Congratulations to Junior Elaina Pierce, Gatorade's Player of the Year for Virginia Girls Cross Country!
In its 40th year of honoring the nation’s most elite high school athletes, Gatorade today announced junior Elaina Pierce of Charlottesville High School is Virginia’s 2024-25 Gatorade Girls Cross Country Player of the Year, the first CHS student to receive the recognition. The 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. In addition to winning the class 4 cross country state title in 2024, Pierce also won outdoor and indoor track state titles in 2024, plus she is a commanding presence on the school’s dominant basketball team.
The 5-foot-11 junior won the Virginia High School League (VHSL) Class 4 state championship this past season with a time of 18:07.0, breaking the tape 25 seconds ahead of her next-closest competitor. Pierce also earned First Team All-Region honors by taking fifth at the Nike Cross Southeast Regional Championships. Her season personal best was 16:54.7 at the Virginia XC Showcase. She was unbeaten against in-state runners in 2024 and won 9 of her 12 races.
“In most of her meets she finished 30 to 60 seconds ahead of the runner-up,” said Jen King, CHS Girls Cross Country Coach. “She ran almost every race without someone to compete with, without a competitor pushing her. She ran them by herself. It takes an amazing amount of mental strength to continue pushing yourself in a race even when no one else is there to push you. So, the magic of this athlete is not just her talent, it’s her incredible mental strength.”
Elaina is also a stand-out at CHS in track and basketball. In the winter season, she excels – sometimes on the same day – at both winter track meets and as a whistle-to-whistle player in basketball games. In addition to winning the state cross country championship in fall 2024, her other athletic accolades include two state championships in track (2024 indoor 1600, 2024 outdoor 1600), being named the 2024 Virginia Cross Country Runner of the Year by MileSplit Virginia, and being named to the all-region and all-district teams in basketball where the Charlottesville Black Knights won the 4A Region D and Jefferson District championships in 2024. After the conclusion of the 2024 VHSL indoor track season, Elaina finished 3rd at Adidas Nationals, qualifying her for All-American status. So far during the 2025 indoor track season, Elaina holds two United States top-ten marks (1600, 3200), and her CHS basketball team has started the season at 8-1.
“Elaina exemplifies what we aim for in education-based athletics,” said Andy Jones, Charlottesville High School Director of Student Activities. “She is a fierce competitor, but also a leader within our school and community who acts with kindness and respect for all.”
The junior has maintained a weighted 4.41 GPA in the classroom. Pierce has volunteered locally with the PB&J Fund’s holiday backpack food packing program, ensuring community members have enough food during the two-week winter break from school. She has also donated her time as a school mentor in the Link Crew program and a leader in the Student Council Association. She also volunteers at her former elementary school as part of its annual field day events.
“Elaina Pierce simply dazzled from start to finish this past cross country season, bagging three course records en route to earning her first state distance title,” said Rich Gonzalez of PrepCalTrack. “Unbeaten against in-state competition, she turned in an All-Region performance in November and then a Top 50 finish at nationals last month.”
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.
Pierce joins recent Gatorade Virginia Girls Cross Country Players of the Year Allie Zealand (2023-24 & 2022-23, Pacers Homeschool High School), Maddie Gardiner (2021-22, The Covenant School) and Carly Wilkes (2020-21, Glenvar High School). 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, visit https://playeroftheyear.gatorade.com/
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