Sean Burrell of Zachary High School named 2019-20 Gatorade Louisiana Boys Track & Field Athlete of the Year

CHICAGO — In its 35th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company today announced Sean Burrell of Zachary High School as its 2019-20 Gatorade Louisiana Boys Track & Field Athlete of the Year. Burrell is the second Gatorade Louisiana Boys Track & Field Athlete of the Year to be chosen from Zachary 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 Burrell as Louisiana’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 July, Burrell 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 state’s returning Gatorade Boys Track & Field Athlete of the Year, the 5-foot-10, 170-pound senior won individual titles in the 60-meter hurdles and the 400-meter dash in addition to earning a share of two relay crowns (4×200, 4×400) at the 2020 LHSAA Indoor State Championships. His personal-best time of 7.98 seconds in the 60-meter hurdles ranked as the nation’s No. 14 clocking (tie) among prep indoor competitors this year, while his season-best 48.63 in the 400 at the LSU HS Classic tied for the nation’s No. 26 ranking. During the 2019 outdoor season, he swept the 200 and 400 dash events at the 5A state meet, helping the Broncos finish second as a team. His season-best times of 20.79 in the 200 and 46.52 in the 400 ranked No. 15 and No. 7 in the country, respectively, among prep outdoor competitors in 2019. The 2019 Louisiana All-State Male Track MVP, Burrell was an All-State selection in four events for the 2020 indoor campaign. The nation’s No. 9 recruit in the Class of 2020 as rated by MileSplit, he entered his senior year having won three consecutive outdoor state titles in the 400 and he graduates with nine state championship medals, in all.

An avid angler who helps his family raise American Bully show dogs, Burrell is a member of the Serve 225 charitable organization, which assists the needy around Baton Rouge. The son of a firefighter, Burrell often accompanies his father on visits to under-resourced communities to distribute food and perform chores around the house for local elderly. He has also donated his time as a mentor and coach for young track athletes. After choosing to step away from football last fall, he organized and led a team cheering section of special needs students. “Sean Burrell picked up right where he left things at the end of the 2019 regular season when he won Gatorade honors,” said Erik Boal, a DyeStat editor. “He captured two indoor state titles this winter on the heels of first-place finishes in the 2019 postseason outdoors at the Great Southwest Classic, the Brooks PR and the Junior Olympics.”

Burrell has maintained a GPA of 3.45 in the classroom. He has signed a national letter of intent to compete on an athletic scholarship at LSU.

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.

Two-time winner Burrell joins recent Gatorade Louisiana Boys Track & Field Athletes of the Year Sean Armand ‘Mondo’ Duplantis (2017-18, Lafayette High School), Armand ‘Mondo’ Duplantis (2016-17, Lafayette High School), Raymond Calais (2015-16, Cecilia High School), Armand Duplantis (2014-15, Lafayette High School), and Devin King (2013-14, Jewel M. Sumner High School) among the state’s list of former award winners.

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 www.Gatorade.com/POY, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/GatoradePOY or follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/Gatorade.