CHICAGO (January 21, 2026) — In its 41st year celebrating the nation’s best high school athletes, Gatorade today announced Taylor Drewry of Basha High School is the 2025-26 Gatorade Arizona Girls Cross Country Player of the Year.

Gatorade Player of the Year is the top honor in high school sports, celebrating the nation’s best high school athletes for their excellence in sport, academics and community. The award recognizes Drewry as Arizona’s best high school girls cross country athlete, and she joins an elite legacy that spans professional athletes and coaches to CEOs, such as Jordan Hasay (2008-09, Mission College Preparatory Catholic High School, CA), Katelyn Tuohy (2017-18, 2018-19 & 2019-20, North Rockland High School, NY) and Jane Hedengren (2024-25, Timpview High School, UT).

The state’s returning Gatorade Player of the Year, the 6-foot senior won her third straight AIA Division I state meet this past season with a time of 18:05.8, breaking the tape 25.7 seconds ahead of her next-closest competitor. Drewry earned Second Team All-Region honors at both the Nike Cross Southwest Regional and the Brooks West Regional meets. She was also the state’s top finisher at Desert Twilight and the Woodbridge Classic, two nationally elite invitationals.

Her school’s Homecoming Queen, Drewry has volunteered locally supporting the underserved on behalf of AZCEND and Feed My Starving Children. She has also donated her time to Letters for Rose, a school-run organization minimizing loneliness of the elderly through written letters, art and other donations to local nursing facilities. “Drewry parlayed repeated lopsided victories against the state’s top challengers into a third consecutive Division I crown, but her newfound success on the regional postseason scene validates her rise to national-elite status,” said Rich Gonzalez of PrepCalTrack.

Drewry has maintained a weighted 4.29 GPA in the classroom. She remains undecided upon a college destination.

The Gatorade Player of the Year program annually recognizes one state winner from each of the 50 states and Washington D.C., in 12 different sports: football, girls volleyball, boys and girls cross country, boys and girls basketball, baseball, softball, boys and girls soccer, and boys and girls track & field. In total, 610 high school athletes are honored each year. From the pool of state winners, one national winner is selected in each of the 12 sports. 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.

As part of Gatorade’s commitment to breaking down barriers in sport, every Player of the Year also receives a grant to donate to a social impact partner. To date, the Gatorade Player of the Year program has provided more than $6.4 million in grants to winners across more than 2,200 organizations.

To learn more about the Gatorade Player of the Year program, check out past winners or to nominate student - athletes, visit playeroftheyear.gatorade.com or follow us on social media on Instagram at instagram.com/Gatorade, Facebook at facebook.com/GatoradePOY and X (Twitter) at x.com/Gatorade.