Karlee Hoffman just added one more award to the long list she’s accumulated in her four years at Daviess County High School. The Gatorade Company announced Monday that Hoffman is the 2018-19 Gatorade Kentucky Girls Cross Country Runner of the Year.
“It’s quite a prestigious award,” said DCHS cross country head coach Mark Fortney. “Each state awards one athlete, and it’s a pretty long process that you have to go through to achieve this award. It’s probably been three months in the making since the applications have come out.”
The award, which recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the race course, distinguishes Hoffman as Kentucky’s best high school girls’ cross country runner.
As a state winner, she is now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Girls Cross Country Runner of the Year award to be announced in February.
The 5-foot-2 senior took second at the Class AAA state meet this season with a time of 18:56.08, leading the Panthers to a second-place finish as a team. Hoffman also won the Owensboro City-County meet by more than a minute last fall.
A four-time First Team All-State selection with four top-five finishes at the state meet, she was the fastest Kentucky runner in seven of 10 races she entered this season.
“The award really tops (my career) off good,” Hoffman said. “I was surprised. I didn’t even know anything about it until coach Fortney told me about it. I’m just really happy.”
While the running success speaks for itself, Fortney said much of the award is based on what Hoffman does outside the sport.
Hoffman has volunteered locally with the Council for Exceptional Children, which advocates for children with disabilities and their families. She has also donated her time to multiple community service initiatives through her church’s youth group.
“I love helping out,” Hoffman said. “I just like to be out there and see people smile.”
She also has a 4.0 GPA and has already signed to continue her career at Eastern Kentucky University.
Hoffman is the second Gatorade Kentucky Girls Cross Country Runner of the Year to be chosen from Daviess County High School, joining Whitney O’Bryan in 2013-14. Fortney said having two student-athletes chosen is an honor.
“It just shows what kind of outstanding kids we have in the school and the job the teachers and our administration do mentoring those kids to get to that level,” he said. “It’s fantastic to have an athlete receive this national award.”
As a part of Gatorade’s cause marketing platform “Play it Forward,” Hoffman has the opportunity to award a $1,000 grant to a local or national youth sports organization of her choosing. Hoffman’s first choice is Girls, Inc., but she has to make sure the organization has a sports team as part of the grant’s requirement. Her second choice would be the Special Olympics or another similar organization.
Hoffman has already begun the track and field season — winning the 2-mile in Saturday’s meet — and has a chance to add a few more awards to her list. She’s just focusing on running.
“I always just come in wanting to do my best,” she said.
Hoffman could earn the same Gatorade award in track and field, but Fortney said he knows that’s not going to be at the front of her mind.
“She’s an athlete that just puts in the hard work and does what she’s supposed to do, and then she achieves the accolades.”
