LAYLA GIORDANO GATORADE TRACK & FIELD PLAYER OF THE YEAR

CHICAGO (June 28, 2023) — In its 38th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, Gatorade today
announced Layla Giordano of Northern Valley Regional High School at Old Tappan is the 2022-23 Gatorade
New Jersey Girls Track & Field Player of the Year. Giordano is the first Gatorade New Jersey Girls Track & Field
Player of the Year to be chosen from Northern Valley Regional High School at Old Tappan.
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 Giordano as New Jersey’s
best high school girls track & field athlete. Now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Girls Track & Field
Player of the Year award to be announced in July, Giordano joins an elite alumni association of state award winners in 12 sports, including Jasmine Moore (2018-19, Lake Ridge High School, Texas), Sydney McLaughlin
(2016-17, 2015-16 & 2014-15, Union Catholic High School, N.J.), and Lolo Jones (1997-98, Roosevelt High School,
Iowa).
The 5-foot-11 junior won the discus at New Balance Nationals this past season with a personal-best throw of 170
feet, 4 inches, which ranks No. 5 nationally among girls high school competitors in 2023. Giordano’s national title
came one day after she won the New Jersey Meet of Champions with a throw 159-7. She became the third female
athlete in state history to surpass both 170 feet in the discus as well as 45 feet in the shot put, with her 45-6 effort to
win Group B at the Bergen County Championships, a distance that ranks among the top 40 marks in the country
this season.
Giordano has volunteered locally on behalf of Big Gift of Christmas, which provides presents and decorations to
the underserved during the holiday season. She is also a member of her school’s Make-A-Wish Foundation Club,
Women’s Engineer Club, Diversity Club, Black History and Culture Club and Spanish Club. She has also donated
her time at youth track and field, basketball and volleyball camps. “Layla Giordano concluded the season in
impressive fashion, winning discus titles at the New Jersey Meet of Champions and New Balance Nationals on
consecutive days,” said Erik Boal, editor at DyeStat.com. “Giordano, who also won the shot put at the Meet of
Champions, improved on her discus PR by more than 10 feet in the New Balance final to become only the third
female thrower in New Jersey prep history to surpass 170 feet.”
Giordano has maintained a 4.13 weighted GPA in the classroom. She will begin her senior year of high school this
fall.
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 leverages experts including coaches, scouts, media and others as sources to help evaluate and
determine the state winners in each sport.
Giordano joins recent Gatorade New Jersey Girls Track & Field Players of the Year Angelina Perez (2021-22,
Lakeland Regional High School), Lilly Shapiro (2020-21, Colts Neck High School), and Victoria Vanriele (2019-20 &
2018-19, Governor Livingston High School), among the state’s list of former award winners.
Being a Gatorade Player of the Year means paying it forward for the next generation. Through Gatorade’s Play it
Forward initiative, every Player of the Year receives a grant to give to one of Gatorade’s social impact partners,
supporting Gatorade’s ambition to fuel the future of sport. To date, Gatorade Player of the Year winners’ grants have
totaled more than $3.5 million across more than 1,300 organizations.
For nearly 40 years, Gatorade has honored high school athletes at the top of their game as teammates, supporting
their communities and achieving academic success. From CEOs and coaches to star athletes and community
leaders, Gatorade Player of the Year winners showcase the power of sport.