Next week will be an exciting week for recent Xavier College Prep graduate and volleyball star Khalia Lanier as she is headed to Hollywood. She begins her career at USC with a volleyball scholarship this fall but her trip to the coast on July 12th presents different excitement before her collegiate career begins.
Lanier will be along side some of the top prep athletes in America as a nominee for the 2015-16 Gatorade Female High School Athlete of the Year award. In now its 14th year, the Gatorade Male and Female Athlete of the Year award has become the most prestigious honor in high school sports and Lanier will be there this year representing Arizona.
The winners will be named at a dinner emceed by Sage Steele of ESPN Tuesday, July 12 while awards will be presented by the Carolina Panthers’ Cam Newton, Karl-Anthony Towns of the Minnesota Timberwolves (2014 Gatorade High School Athlete of the Year, 2013-14 Gatorade National Boys Basketball Player of the Year) and Abby Wambach, 2015 Women’s World Cup Champion and 1997-98 Gatorade New York Girls Soccer Player of the Year, among others.
As part of the honor of being nominated for this year’s award, Lanier will walk the Red Carpet prior to the ESPY Awards on Wednesday, July 13.
Lanier is coming off of a dominant senior season in which she led the Xavier to the Division I state final. She Recorded 496 kills, 324 digs and 28 service aces while posting a kill percentage of .438. She was named a 2015 American Volleyball Coaches Association First Team All-American, Under Armor First Team All-American and PrepVolleyball.com named her the top-ranked volleyball player in the nation.
Former Gatorade Athletes of the year include:
2003 – LeBron James (Male / Basketball) and Allyson Felix (Female / Track & Field)
2004 – Dwight Howard (Male / Basketball) and Candace Parker (Female / Basketball)
2005 – Greg Paulus (Male / Football) and Cynthia Barboza (Female / Volleyball)
2006 – Greg Oden (Male / Basketball) and Tina Charles (Female / Basketball)
2007 – Kevin Love (Male / Basketball) and Maya Moore (Female / Basketball)
2008 – Matt Barkley (Male / Football) and Chanelle Price (Female / Track & Field)
2009 – Garrett Gilbert (Male / Football) and Skylar Diggins (Female / Basketball)
2010 – Brandon Knight (Male / Basketball) and Chiney Ogwumike (Female / Basketball)
2011 – Dylan Bundy (Male / Baseball) and Morgan Brian (Female / Soccer)
2012 – Johnathan Gray (Male / Football) and Breanna Stewart (Female / Basketball)
2013 – Andrew Wiggins (Male / Basketball) and Morgan Andrews (Female / Soccer)
2014 – Karl Towns Jr. (Male / Basketball) and Brianna Turner (Female / Basketball)
2015 – Kyler Murray (Male / Football) and Candace Hill (Female / Track & Field)
Best of luck to Khalia Lanier who has already made Arizona proud! Fans can go to Gatorade’s Player of the Year Facebook page to see highlights from the night.
