Gatorade today announced Auburn’s Maxwell Hardin as the 2022-2023 boys state cross country Player of the Year.

The 5-foot-11, 155-pound Hardin raced to victory at the Class 7A state championships with a personal-best time of 14:46.63 this past season, pacing the Tigers to a third-place team finish. The senior also crossed the line fifth at the Champs Sports South Regionals, qualifying for Champs nationals, where he finished 20th. He was the state’s top runner in the Gold Race at the prestigious Jesse Owens Classic, where he clocked one of his three sub-15 times on the year.

“Maxwell Hardin dominated in-state action while posting a pristine ledger, stamping an exclamation point on his resume with a course-record performance in winning the Class 7A title,” said PrepCalTrack editor Rich Gonzalez. “He capped his season with a 20th-place finish at the Champs Sports Nationals.”

The award recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the field. Hardin is now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National boys cross country Player of the Year award.

Hardin has volunteered locally at the Church of the Highlands in addition to serving as a junior high track team mentor and as a personal trainer and coach.

He has maintained a weighted 4.30 GPA in the classroom. He has signed a National Letter of Intent to run on scholarship at Auburn University this fall.

Hardin joins recent Gatorade state boys cross country Players of the Year Miles Brush (2021-2022, Chelsea), Ethan Strand (2020-2021 & 2019-2020, Vestavia Hills) and Will Stone (2018-2019, Homewood), among the state’s list of former award winners.