EWG’s Owen Spira Named 2025 Gatorade R.I. Boys Track & Field Player of the Year

CHICAGO (June 25, 2025) — In its 40th year of honoring the nation’s most elite high school athletes, Gatorade today
announced Owen Spira of Exeter-West Greenwich Senior High School is the 2024-25 Gatorade Rhode Island
Boys Track & Field Player of the Year.

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. The award distinguishes Spira as
Rhode Island’s best high school track & field athlete, and he joins an impressive group of alumni that spans CEOs,
coaches and star athletes such as Alan Webb (2000-01, South Lakes High School, Va.), Kerron Clement (2002-03,
Laporte High School, Texas) and Christian Miller (2023-24, Creekside High School, Fl.).

The 6-foot, 235-pound senior throws specialist claimed the national title at New Balance Nationals Outdoor in the
hammer event this past season with a throw of 231 feet, 11 inches. His winning effort of 241 feet, 5 inches at the
New England Throwers Championship ranked No. 1 nationally among prep boys competitors this spring. Spira also
won the hammer at the All-State Meet as well as at the Class C meet, where he launched a throw of 226-11 to best
his next-closest competitor by nearly 75 feet.

A 2024 DECA state champion in the Start-Up Business category, Spira is the vice president of the Class of 2025 at
Exeter-West Greenwich High School and held multiple leadership positions as a member of the Rhode Island
Model Legislature. He has volunteered locally as a youth track coach. “Owen is a tremendous worker and student of
the sport,” said Marc Piette, head coach of Woonsocket High School. “He is a natural hammer thrower who has
gone undefeated and been No. 1 all season.”

Spira has maintained a 4.28 weighted GPA in the classroom. He has signed a written letter of athletic aid to
compete at Drake University (Iowa) this fall.

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.

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.