Gatorade names Tokarz the Montana boys track athlete of the year

In its 28th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company, in collaboration with USA TODAY High School Sports, announced Thursday that Matthew Tokarz of Flathead High School has been named the 2012-13 Gatorade Montana Boys Track and Field Athlete of the Year.

Tokarz is the fourth Gatorade Montana Boys Track and Field Athlete of the Year to be chosen from Flathead High School. The previous winners were: Zach Perrin (2011-12), Seth Grossman (2006-07) and David Vidal (2000-01).

The 6-foot-1, 185-pound senior jumper won a pair of individual state championships this spring and led the Braves to a sixth-place finish as a team at the Class AA state meet. Tokarz won the long jump, soaring 22 feet, 7 3/4 inches, and broke a 25-year-old state record in the triple jump with a leap of 48-9 1/2. A two-time first team all-state selection, Tokarz also set a school record in the long jump with his mark at the state meet.

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 Tokarz as Montana’s best high school boys track and field athlete.

This recognition makes him a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Boys Track and Field Athlete of the Year award to be announced later this month.

Tokarz has maintained a B average in the classroom. He has volunteered locally on behalf of multiple community services initiatives in association with his church parish and as a youth track and field coach.

“Matthew Tokarz has developed into an outstanding young gentleman who just happens to possess a lot of athletic ability,” Flathead head coach Dan Hodge said in a press release.

“I have watched as he matured physically, athletically, academically and socially. He has continuously demonstrated the ability to do excellent work and has developed excellent working habits.”

Tokarz has signed a national letter of intent to compete in track on an athletic scholarship at Montana State University 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 an field, and awards one National Player of the Year in each sport.  The selection process is administered by the Gatorade high school sports leadership team in partnership with USA TODAY High School Sports, which work with top sport-specific experts and a media advisory board of accomplished, veteran prep sports journalists to determine the state winners in each sport.

Morgan Sulser of Billings Senior High School was named the Gatorade Montana Girls Track & Field Athlete of the Year.

The 5-foot-3 junior sprinter and hurdler won the 100-meter hurdles in a state-record time of 14.11 seconds, the 200-meter dash in 25.20 and ran the opening leg for the 400-meter relay quartet that broke the tape in 48.65, leading the Lady Broncs to their third consecutive Class AA state championship as a team. A three-time Academic All-State selection, Sulser completed an undefeated season in the 100-hurdles.