The 2016 Gatorade High School Athlete of the Year (AOY) awards ceremony was recently held in Los Angeles and in attendance were the incredible high school athlete nominees and also some of today’s professional sports stars.
Jayson Tatum, a 6’8” small forward, from Chaminade College Prep who is headed to Duke next year, took the male honors for Gatorade Athlete of the Year. Tatum is one of the nation’s top college recruits and finished his senior season averaging 29 points and nine rebounds per game while shooting an amazing 61 percent from inside the three-point line.
Sydney McLaughlin, a 16-year-old sprinter and hurdler, from Union Catholic High School took the female honors for Gatorade Athlete of the Year. McLaughlin recently finished in third place in the 400-meter hurdles in the U.S. Olympic trials with a time of 54.14. With this finish, McLaughlin qualified for her first Olympic team becoming the youngest U.S. Track & Field Olympian ever.
We can definitely expect continued greatness from Tatum and McLaughlin in the future.
The Gatorade AOY event was star-studded with current professional athletes such as Cam Newton, Jenny Finch, and Todd Gurley just to name a few. Next Impulse Sports was lucky enough to sit down with Gurley to touch base on him with the Rams’ big move to Los Angeles and his thoughts on the upcoming season.
We asked Gurley what his favorite thing about L.A. has been so far and to this he replied a bit unamused, probably because he’s heard this question a million times, “The weather, I guess”.
We then asked if he’s sure his favorite thing could not possibly be the greatness of In-N-Out? To this Gurley burst out laughing and stated, “Nah I’m a Carl’s Jr. type of guy”.
It was the perfect response for their new star spokesman, although it’s kind of hard to believe as he didn’t even bite into a real burger for the commercial. Yes, with the same technology they use to blow up entire cities in Transformers, they weirdly CGI’d Gurley taking a bite of a burger. Here’s another look.
We then asked Gurley what he is seeking to achieve after taking home the Offensive Rookie of the Year award last season. Gurley replied, “Get some wins. Help my team. Try to get to the playoffs and step more into a leader role”.
It sure sounds like Gurley is ready for the bright lights in L.A., and L.A. is ready for him to lead the Rams across the goal line after its long drought of having a hometown team.
About Jeff Chavez