In its 25th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company, in collaboration with ESPN RISE, today announced WPFC Alumnus Nick Palodichuk of Camas High School as its 2009-10 Gatorade Washington Boys Soccer Player of the Year. Palodichuk is the second Gatorade Washington Boys Soccer Player of the Year to be chosen from Camas High School.

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 Palodichuk as Washington’s best high school boys soccer player. Now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Boys Soccer Player of the Year award to be announced in May, Palodichuk joins an elite alumni association of past state award-winners in 12 sports, including Alexi Lalas (1987-88, Cranbrook HS, Mich.), Derek Jeter (1991-92, Kalamazoo HS, Mich.), Candace Parker (2001-02, Naperville Central HS, Ill.), Kevin Garnett (1992-93, Maudlin HS, S.C.), Tony Meola (1986-87, Kearney HS, N.J.) and Mark Sanchez (2004-05, Mission Viejo HS, Calif.).
The 6-foot-1, 175-pound junior midfielder had led the Papermakers (13-0-1) to an unbeaten record at the time of his selection, recording 23 goals and nine assists. A starter with the U.S. Soccer Federation Under-17 Men’s National Team at the 2009 World Cup in Nigeria, Palodichuk is a 2009 club soccer Youth All-American selection by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America and is the nation’s No. 2 recruit in the Class of 2011 as rated by TopDrawerSoccer.com.

Palodichuk has maintained a 3.65 GPA in the classroom. A former Boy Scout, Palodichuk has volunteered locally as part of multiple community service initiatives.

"Nick Palodichuk’s a beast—he’s the best athlete-soccer player I’ve ever coached," said Jimmy McAlister, Palodichuk’s coach with the Washington Premier F.C. club program. "He can score at will in high school. He’s a fabulous player, no question about it."

Palodichuk has verbally committed to play soccer on scholarship at Duke University beginning in the fall of 2011.

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 ESPN RISE and the Gatorade high school sports leadership team, which work with top sport-specific experts and a media advisory board of accomplished, veteran prep sports journalists to determine the state winners in each sport.

Palodichuk joins recent Gatorade Washington Boys Soccer Players of the Year Michael Harris (2008-09, Shorecrest), Brent Richards (2007-08, Camas), and Brandon Kelley (2006-07, Snohomish) among the state’s list of former award winners.

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