In its 38th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, Gatorade announced on Monday that Kole Mathison of Carmel High School is the 2022-23 Gatorade Indiana Boys Cross Country Player of the Year. Mathison is the second Gatorade Indiana Boys Cross Country Player of the Year to be chosen from Carmel 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 Mathison as Indiana’s best high school boys cross country player. Now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Boys Cross Country Player of the Year award to be announced in February, Mathison joins an elite alumni association of state award-winners, including Parker Wolfe (2020-21, Cherry Creek High School, Greenwood Village, Colo.), Nico Young (2019-20, Newbury Park High School, Newbury Park, Calif.), Megan Goethals (2009-10, Rochester High School, Rochester Hills, Mich.) and Jordan Hasay (2008-09, Mission College Preparatory Catholic High School, San Luis Obispo, Calif.).
The 6-foot-4, 155-pound senior raced to victory by a commanding 11 seconds at the Champs Sports National Championships with a time of 14:56.60 this past season. Mathison also took fourth at the Nike Cross Nationals to earn All-America honors at both meets. He broke the tape at the IHSAA state championships in 15:02.80, pacing the Greyhounds to the team title. The state’s returning Gatorade Player of the Year, he concluded his prep cross country career as a four-time All-American.
Mathison has volunteered locally for Champions Together, which promotes servant leadership and social inclusion through Unified sports pairing special needs children with non-disabled student-athletes. He has also donated his time by fundraising for Runway For Riley supporting the Riley Children’s Hospital and Mt. Carmel, a talent show that supports the Special Olympics. “Kole Mathison proved to be the most durable runner in the nation come championship time, posting the best combination placing—4th at Nike Cross Nationals and 1st at Champs Sports— in the two national meets after enduring a pair of challenging regional meets to qualify,” said PrepCalTrack editor Rich Gonzalez. “The University of Colorado signee also led the Greyhounds to the state title.”
Mathison has maintained a weighted 4.13 GPA in the classroom. He has signed a National Letter of Intent to run on scholarship at the University of Colorado at Boulder 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 leverages experts including coaches, scouts, media and others as sources to help evaluate and determine the state winners in each sport.
Two-time winner Mathison joins recent Gatorade Indiana Boys Cross Country Players of the Year Izaiah Steury (2020-21, Angola High School), Gabriel Sanchez (2019-20, Lowell High School), and Cole Hocker (2018-19, Cathedral High School), among the state’s list of former award winners.
Being a Gatorade Player of the Year means paying it forward for the next generation. Through Gatorade’s Play it Forward initiative, every Player of the Year receives a grant to give to one of Gatorade’s social impact partners, supporting Gatorade’s ambition to fuel the future of sport. To date, Gatorade Player of the Year winners’ grants have totaled more than $3.5 million across more than 1,300 organizations.
For nearly 40 years, Gatorade has honored high school athletes at the top of their game as teammates, supporting their communities and achieving academic success. From CEOs and coaches to star athletes and community leaders, Gatorade Player of the Year winners showcase the power of sport.