St. Raphael’s Devan Kipyego Named Gatorade R.I. Cross Country Player of the Year

CHICAGO (January 31, 2022) — In its 37th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, Gatorade today
announced Devan Kipyego of St. Raphael Academy is the 2021-22 Gatorade Rhode Island Boys Cross Country
Player of the Year. Kipyego is the first Gatorade Rhode Island Boys Cross Country Player of the Year to be chosen
from St. Raphael Academy.
The award, which recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic
achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the field, distinguishes Kipyego as Rhode
Island’s best high school boys cross country player. Now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Boys
Cross Country Player of the Year award to be announced in February, Kipyego joins an elite alumni association of
state award-winners in 12 sports, including Lukas Verzbicas (2010-11 & 2009-10, Carl Sandburg High School,
Orland Park, Ill.), Megan Goethals (2009-10, Rochester High School, Rochester Hills, Mich.), Jordan Hasay (2008-
09, Mission College Preparatory Catholic High School, San Luis Obispo, Calif.) and Chris Derrick (2007-08,
Neuqua Valley High School, Naperville, Ill.).
The 5-foot-8, 130-pound junior won the state meet with a time of 15:32.30, breaking the tape 9.39 seconds ahead of
his next-closest competitor. Kipyego also notched a win at the Class C state meet in 16:25.7, leading the Saints to a
second-place finish as a team. In his first year as a distance runner, he was the top Rhode Island finisher at the 2021
New England Cross Country Championships, crossing the line in 11th with a time of 16:50.4, and he finished 20th
at the Eastbay Northeast Regional Championships.
Kipyego’s older brother, Darius, was a two-time Gatorade State Player of the Year in track & field. Devan has
volunteered on behalf of local road races, and has donated his time to multiple community service initiatives
through his church. “Devan decided to make cross country his main sport in the fall, switching from soccer,” said
Chris Magill, head coach of St. Raphael Academy. “He is a very dedicated and talented athlete that went from being
in a [walking] boot last fall due to a soccer injury to winning the Rhode Island state title.”
Kipyego has maintained a weighted B-plus average in the classroom. He will begin his senior year of high school
this fall.
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.
Kipyego joins recent Gatorade Rhode Island Boys Cross Country Players of the Year Jack McLoughlin (2020-21 &
2019-20, La Salle Academy), Jack McMahon (2018-19, Bishop Hendricken High School), and Jeffery Pedersen
(2017-18, East Greenwich High School), among the state’s list of former award winners.
Gatorade has a long-standing history of serving athlete communities and understands how sports instill valuable
lifelong skills on and off the field. Through Gatorade’s “Play it Forward” platform, Kipyego has the opportunity to
award a $1,000 grant to a local or national organization of their choosing that helps young athletes realize the
benefits of playing sports. Kipyego is also eligible to submit a short video explaining why the organization they
chose is deserving of one of twelve $10,000 spotlight grants, which will be announced throughout the year. To date,
Gatorade Player of the Year winners’ grants have totaled more than $3.5 million across more than 1,300
organizations.
Since the program’s inception in 1985, Gatorade Player of the Year award recipients have won hundreds of
professional and college championships, and many have also turned into pillars in their communities, becoming
coaches, business owners and educators.
To learn more about the Gatorade Player of the Year program, check out past winners or to nominate studentathletes, visit playeroftheyear.gatorade.com or follow us on social media on Facebook at
facebook.com/GatoradePOY, Instagram at instagram.com/Gatorade and Twitter at twitter.com/Gatorade.