Incoming Ragin’ Cajuns freshman Kashie Crockett earns Gatorade state track top honor

Monroe native swept hurdle events at LHSAA Class 5A state meet

LAFAYETTE – Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns Track and Field incoming freshman Kashie Crockett was honored on Thursday as the 2020-21 Gatorade Louisiana Boys Track & Field Player of the Year, in an announcement by the organization.

Crockett, who signed a National Letter of Intent to run for the Ragin’ Cajuns beginning this fall, is now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Boys Track & Field Player of the Year which will be announced later this month.

The Monroe native and former Ouachita Parish High School product claimed both the 110- and 300-meter hurdles at the LHSAA Class 5A state meet earlier this year, clocking personal-best times in both events and helping lead the Lions to a third-place finish as a team. His time of 13.76 seconds in the 110 set a Class 5A record and ranked No. 10 nationally among 2021 prep competitors. His time of 36.42 in the 300-meters ranked third nationally in 2021 and set an all-state record.

Crockett has volunteered locally in the Monroe area and donated his time to local charities, including Race for a Cure and the Louisiana State Games. Crockett maintained a 3.86 grade point average in the classroom.

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 Crockett as Louisiana’s best high school boys track & field athlete. Now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Boys Track & Field Player of the Year award to be announced in July, Crockett joins an elite alumni association of state award-winners in 12 sports, 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 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 works with top sport-specific experts and a media advisory board of accomplished, veteran prep sports journalists to determine the state winners in each sport.

Crockett joins recent Gatorade Louisiana Boys Track & Field Players of the Year Sean Burrell (2019-20 & 2018-19, Zachary High School), and Armand ‘Mondo’ Duplantis (2017-18 & 2016-17, Lafayette High School), among the state’s list of former award winners.

Through Gatorade’s cause marketing platform “Play it Forward,” Crockett has the opportunity to award a $1,000 grant to a local or national youth sports organization of their choosing. Crockett is also eligible to submit a 30-second video explaining why the organization they chose is deserving of one of twelve $10,000 spotlight grants, which will be announced throughout the year. To date, Gatorade Player of the Year winners’ grants have totaled more than $2.7 million across 1,117 organizations.

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.

To learn more about the Gatorade Player of the Year program, check out past winners or to nominate student-athletes, visit playeroftheyear.gatorade.com, on Facebook at facebook.com/GatoradePOY or follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/Gatorade.

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