Gavin Stafford Selected Gatorade Wyoming Boys Track and Field Player of the Year 2023-24

Big Horn High School sprinter Gavin Stafford was chosen as the 2023-24 winner of the Gatorade Wyoming Boys Track and Field Player of the Year on Thursday. In its 39th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, Stafford is the first Gatorade Wyoming Boys Track and Field Player of the Year from Big Horn High School.

Stafford won four titles at the state track championships in Casper last month. He set one state record and three class records at the event. It helped the Rams win their second consecutive Class 2A boys’ team championship. Stafford ran 10.31 seconds in the 100-meter dash prelims to set a new state record. He won the title at 10.58 seconds. He set a 2A record in the 200-meter dash prelims at 21.16 seconds and won the event at 21.30 seconds. Stafford also won the 2A long jump with a class record leap of 23-0.75. Big Horn also set a class record in the 4x100 relay at 43.07 seconds, and Stafford ran the anchor leg in the race.

Gavin was also one of the five male finalists for the prestigious Milward Simpson Award in 2024 and was named the first WyoPreps Athlete of the Year for Boys Outdoor Track and Field for the 2023-24 school year.

A First Team All-State running back for the Big Horn High School football team, Stafford has volunteered locally as a youth football and basketball coach. He has also donated his time as a peer mentor. The 6-foot, 155-pound senior maintained a B average in the classroom. He remains undecided about a collegiate destination.

Tongue River head track coach Steve Hanson paid Stafford a major compliment in the release from The Gatorade Company.

“I remarked at the state meet to another coach ‘I hope people realize how special this kid is.’ He’s a generational talent. Watching him perform gave you the feeling that at any moment, you could witness something incredible.”

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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 Stafford as Wyoming’s best high school boys’ track & field athlete. He is now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Boys Track and Field Player of the Year award to be announced later this summer.

Stafford joins recent Gatorade Wyoming Boys Track and Field Players of the Year Gage Gose (2022-23) of Lander, Texas Tanner (2021-22) from Sheridan High School, and Joseph Turner (2020-21) of Lyman High School, among the state’s list of former award winners.

As part of Gatorade’s commitment to breaking down barriers in sport, every Player of the Year also receives a grant to donate to a social impact partner. To date, the Gatorade Player of the Year program has provided more than $4.9 million in grants to winners across more than 1,900 organizations.

Information in a press release from The Gatorade Company was used in this story.