Evan Thornton-Sherman leads the 1,500 meters at the 2022 Vermont Division I high school state track and field championship at Burlington High School on Saturday, June 4, 2022. (Photo by Michael Beniash)
Evan Thornton-Sherman leads the 1,500 meters at the 2022 Vermont Division I high school state track and field championship at Burlington High School on Saturday, June 4, 2022. (Photo by Michael Beniash)
After being named the Gatorade Vermont Boys Track and Field Player of the Year, former St. Johnsbury standout Evan Thornton-Sherman was tasked with selecting an organization of his choosing to be the recipient of a $1,000 grant, to be awarded by Gatorade.
The recently graduated Hilltopper settled on the Central Vermont Runners Club affiliated with the Road Runners Club of America. The RRCA focuses on the development and success of community-based running organizations and encourages all people to participate in the sport and in the pursuit of enjoyment, health, well-being and competition. Their core values include integrity, excellence, collaboration and diversity, equity and inclusion.
The grant is part of Gatorade’s Play It Forward program, which works in conjunction with the Gatorade POY program to empower student-athletes to provide resources to sports organizations in their community. In total, 608 POY winners choose youth sports organizations that receive the $1,000 grant which aims to help the next generation of athletes reap the benefits of sport.
Thornton-Sherman was also named the Gatorade Vermont Cross Country Player of the Year, and he awarded that grant to the Central Vermont Runners Club as well. After winning the Montpelier Mile, a race held as part of Montpelier’s Independence Day celebration, and setting the new course record, the Waterford native again donated his winnings to the program.
As part of their initiative, the Central Vermont Runners Club offers scholarships to local runners, primarily from Montpelier, Spaulding, U-32 and Craftsbury.
The Gatorade award recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the track. He is the fourth Hilltopper boy to win the award and just the second St. J multi-season Gatorade winner; Hannah Rowe, XC and track, being the other.
He leaves SJA with state records in the outdoor 1,500 and 3,000, the 4x800 and distance medley relay, as well as the indoor 1,500, 3,000 and 2-mile and back-to-back outdoor team state championships.
Thornton-Sherman will continue his career at the University of Maine, where he will run both cross country and track and field.
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