KENNEDI SANDERS
GATORADE PLAYER OF THE YEAR...AGAIN!
In its 37th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, Gatorade announced Kennedi Sanders of Madi- son-Ridgeland Academy as the 2021-22 Gatorade Mississippi Girls Track & Field Player of the Year. Sanders is the two-peat Gatorade Mississippi Girls Track & Field Player of the Year. 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, dis- tinguishes Sanders as Mississippi’s best high school girls track & field athlete. Now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade Na- tional Girls Track & Field Player of the Year award to be an- nounced in July, Sanders joins an elite alumni association of state award-winners in 12 sports. The 5-foot-6 senior sprinter won three individual state titles (in 100-, 200- and 400-meter dash) along with a shared relay crown at the MAIS 6A State Meet this past season, leading the Patriots to the team title. Sanders added two more victories in the 200 and 400 at the Mississippi T&F Meet of Champions. Sanders’ six gold medals came at distances from 100 to 400 meters. In this spring’s MAIS 6A 4x100-meter relay, she ran the anchor leg for a foursome that clocked a 49.23 to break an all-class MAIS record set in 1972. MRA’s Varsity Girls’ Track Coach, Melanie Black, has this to say about the special athlete, “Having Kennedi at MRA was a huge blessing for our track program, not just for her unparalleled sprinting ability and speed, but for the positive example she set for all our other track girls. Unlike so many other gifted athletes who are content to rest on their talent alone, Kennedi was very dedicated and committed to getting better each and every day. Her strong work ethic and great attitude were an inspiration to her fellow teammates and motivated them to train harder and broaden their goals.” The state’s returning Gatorade Girls Track & Field Player of the Year, her season-best times in the 100 (11.75) and 200 (24.02) both ranked among the nation’s top 65 girls prep competi- tors in 2022. At the time of her selection, Sanders’ season-best clocking of 54.09 in the 400 was tied for the nation’s No. 25 time among prep girls in 2022. A USA Track & Field Southern Association All-American, she graduated as the MAIS all-class state record-holder in 200 and 400, and the MAIS Class 5A re- cord-holder in 100. Sanders has maintained a 3.39 weighted GPA in the classroom. She has signed a National Letter of In- tent to compete on an athletic scholarship at LSU this fall. Coach Black adds, “MRA was also a big blessing for Kennedi, strengthening her academically, spiritually, and socially- helping mold her into the outstanding young lady she has become. As she moves forward with her athletic career at LSU and beyond, I know she will continue to make her MRA family very proud.” -Beth Yerger
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