Frederick named Gatorade Hawaii Girls Track & Field Athlete of the Year for the third time

Class of 2020 graduate Chenoa Frederick wins the Gatorade Hawaiʻi Girls Track & Field Athlete of the Year for the third consecutive year.

Jun. 25, 2020

Contributed by Shaundor Chillingworth

In its 35th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company today announced Chenoa Frederick, a class of 2020 graduate of Kamehameha Schools Hawaiʻ,i as its 2019-20 Gatorade Hawaii Girls Track & Field Athlete of the Year. This is the third time Frederick has been named Gatorade Hawaiʻi Girls Track & Field Athlete of the Year, and is the first ever athlete to receive the honor from Kamehameha Hawaiʻi.

The award, which recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the field, distinguishes Frederick as Hawaii’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, Frederick joins an elite alumni association of state award-winners in 12 sports, 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.).

"I would have never gotten to where I am without the unconditional support of friends, family and coaches," shared Frederick. "I am beyond blessed and incredibly grateful to have the privilege to represent Hawaiʻi as Gatorade Player of the Year for three consecutive years."

The 5-foot-6 senior completed her varsity career with eight state championships, four of them in 2019. The state’s two-time returning Gatorade Girls Track and Field Athlete of the Year, Frederick won the 100-meter dash, high jump, long jump and triple jump outdoor championships as a junior. She holds the state-meet record of 39 feet, 10 inches in the triple jump.

Also a soccer standout, Frederick has served as a peer mentor at her school. “Chenoa is mentally tough and able to compete with other athletes at a very high level,” said Kamehameha coach Manly Kanoa. “She’s also kind and respectful, and she’s often seen motivating and encouraging other competitors.” Frederick has maintained a 3.08 GPA in the classroom.

She has signed a National Letter of Intent to compete in track and field on scholarship at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.

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. The selection process is administered by the Gatorade Player of the Year Selection Committee, 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.

Frederick joins recent Gatorade Hawaii Girls Track & Field Athletes of the Year Kristen O'Handley (2016-17, Kaiser High School), Emma Taylor (2015-16, Hawaii Preparatory Academy), Kathleen Funcheon (2014-15, Moanalua High School), and Alyssa Bettendorf (2013-14, Seabury Hall) among the state’s list of former award winners.

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 on Twitter at www.twitter.com/Gatorade.

A standout player on the soccer field as well, Frederick was one of three seniors, serving as a mentor to a team that returned to the BIIF Championships and HHSAA tournament this year. She was named to the All-BIIF DII soccer team this year.