Projo Sports Blog

The Gatorade Company, in partnership with RISE Magazine, today announced Andrew Springer of Westerly High School as its 2007-08 Gatorade Rhode Island Boys Track & Field Athlete of the Year. Springer is the first Gatorade Rhode Island Boys Track & Field Athlete of the Year to be chosen from Westerly High School.

The junior distance runner won the 1,500-meter event at the Rhode Island Interscholastic League Outdoor Track and Field Championships with a time of 3:55.05, which ranked as the nation’s No. 6 scholastic performance in 2008 at the time of his selection. An Indoor Track All-State selection as named by the Providence Journal, Springer placed fifth at the outdoor All-State meet in the 800-meter race in 1:59.32 in addition to helping Westerly’s 4-x-800-meter relay quartet to a winning time of 8:08.07. At the Hartford Public Invitational, he won the 2-mile in 9:14.46 and placed second in the mile with a time of 4:12.94, the ninth-best and fourth-best prep performances nationally in those events, respectively, at the time of his selection. Springer finished third in the 1,600-meter run at this spring’s New England Outdoor Track and Field Championships with a 4:13.92.

Also a standout soccer player, Springer has maintained a 3.92 GPA in the classroom. He donates his time to the Westerly Track and Athletic Club as well as the United States Coast Guard Foundation in addition to participating in multiple community-service initiatives on behalf of the National Honor Society.

“I knew what a talent he was when he was in junior high,” said Westerly High Head Coach Ryan Palmer. “I heard all about him. I couldn’t ask for a more coachable athlete than Andrew Springer. He always comes to work every day, and he’s willing to do anything to help the team. He ran four events at the state meet, because he just wanted to go out and score as many points as possible for the team. I just got done coaching (four-time Gatorade Rhode Island Girls Track and Field Athlete of the Year) Samantha Gawrych, and to have two athletes like that in a five-year span is very rare. It’s pretty special. I’ve been blessed.”

Springer will begin his senior year of high school this fall and remains undecided upon a collegiate destination.

Leave a comment

Name:

Email:

URL:  

Remember personal info?

Captcha:

Type the characters you see in the picture above.