Christ School athletics has been fortunate enough to have a Gatorade State Player of the Year four times in 38 years, which speaks to its rarity.
Rocky Hansen ’23 made the award look downright commonplace.
For the third time in the last 18 months, Rocky has been recognized as North Carolina’s best, this time in track and field. The 10-time state champion also won the 2022 Gatorade award for track as well as cross country.
GREENIE GATORADE STATE PLAYERS OF THE YEAR
- 2023: Rocky Hansen ’23 (track and field).
- 2022: Rocky Hansen ’23 (cross country).
- 2022: Rocky Hansen ’23 (track and field).
- 2011: Marshall Plumlee ’11 (basketball).
Gatorade sent out this press release on Thursday:
In its 38th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, Gatorade today announced Rocky Hansen of Christ School is the 2022-23 Gatorade North Carolina Boys Track & Field Player of the Year. Hansen is the first Gatorade North Carolina Boys Track & Field Player of the Year to be chosen from Christ 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 Hansen as North Carolina’s best high school boys track & field athlete. Now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Boys Track & Field Player of the Year award to be announced in July, Hansen joins an elite alumni association of state award-winners in 12 sports, including Nico Young (2019-20, Newbury Park High School, Calif.), Michael Norman (2015-16 & 2014-15, Vista Murrieta High School, Calif.), Grant Fisher (2014-15 & 2013-14, Grand Blanc High School, Mich.) and Robert Griffin III (2006-07, Copperas Cove High School, Texas).
The state’s returning Gatorade Boys Track & Field Player of the Year, the 6-foot-1, 140-pound senior set five state records this past season, including his sub-4 clocking in the mile at the HOKA Festival of Miles with a time of 3:58.23—a performance that ranked No. 2 nationally among prep competitors in 2023. Hansen also set state records in the 800- run (1:50.85), 1500- (3:42.41), 1600- (4:06.89) and 3200-meter events (8:34.78). His times in the 1500 and 3200 both ranked No. 3 nationally this spring. His 1500, mile and 3200 clockings in 2023 all among the Top 12 U.S. prep performances in history in those events.
Hansen has volunteered locally on behalf of the Veteran’s Farm of North Carolina and the non-profit Veterans Restoration Quarters, a division of Asheville Buncombe Community Christian Ministry. He has also donated his time as a member of the Sandwich Squad, which makes lunches for the unhoused.
“Rocky Hansen established himself as the best distance runner in state history, repeatedly breaking the state records—often by a considerable margin,” said Rich Gonzalez, editor of PrepCalTrack.com. “He turned in all-time Top 15 performances in four events, often facing the strongest fields in history.”
Hansen has maintained a weighted 4.67 GPA in the classroom. He has signed a National Letter of Intent to compete on scholarship at Wake Forest University 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 Hansen joins recent Gatorade North Carolina Boys Track & Field Players of the Year Spencer Williams (2020-21, Davie County High School), Cameron Rose (2019-20, Hickory Ridge High School), and Kyle Durham (2018-19, Weddington High School), among the state’s list of former award winners.