Former Christiansburg High School guard Grace Hutson has been named as Gatorade’s 2019-20 West Virginia Girls Basketball Player of the Year.
The 5-10 junior guard at St. Joseph Central Catholic High School was the District Player of the Year at Christiansburg both her freshman and sophomore seasons. The award means Huston is now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Girls Basketball Player of the Year award to be announced in March,
Hutson led the Irish to a 21-1 record and the Class A state tournament at the time of her selection. She averaged 19.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, 2.6 steals and 1.9 assists through 22 games. Hutson is ranked as the nation’s No. 19 guard in the class of 2021 by ESPN.com.
She volunteers locally as a youth basketball coach and in the nursery of her church. A member of the Mu Alpha Theta math honor society at St. Joseph, Hutson has also donated her time as a math tutor
“Grace’s overall floor presence stands out,” said Pete Fraley, head coach at Boyd County (Ky.) High. “A lot of kids can go out and score 30, but most can’t guard anybody. She has it defensively and she can score. Put Hutson in any class in any state and she would still be really good.”
Hutson has maintained a 4.21 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 and field, and awards one National Player of the Year in each sport. From the 12 national winners, one male and one female athlete are each named Gatorade High School Athlete of the Year. In all, 607 athletes are honored each year.
As a part of Gatorade’s cause marketing platform “Play it Forward,” Hutson also has the opportunity to award a $1,000 grant to a local or national youth sports organization of her choosing. She is also eligible to submit an essay to win one of twelve $10,000 spotlight grants for the organization of choice, which will be announced throughout the year.
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.
