Gatorade honors Sussex Tech student-athlete
In its 38th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, Gatorade announced Yougendy Mauricette, a recent graduate of Sussex Tech High School, is the 2022-23 Gatorade Delaware Boys Track & Field Player of the Year, the first Sussex Tech student to earn this recognition.
The award, which highlights not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the field, distinguishes Mauricette as Delaware’s best high school boys track & field athlete. He is now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Boys Track & Field Player of the Year award to be announced in July.
Mauricette also earned Gatorade Player of the Year honors in 2021-22. This year, the 6-foot-3, 135-pound senior won the 110-meter high hurdles, the 300 low hurdles and the long jump at the Division 1 state meet, leading the Ravens to the team state title. His winning leap of 23-feet-3-inches in the long jump set a new state record and ranked No. 86 nationally among prep competitors in 2023. Mauricette set a state record in the 400-meter high hurdles at the AAU District Track & Field Championships with a time of 54.50 seconds, which ranked No. 73 nationally this spring. He also ranked No. 45 nationally in the 300 hurdles (37.60) and No. 81 in the 110 hurdles (14.13).
Mauricette has volunteered locally as a youth track mentor and donated his time to multiple community service initiatives through his church. “Yougendy Mauricette truly rates as a rarity this spring, emerging as a national-caliber force in four events,” said Rich Gonzalez, editor of PrepCalTrack.com. “The USC-bound standout also secured a wind-legal state record in the long jump at the DIAA Meet of Champions, but also soared six inches farther in a wind-aided, midseason performance.”
Mauricette has maintained a 3.36 GPA in the classroom. He has signed a national letter of intent to compete on a scholarship at the University of Southern California this fall.
For more information, go to playeroftheyear.gatorade.com.
