CHICAGO — In its 30th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company, in collaboration with USA TODAY High School Sports, today announced Jeremy Brown of Broughton High School as its 2014-15 Gatorade North Carolina Boys Cross Country Runner of the Year. Brown is the first Gatorade North Carolina Boys Cross Country Runner of the Year to be chosen from Broughton 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 racecourse, distinguishes Brown as North Carolina’s best high school boys cross country runner.

     The 5-foot-11, 145-pound junior captured the North Carolina High School Athletic Association class 4A individual state championship with a time of 15:50.03 this past season, leading the Capitals to a fourth straight state title as a team. A three-time Class 4A All-State honoree, Brown took third at the Nike Cross Country Nationals Southeast Regional championships in 14:57, which ranked as the state’s fastest 5K of the season, and then finished 23rd at the NXN Final, clocking a 15:48.

     Brown has maintained a 3.44 weighted GPA in the classroom. In addition to donating his time handing out water at Raleigh’s Ironman triathlon, he has completed more than 75 hours of community service on behalf of his school, including his participating in Broughton High’s peer-mentoring initiative and an annual Stop Hunger Now fundraising campaign.

     “Jeremy is very accomplished as a runner and always serves as a model of hard work and dedication,” said Broughton head coach David Christian, who won Gatorade Kentucky Boys Track & Field Athlete of the Year honors in the 1998-99 season. “He has served as a great supporter of the success of his teammate’s efforts and our programs goals. He continually motivates and helps guide the team.”

     Brown will begin his senior year of high school 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 high school sports leadership team in partnership with USA TODAY High School Sports, 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.

     Brown joins Gatorade North Carolina Boys Cross Country Runners of the Year Ben Huffman (2013-14, Providence Day School), Bakri Abushouk (2012-13, Cary High School), Thomas Graham (2011-12, Cary Academy), Blake Williams (2010-11, Northern High School), Jake Hurysz (2009-10, Eastern Alamance), Taylor Gilland (2008-09, Chapel Hill), and Ryan Hill (2007-08, Hickory) as athletes who have won the cross country award since its inception in 2007.

     To keep up to date on the latest happenings, become a fan of Gatorade Player of the Year on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. For more on the Gatorade Player of the Year program, including nomination information, a complete list of past winners and the announcement of the Gatorade National Player of the Year, visit www.gatorade.com/poy.