Homewood High School junior Emma Brooke Levering was announced today at the 2023-24 Gatorade Alabama Girls Cross Country Player of the Year.

She is the second girls cross country performer from Homewood to earn that award in the 39th year of Gatorade honoring the nation’s most elite high school athletes, according to a press release from the company. Lainey Phelps was the player of the year in 2019-20.

The award celebrates the nation’s top high school athletes for excellence on the field, in the classroom and in the community.

The 5-foot-2 Levering won the Class 6A state meet this past season with a time of 17:46.27, breaking the tape more than 8 seconds faster than any other class winner and leading the Patriots to a third-place finish as a team. A four-time All-State selection, Levering also won the Spain Park Invitational and placed 49th at the RunningLane Championships. She crossed the line in 56th at the Foot Locker South Regional.

A tenor saxophone in the Homewood Patriot marching band, Levering has volunteered locally with Peer Helpers, which promotes safe and healthy drug and alcohol prevention, and with Best Buddies, mentoring special needs students. She has also donated her time to multiple community service initiatives through her church.

“Continuing her storybook career, Homewood High School junior Emma Brooke Levering rose to new levels during the postseason,” said Rich Gonzalez of PrepCalTrack. “The Class 6A state champion, she not only had the fastest time among all classes at the state meet, but then shined as the state’s top finisher at both the Foot Locker South and RunningLane Championships meets. No runner from the Heart of Dixie enjoyed more success during the fall season.”

Levering has maintained a 4.18 weighted grade point average in the classroom.

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.

Levering joins recent Gatorade Alabama Girls Cross Country Players of the Year Reagan Riley (2022-23, Mountain Brook High School), Crawford West (2021-20 and 2020-21, Vestavia Hills High School) and Phelps (2019-20, Homewood High School) 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, Gatorade Player of the Year winners’ grants have totaled more than $4.9 million across more than 1,600 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.