CHICAGO (June 25, 2025) — In its 40th year of honoring the nation’s most elite high school athletes, Gatorade today announced Bryson Nielsen of Eastmark High School is the 2024-25 Gatorade Arizona Boys Track & Field 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 success on the field, in the classroom and in the community. The award distinguishes Nielsen as Arizona's best high school track & field athlete, and he joins an impressive group of alumni that spans CEOs, coaches and star athletes such as Alan Webb (2000-01, South Lakes High School, Va.), Kerron Clement (2002-03, Laporte High School, Texas) and Christian Miller (2023-24, Creekside High School, Fl.).

The 5-foot-11, 132-pound senior middle distance and distance talent earned All-American honors in the 800-meter run at Nike Outdoor Nationals, finishing fifth with a time of 1:49.87. Nielsen’s personal-best of 1:48.91 in the 800 earned him the gold medal at the AIA state meet and ranked No. 13 nationally among prep boys competitors this spring. He was unbeaten against in-state opponents in both the 800 and 1600-meter events.

A member of his school’s chess club, Nielsen has volunteered locally with Feed My Starving Children and as a youth running coach.He has also donated his time to multiple community service initiatives through his church youth group. “Bryson Nielsen tackled the grueling 800-meter challenge with reckless abandon this spring,” said Rich Gonzalez, editor for PrepCalTrack.com. “While he just missed the state record, no Arizona prep has consistently mastered the event as well as he did.”

Nielsen has maintained a 3.70 weighted GPA in the classroom. He has signed a written letter of athletic aid to compete at the University of Arizona this fall.

The Gatorade Player of the Year program annually recognizes one winner in the District of Columbia and each of the 50 states across 12 different high school sports – 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. 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 $5.6 million in grants to winners across more than 2,000 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.