Rylee Hladky Of Campbell County Wins 2018-19 G Basketball Gatorade Award

In its 34th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company, announced Rylee Hladky of Campbell County High School as its 2018-19 Gatorade Wyoming Girls Basketball Player of the Year.

Hladky is the twelfth Gatorade Wyoming Girls Basketball Player of the Year to be chosen from Campbell County 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 Hladky as Wyoming’s best high school girls basketball player.

Now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Girls Basketball Player of the Year award to be announced in March, Hladky joins an elite alumni association of state award-winners in 12 sports, including Maya Moore (2005-06, Collins Hill High School, Ga.), Rashanda McCants (2004-05, Asheville High School, N.C.), Candace Parker (2001-02, 2002-03 & 2003-04, Naperville Central High School, Ill.), Diana Taurasi (1998-99 & 1999-00, Don Antonio Lugo High School, Calif.), Shyra Ely (1999-00, Ben Davis High School, Ind.), Katie Smith (1991-92, Logan High School, Ohio) and Lisa Leslie (1988-89, Morningside High School, Calif.).

The 5-foot-9 senior guard had led the Camels to a 14-8 record and a berth in the Class 4A state tournament quarterfinals at the time of her selection.

Hladky averaged 22.3 points, 8.2 rebounds, 4.7 steals, 3.5 assists and 1.3 blocks through 22 games, ranking in the Top 6 in all of Class 4A in all five categories.

A three-time First Team All-State selection, Hladky was the 2018 Class 4A Player of the Year.

She entered the state quarterfinals with 1,207 points in her prep basketball career.

Hladky’s cousin, Trey, was the state’s Gatorade Boys Basketball Player of the Year in both 2016-17 and 2017-18.

An All-State volleyball player, Rylee Hladky has volunteered locally as a bell ringer for the Salvation Army and as a youth basketball and volleyball coach.

“We couldn’t find a player to defend Rylee,” said Braidi Lutgen, head coach of Thunder Basin High. “The bigger the game, the more she’ll step up. You won’t find a more diverse player offensively or defensively.”

Hladky has maintained a weighted 4.10 GPA in the classroom.

She has signed a national letter of intent to play basketball on scholarship at Metropolitan State University in Colorado beginning 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.

From the 12 national winners, one male and one female athlete are each named Gatorade High School Athlete of the Year.

In all, 607 athletes are honored each year.

Hladky joins Gatorade Wyoming Girls Basketball Players of the Year McKinley Bradshaw (2017-18, Lyman High School), Kalina Smith (2016-17, Campbell County High School), Robbi Ryan (2015-16 & 2014-15, Sheridan High School) and Kaylee Johnson (2013-14, Natrona County High School) as athletes who have recently won the basketball award.

As a part of Gatorade’s cause marketing platform “Play it Forward,” Hladky also has the opportunity to award a $1,000 grant to a local or national youth sports organization of her choosing.

She is also eligible to submit an essay to win one of twelve $10,000 spotlight grants for the organization of choice, which will be announced throughout the year.

Since the program’s inception in 1985, Gatorade Player of the Year award recipients have won hundreds of professional and college championships, and many have also turned into pillars in their communities, becoming coaches, business owners and educators.