BEDFORD HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT-ATHLETE NAMED GATORADE NEW HAMPSHIRE GIRLS CROSS COUNTRY PLAYER OF THE YEAR
In its 40th year of honoring the nation’s most elite high school athletes, Gatorade today announced Mikita Barry of Bedford High School is the 2024-25 Gatorade New Hampshire Girls Cross Country Player of the Year. Barry is the first Gatorade New Hampshire Girls Cross Country Player of the Year to be chosen from Bedford High School.
Gatorade Player of the Year is the top honor in high school sports, celebrating the nation’s best high school athletes for their success on the field, in the classroom and in the community. The award distinguishes Barry as New Hampshire’s best high school girls cross country athlete, and she joins an impressive group of alumni that spans CEOs, coaches and star athletes such as Jordan Hasay (2008-09, Mission College Preparatory Catholic High School, Ca.), Katelyn Tuohy (2017-18, 2018-19 & 2019-20, North Rockland High School, N.Y.) and Addison Ritzenhein (2023-24, Niwot High School, Co.).
The 5-foot-5 junior raced to the bronze medal at the 89th New England Cross Country Championships this past season and broke the tape at the NHIAA Meet of Champions with a personal-best time of 17:24.70. Barry also won the Division 1 state title, beating her next-closest competitor by 22.1 seconds. She did not lose to a New Hampshire runner last fall.
Also a track and lacrosse athlete, Barry has volunteered locally on behalf of food banks and the Rotary Club. She has also donated her time as a road race assistant and youth lacrosse coach in addition to serving as a member of her school’s Life of a Bulldog Club. “Mikita Barry dominated the distance running scene in the Granite State last fall,” said Rich Gonzalez of PrepCalTrack. “She won nine of her 11 races, clocked New Hampshire’s fastest 5K by a prep girl in 2024 and she was the state’s best finisher at New Englands, earning bronze.”
Barry has maintained a weighted 4.43 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 across 12 different high school sports – 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.
Barry joins recent Gatorade New Hampshire Girls Cross Country Players of the Year Lea Perreard (2023-24, Hanover High School), Brianna Malone (2022-23, Portsmouth Christian Academy), Chloe Trudel (2021-22, Souhegan High School) and Addison Cox (2020-21, Coe-Brown Northwood Academy), among the state’s list of former award winners.
As part of Gatorade’s commitment to breaking down barriers in sport, every Player of the Year also receives a grant to donate to a social impact partner. To date, the Gatorade Player of the Year program has provided more than $5.6 million in grants to winners across more than 2,000 organizations.
To learn more about the Gatorade Player of the Year program, check out past winners or to nominate student athletes, visit playeroftheyear.gatorade.com or follow us on social media on Instagram at instagram.com/Gatorade, Facebook at facebook.com/GatoradePOY and X (Twitter) at x.com/Gatorade.