NCHSAA ATHLETES OF THE YEAR NAMED AT ANNUAL MEETING
CHAPEL HILL — Hailey Cook of Hendersonville High School and T.J. Logan of Northern Guilford High School have been named winners of the 2013 Athlete of the Year awards by the North Carolina High School Athletic Association (NCHSAA).
These are the top athletic awards given by the NCHSAA to honor the most outstanding male and female high school athletes in the state. They were presented at the Dean E, Smith Center on the University of North Carolina campus during the NCHSAA's Annual Meeting on Thursday.
Both of the winners were selected by a special panel that includes media representatives from across the state. They were each presented with the Pat Best Memorial Trophy, named for the former Goldsboro High principal and president of the NCHSAA who died unexpectedly in 1988.
"On behalf of our Board of Directors and the entire membership of the NCHSAA, we congratulate these outstanding student-athletes on their tremendous achievements during their high school careers," said Davis Whitfield, commissioner of the NCHSAA. "Both have extremely impressive credentials which are in the same vein as previous winners of this award, and we certainly wish them well in their future pursuits."
Logan has been a standout throughout his Northern Guilford career in football, basketball, and outdoor track. In football, he helped lead the Nighthawks to three consecutive NCHSAA state championships, including rushing for a whopping 3,146 yards during the fall and earning Most Valuable Player honor in the 2012 state championship game with 510 yards and eight touchdowns. He was the Mid-State Conference Player of the Year in football.
In basketball, he was a three-time all-conference selection and runner-up for Conference Player of the Year honors. He scored 15.5 points per game, grabbed 4.8 rebounds an outing and handed out 6.1 assists. He is the defending NCHSAA 3-A champion in the 200 meters and was the state runner-up last year in the 100 meters. In competition this spring, his times are better in both events.
He will be attending the University of North Carolina on a football scholarship.
Cook has had a remarkable high school career as a star in volleyball, indoor track and field and outdoor track, with state championship performances in all three. In volleyball, she was a two-time Western Highlands Conference Player of the Year, a four-time all-conference player, and was the Most Valuable Player in the NCHSAA state 1-A volleyball championship match, leading Hendersonville to the title over Raleigh Charter. She had 343 kills on the season.
During the indoor track season, she won the shot put individual championship in the 1-A/2-A/3-A meet for the second consecutive year. On the outdoor side, she has won both the shot put and the discus in the 1-A championships for three consecutive years, and her current throws are right at the top of all performances in all classifications, including first in the state in shot and second in discus. She has been her conference Field Event Performer of the Year in all four of her high school seasons and has set new conference meet marks in both the shot and discus.
She will continue her athletic and academic career at Western Carolina University next fall on a track scholarship.
This is the 28th year in which awards have been given to the top overall male and female athletes.
