Chicago, Ill.— In its 35th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company today announced Silas Winders of Henry County High School as its 2019-20 Gatorade Tennessee Boys Cross Country Runner of the Year. Winders is the first Gatorade Tennessee Boys Cross Country Runner of the Year to be chosen from Henry County High School.
Winders signed in January with the University of Southern Indiana.
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 Winders as Tennessee’s best high school boys cross country runner. Now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Boys Cross Country Runner of the Year award to be announced in February,
An avid angler and hunter, Winders has volunteered locally at the Henry County Relay for Life Survivors Dinner. He has also donated his time on behalf of a karate day camp and with multiple community service initiatives through his church youth group.
Winders has maintained a 4.0 GPA in the classroom. He has signed a National Letter of Intent to run cross country on scholarship at the University of Tennessee this fall.
As a part of Gatorade’s cause marketing platform “Play it Forward,” Winders has the opportunity to award a $1,000 grant to a local or national youth sports organization of his choosing. He is also eligible to submit an essay to win one of twelve $10,000 spotlight grants for the organization of choice, which will be announced throughout the year.