CHICAGO (June 21, 2018) -- In its 33rd year of honoring the nation's best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company, today
announced Marion Humphrey of Hoover High School as its 2017-18 Gatorade Alabama Boys Track & Field Athlete of the Year.
Humphrey is the second Gatorade Alabama Boys Track & Field Athlete of the Year to be chosen from Hoover 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 track, distinguishes Humphrey as Alabama's best high school boys track & field
athlete. Now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Boys Track & Field Athlete of the Year award to be announced in June,
Humphrey joins an elite alumni association of state track & field award-winners, including Lolo Jones (1997-98, Roosevelt High
School, Iowa), Allyson Felix (2002-03, Los Angeles Baptist High School, Calif.), Robert Griffin III (2006-07, Copperas Cove High
School, Texas), Grant Fisher (2013-14 & 2014-15, Grand Blanc High School, Mich.) and Candace Hill (2014-15, Rockdale County
High School, Ga.).
The 6-foot-3, 175-pound senior clocked a personal-best time of 14.00 seconds in the 110-meter hurdles at the Class 7A state meet this
past season, one of two individual victories that helped lead the Buccaneers to the state title as a team. Humphrey also broke the tape
in the 300 hurdles (36.00), and anchored the winning 4x400 relay quartet's state-record time of 3:15.49. At this month's Great
Southwest Classic, he PR'd to take second in the 300 hurdles, and his time of 35.52 ranked No. 2 in the nation among prep competitors
in 2018 as well as the No. 13 clocking in U.S. high school history. Humphrey also earned silver in the 110 hurdles at GSW, and his PR in
the event at the state meet ranked No. 47 nationally.
A Third Team All-State selection in basketball and the Kiwanis Club of Birmingham Athlete of the Year, Humphrey has volunteered
extensively for the Speed City Track & Field Club. "Humphrey's performance at the 7A state final was one of the most memorable in
Alabama history--following the footsteps of his talented siblings to help the Buccaneers secure another title," said Erik Boal, an editor
at Dyestat.com. "He elevated himself into one of the top 10 individuals in history in the 300-meter hurdles while still maintaining an
elite level in the 110 hurdles and 400-meter dash."
Humphrey has maintained a 3.24 GPA in the classroom. He will complete a post-grad prep year at Taylor Made Preparatory School in
Pensacola beginning 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 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.
Humphrey joins recent Gatorade Alabama Boys Track & Field Athletes of the Year Trey Cunningham (2016-17 & 2015-16,, Winfield
City High School), Sean Collins (2014-15, McGill-Toolen Catholic High School), Jaalen Jones (2013-14, Thompson High School), Grant
Hill (2012-13, Huntsville High School), Joseph Williams (2011-12 & 2010--11, Spain Park High School), Keenan Brock (2009-10, Carver),
Patrick McGregor (2008--09, Hoover), Kyle Smith (2007-08, Daphne), and Zach Clayton (2006-07, Opelika) among the state's list of
former award winners
