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CHICAGO (July 8, 2021) - In its 36th year of honoring the nation's best high school athletes, Gatorade today announced Emanuel Joseph of North Rockland High School as its 2020-21 Gatorade New York Boys Track & Field Player of the Year. Joseph is the first Gatorade New York Boys Track & Field Player of the Year to be chosen from North Rockland 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 Joseph as New York'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, Joseph 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 5-foot-10, 160-pound senior won the 110-meter high hurdles at the Section 1 championships this past season with a time of 13.91 seconds, which ranked as the nation's No. 22 performance among 2021 prep competitors. Joseph also won the 110 hurdles at the Loucks Games in 14.02, the second-fastest time ever recorded at that event. He holds the New York indoor state record in the 55 hurdles, having clocked a 7.21 in February, 2020.
Vice President of his school's chapter of the National Honor Society and a talented saxophonist, Joseph has served as a tutor for younger students and has volunteered locally on behalf of community clean-up initiatives. "Emanuel shows up every day, no questions asked, and displays a genuine love for the sport," said North Rockland coach Orlando Rivera. "He's constantly watching instructional videos or his own film. He has full awareness of his competitors and their abilities, and he just loves competing."
Joseph has maintained an A average in the classroom. He has signed a National Letter of Intent to compete in track and field on scholarship at Syracuse University 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 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.
Joseph joins recent Gatorade New York Boys Track & Field Players of the Year Brandon Smith (2019-20, South Shore High School), Kenneth Wei (2018-19, Mount Sinai High School), Jeremiah Willis (2017-18, Cicero-North Syracuse High School), and Daniel Claxton (2016-17, Smithtown High School East), among the state's list of former award winners.
Through Gatorade's cause marketing platform "Play it Forward," Joseph has the opportunity to award a $1,000 grant to a local or national youth sports organization of their choosing. Joseph 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.