HAR-BER HIGH SCHOOL STANDOUT NAMED
GATORADE ARKANSAS GIRLS CROSS COUNTRY RUNNER OF THE YEAR
CHICAGO (January 14, 2016) - In its 31st year of honoring the nation's best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company, in collaboration with USA TODAY High School Sports, today announced Elise Reina of Har-Ber High School as its 2015-16 Gatorade Arkansas Girls Cross Country Runner of the Year. Reina is the second Gatorade Arkansas Girls Cross Country Runner of the Year to be chosen from Har-Ber 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 Reina as Arkansas's best high school girls cross country runner. Now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Girls Cross Country Runner of the Year award to be announced in January, Reina joins an elite alumni association of past state award-winners in 12 sports, including Ryan Hall (1999-00, 2000-01, Big Bear HS, Calif.), Derek Jeter (1991-92, Kalamazoo HS, Mich.), Candace Parker (2001-02, Naperville Central HS, Ill.), Abby Wambach (1997-98, Our Lady of Mercy, N.Y.) and Mark Sanchez (2004-05, Mission Viejo HS, Calif.).
The 5-foot-2 senior raced to her third straight Class 7A individual state title this past season with a time of 18:44.9, leading the Wildcats to a fourth-place finish as a team. The state's returning Gatorade Girls Cross Country Runner of the Year, Reina earned eighth-place at the Chile Pepper XC Festival with a time of 18:36.9, tops among Arkansas runners.
Reina has maintained a 3.65 GPA in the classroom. A member of the National Honor Society and her school's math club, she has volunteered locally on behalf of the Samaritan Community Center and her church youth group.
"I could not be more impressed with Elisa Reina's amazing abilities, highlighted by her competitive spirit, race execution and positive mental attitude," said Mike Trexler, president of the Arkansas Association of USA Track & Field. "She always treats others with respect and demonstrates her perfectly balanced confidence with dignity and grace."
Reina has verbally committed to play soccer on scholarship at the University of Kansas 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.
Two-time winner Reina joins Gatorade Arkansas Girls Cross Country Runners of the Year Kyandra Chandler (2013-14, Nettleton High School), Maggie Montoya (2012-13 & 2011-12, Rogers High School), Valerie Reina (2010-11, Har-Ber High School), Erika Setzler (2009-10, Conway High School), and Grace Heymsfield (2008-09 & 2007-08, Elkins High School) as athletes who have won the cross country award since its inception in 2007.
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Previous school winner
2010-11 Valerie Reina,