Ryan Elie honored as Gatorade D.C. Boys Soccer Player of the Year
CHICAGO (Via Gatorade) — In its 34th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company today announced Ryan Elie of Gonzaga College High School as its 2018-19 Gatorade District of Columbia Boys Soccer Player of the Year. Elie is the seventh Gatorade District of Columbia Boys Soccer Player of the Year to be chosen from Gonzaga College 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 field, distinguishes Elie as District of Columbia’s best high school boys soccer player. Now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Boys Soccer Player of the Year award to be announced in June, Elie joins an elite alumni association of past state soccer award- winners, including Alexi Lalas (1987-88, Cranbrook High School, Mich.), Steve Cherundolo (1996-97, Mt. Carmel High School, Calif.), Abby Wambach (1997-98, Our Lady of Mercy School of Young Women, N.Y.), Heather O’Reilly (2001-02, 2002-03, East Brunswick High School, N.J.), Matt Besler (2004-04, Blue Valley West High School, Kans.), Jack Harrison (2013-14, Berkshire High School, Mass.) and Mallory Pugh (2014-15, Mountain Vista High School, Colo.).
The 5-foot-11, 155-pound junior forward and midfielder scored 15 goals and passed for seven assists this past season, leading the Eagles (14-6-1) to the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference tournament semifinals. A Washington Post Second Team All-Met selection, Elie was a First Team All-WCAC honoree. He concluded his junior year with 26 goals and 12 assists in his prep soccer career.
Elie has volunteered locally with the U.S. Soccer Federation and he has donated his time to multiple community- service initiatives through his church. “Elie is big, fast and dangerous,” said Colin Gleason, head coach of The Heights School. “He is technically sound, too. He is a real threat.”
Elie has maintained a 3.68 GPA in the classroom. He will begin his senior year of high school 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. From the 12 national winners, one male and one female athlete are each named Gatorade High School Athlete of the Year. In all, 607 athletes are honored each year.
Elie joins recent Gatorade District of Columbia Boys Soccer Players of the Year Theo Biddle (2017-18, Wilson High School), Nico Ubide (2016-17, Washington International School), Nate Johnson (2015-16, St. Albans School), Chris Fleischer (2014-15, St. Albans School) and Nick Jackson (2013-14, Sidwell Friends School) among the state’ s list of former award winners.
As a part of Gatorade’s cause marketing platform “Play it Forward,” Elie also has the opportunity to award a $1,000 grant to a local or national youth sports organization of his choosing. He is also eligible to submit an essay to win one of twelve $10,000 spotlight grants for the organization of choice, which will be announced throughout the year.
Since the program’s inception in 1985, Gatorade Player of the Year award recipients have won hundreds of professional and college championships, and many have also turned into pillars in their communities, becoming coaches, business owners and educators.
To learn more about the Gatorade Player of the Year program, check out past winners or to nominate student- athletes, visit www.Gatorade.com/POY, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/GatoradePOY or follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/Gatorade.
