CHICAGO (June 20, 2019) — In its 34th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company today announced Dominique Mustin of North Canyon High School as its 2018-19 Gatorade Arizona Girls Track & Field Athlete of the Year. Mustin is the first Gatorade Arizona Girls Track & Field Athlete of the Year to be chosen from North Canyon 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 track, distinguishes Mustin as Arizona’s best high school girls track & field athlete. Now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Girls Track & Field Athlete of the Year award to be announced in June, Mustin joins an elite alumni association of state track & field award-winners, including Lolo Jones (1997-98, Roosevelt High School, Iowa), Allyson Felix (2002-03, Los Angeles Baptist High School, Calif.), Robert Griffin III (2006-07, Copperas Cove High School, Texas), Grant Fisher (2013-14 & 2014-15, Grand Blanc High School, Mich.) and Candace Hill (2014-15, Rockdale County High School, Ga.).

The 5-foot-8 junior won five state titles at the Division II state meet this past season, leading the Rattlers to a three-peat as the state title team. Mustin finished first in the 400 meter run, the 800 meter run, the 100 meter low hurdles, the 4x400 meter relay and the 4x800 meter relay. She also won the 800 at the Arcadia Invitational in April with a state-record time of 2:06.01, which ranked as the nation’s No. 6 time among prep competitors at the time of her selection.

A member of the North Canyon High student council, Mustin has volunteered locally on community-beautification projects and as a youth track coach. “One of the things that makes Dominique so special is her versatility,” said Le’Sean Marks, head coach of Ironwood Ridge High. “When you observe all that she did from the 400 to the 800, and then to be ranked among the top girls in the hurdles as well, those things make her extremely special.”

Mustin has maintained a weighted 3.89 GPA in the classroom. She will begin her 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.

Mustin joins recent Gatorade Arizona Girls Track & Field Athletes of the Year Jai Gruenwald (2017-18, Chandler High School), Allie Schadler (2016-17 & 2015-16, Rio Rico High School), Dani Jones (2014-15, Desert Vista High School) and Ky Westbrook (2013-14, Chandler High School) among the state’s list of former award winners.

As a part of Gatorade’s cause marketing platform “Play it Forward,” Mustin also has the opportunity to award a $1,000 grant to a local or national youth sports organization of her choosing. She 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.