Paige Bueckers and Arik Gilbert have been named the 2020 Gatorade High School Athletes of the Year.
Paige Bueckers and Arik Gilbert have been named the 2020 Gatorade High School Athletes of the Year.
Bueckers, who will be attending UConn in the fall, was named the Gatorade Girls Basketball Player of the Year for 2019-20. She averaged 21.0 points, 9.2 assists, 5.2 steals and 5.1 rebounds per game for Hopkins high school in Minnetonka, Minn., as a senior, guiding her team to a 30-0 record and the Class AAAA state championship game, which was canceled due to coronavirus. Bueckers was also named Most Valuable Player for the gold medal-winning USA Basketball U19 Women’s World Cup Team.
Gilbert is set to attend LSU in the fall. The 6'5", 255-pound tight end is is ranked as the nation’s No. 1 tight end prospect in the Class of 2020, per ESPN and Rivals, and No. 11 in the country regardless of position by Rivals. He caught 105 passes for 1,860 yards and 15 touchdowns for Marietta High in Marietta, Ga., leading the Blue Devils to 13-2 record and the Class 7A state championship, the team’s first title since 1967.
"I'm just speechless, honestly," Gilbert told SI All-American upon being named the 2019-20 Gatorade National Football Player of the Year. "I never imagined I'd win something like this but now that I have it, I'm really thankful and grateful."
Bueckers and Gilbert will appear on an advance flip cover release for the September 2020 issue of Sports Illustrated. The cover and more coverage of the Gatorade Athletes of the Year will be available in the issue, on sale Aug. 25.