Youth Athlete of the Year

The Youth Athlete of the Year award was established in 2001 to recognize the outstanding performance by a 19-and-under athlete during the previous twelve months.

2006 Gabrielle Mayo
  This phenomenal Raleigh, North Carolina, resident was a member of the USA junior team competing at the IAAF Championships in Beijing, where she anchored the USA gold medal 4x100-meter relay after finishing second individually in the 100-meters and fifth in the 200-meters. She earned her Team USA slots with a win at 200-meters in a met record 22.88, and a runner-up finish in the 100-meters at the Finish Line USA Junior Championships. But her most notable achievement during 2006 was had a busy year, capped off by anchoring the U.S. 4x100-meter relay team to a World Junior record (43.29) in Eugene, Ore. She won the 200m dash at the USATF Junior Olympic Championships, setting a national youth record of 23.27. She also won seven North Carolina high school state titles (3 indoors, 4 outdoors) and won the 100 and placed third in the 200 at the Nike Outdoor Nationals.
2005 Ebony Collins
The 16-year-old Wilson High School junior from Long Beach, Collins had a stellar outdoor season in 2005. Her first record of the season was 57.87 seconds in the 400m hurdles at the USA Youth Championships in Knoxville -- the fastest youth time ever run by a female in all age divisions. She also was the 100m runner-up, clocking 11.82 seconds. At the IAAF World Youth Championships in Marrakech, Morocco, Collins cruised to a championship record time of 55.96 seconds in winning a gold medal in the girls'400m hurdles. Earlier at World Youth Championships, Collins helped Team USA give a 1-2 punch in the girls 100m finals after winning silver. She capped the season winning the Junior Olympics intermediate girls'400m hurdles with a championships record of 58.26 seconds.
2004 Lashawn Merritt
Triple World Junior champion Merritt was a star throughout the summer of 2004. He was Verizon Outstanding Athlete of the Meet at the 2004 Junior Championships after completing the double 200m (20.72) and 400m (46.80) victories. He traded his 200m slot for two relay events at Worlds, winning the 400m (45.25) and two relay golds: 4x100m (38.66) and 4x400m (3:01.09).
2003 Jason Richardson
Double World Youth gold medalist Richardson, 17 years old, was the star for Team USA at the 2003 IAAF World Youth Championships in Sherbrooke, Canada. He nabbed titles in both hurdles, winning the 110-meter event in 13.29 seconds and the 400-meter event in 49.91 seconds. Both times were personal bests for the Cedar Hill High School (Texas) senior, who was also a double winner at the 2003 Youth Athletics Championships in Buffalo.
2002 Sanya Richards
  A long-time participant in Junior Olympics, Sanya's domination at the 400-meters was made complete when she set a new American junior record of 50.69 in winning the event at the Junior Championships in June, and followed that with the 200-meters title. She then medaled in both events at the World Juniors in Jamaica, earning silver in the 400 and bronze in the 200.
2001 Alan Webb
Webb became the first American high-schooler to run a sub-4:00 mile indoors, 3:59.86 at the New Balance Games in New York in January. Four months later, Webb ran the outdoor mile in 3:53.43 at the Prefontaine Classic, breaking the national high-school record of 3:55.3 set by Jim Ryun in 1965, and setting a prep record of 3:38:26 for the 1,500 meters en route.