Gavenas cheers on a teammate.
Boys’ cross-country runner, Tam Gavenas ’25 (Andover, MA) was named the 2023-24 Gatorade Boys Cross Country Player of the Year for Massachusetts. Gavenas joins an impressive club of other Andover athletes to be named 'Gatorade Player of the Year' including Thomas White ’23 (two-time winner for baseball), Alex Fleury ’20 (track & field), Dallion Johnson ’20 (basketball), Anoush Shehadeh ’15 (cross-country) and Darren Dinneen ’96 (track & field).
Since Gatorade began the award program in 1985, it has widely been considered one of the highest honors a high school athlete can earn. The company states the award, “recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the field, distinguishes Gavenas as Massachusetts’ best high school boys cross-country player.”
Gavenas is now a finalist for the prestigious, Gatorade National Player of the Year award to be announced later in June.
From the Gatorade Player of the Year press release, “The 5-foot-7, 120-pound junior took bronze at the national Foot Locker Cross Country Championships this past season, clocking a time of 15:16.6 to earn First Team All-America honors. Gavenas, who took second at the NEPSTA Championships with a personal-best time of 15:06.0, placed seventh in the featured Eastern States Championships at the Manhattan Invitational. He also took fourth at the Foot Locker Northeast Regionals in 15:07.0. “Tam Gavenas’ legs were simply magical in the postseason, delivering the best finish by a Massachusetts runner at the Foot Locker Nationals meet in 26 years,” said Rich Gonzalez of PrepCalTrack. “During the regular season, broke the old meet record in finishing second at the Manchester Invitational, and his top 10 placing in the Eastern States race of the Manhattan Invitational was further proof he’s a rising star.”