in the short sprints and learning how to pace the 400 meters. He put the team first. He also got it done when it counted in the big meets.”

Roden has maintained a B average in the classroom.

He has signed a national letter of intent to compete on scholarship in both football and track and field at Chadron State College in 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 the Gatorade Player of the Year Selection Committee, 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.

Roden joins recent Gatorade Wyoming Boys Track & Field Athletes of the Year McCade Johnson (2016-17, Laramie High School), Brody Smith (2015-16, Natrona County High School), Chase Andersen (2014-15, Natrona County High School), Joey Czellecz (2013-14 & 2012-13, Kelly Walsh High School), Kevin Allen (2011-12, Upton High School), Justin Melton (2010–11, Douglas High School), Caleb Her Many Horses (2009-10, Wyoming Indian), Dominick Robinson (2008–09, Campbell County), Stephen Michel (2007-08, Laramie), and Bob Hewitt-Gaffney (2006-07, Campbell County) among the state’s list of former award winners.

As a Gatorade Player of the Year, Roden will be able to select a national or local youth sports organization to receive a grant as part of the Gatorade Play It Forward program.

Every Gatorade Player of the Year state winner receives a $1,000 grant to donate and will have the opportunity to enter for an additional $10,000 spotlight grant by writing a brief essay explaining why their selected organization deserves additional support. 12 spotlight grants – one for each sport – will be announced throughout the year.