Angelina Napoleon can now see her name alongside those USA Track & Field greats.

The Allegany-Limestone senior was officially named the 2022-23 Gatorade Girls Track & Field National Player of the Year on Thursday morning.

“I actually found out about it last year because coach and I applied for the New York state award. I didn’t win that so when it came back around this year, we added to my resume and sent it back in. To be honest, I didn’t really ever give it much thought after that because in May and June I was so busy wrapping up senior year,” Napoleon said Wednesday afternoon. “With sectionals, states and nationals, it just kind of wasn’t in the front of my mind.

“The national Gatorade award, honestly wasn’t really even on my radar,” Napoleon added. ” … I wasn’t really thinking of the national one until I received the state award (Tuesday), which was absolutely insane. … I was very surprised and very speechless when I got that award.”

Allegany-Limestone senior Angelina Napoleon receives the Gatorade Girls Track & Field Athlete of the Year award at a ceremony Tuesday at the school. OBSERVER Photo by Tim Frank

Napoleon certainly has the pedigree deserving of the honor.

Earlier this month, the North Carolina State University commit ran the fastest high school 2,000-meter steeplechase time in United States history with a 6:18.41 en route to winning the New York State Public High School Athletic Association and Federation championships at Middletown High School.

Napoleon also won the Federation and Division 2 800 meters at the state meet with a state-championship-record time of 2:03.97.

A week later, Napoleon nearly equaled her accomplishment in the steeplechase when she ran a 6:19.53 on her way to winning the race at the New Balance Nationals. Napoleon also took second in the 800 meters in Philadelphia with a time of 2:05.53, less than 1 second behind winner Sophia Gorriaran of Moses Brown School in Rhode Island.

Napoleon also won the Federation and Division 2 800 meters and 2,000-meter steeplechase at the 2022 state championships with times of 2:08.58 and 6:30.59, respectively.

Allegany-Limestone senior Angelina Napoleon holds a proclamation given to her by state Sen. George Borrello, left, and state Assemblyman Joe Giglio, right, during a ceremony Tuesday at the school. OBSERVER Photo by Tim Frank

Napoleon plans to run the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the U20 national meet in Eugene, Oregon, in early July.

She graduates as the Allegany-Limestone record holder in nine individual events and the 3,200-meter relay.

“You can’t even describe it, to think that in our little, bitty, tiny town we would have the caliber athlete that she is with the dedication level,” Kathy Stamets, Napoleon’s high school coach, said Wednesday afternoon. “The award isn’t only about the athletic part, it includes the academic and character pieces. To think she was chosen out of any athlete in the nation … is mind blowing.”

Napoleon was also a two-time girls Class C state champion in cross country, winning at Vernon Verona Sherrill High School in 2022 and at Chenango Valley State Park in 2021.

Juliette Whittaker, a middle-distance runner from Mount De Sales Academy in Catonsville, Maryland, was named the 2021-22 Gatorade Girls Track & Field National Player of the Year. She competed at Stanford University this fall.

“The Gatorade team, maybe 10 of them, arrived Monday afternoon and we got everything in place to do the surprise Tuesday,” said Stamets, who had already been planning a ceremony to recognize Napoleon’s other accomplishments. “We had already planned on having state Sen. George Borrello and state Assemblyman Joe Giglio for a proclamation. At the end of their presentation, they said, ‘Wait, I think we forgot something.’

“The woman from Gatorade announced she had won the state award first,” Stamets added, “gave it a moment for the crowd to cheer, and then said, ‘That’s not exactly what I’m here to tell you. I’m here to tell you that you are the national player of the year.'”

Katelyn Tuohy was the last New York girl to win the national award. As a sophomore in 2018, Tuohy broke the national high school record in the mile with a time of 4:33.87 at the New Balance Nationals.

“Obviously I knew of Katelyn winning and I’ll actually be on the same team as her at North Carolina State,” Napoleon said.

Napoleon graduates with a long list of accomplishments that will be hard to match at Allegany-Limestone. This year’s personal bests include: 26.84 seconds in the 200 meters, 57.70 seconds in the 400 meters, 4:28.72 in the 1,500 meters, 4:46.38 in the 1-mile run, 10:39.04 in the 3,200 meters, 1:04.20 in the 400-meter hurdles and 5 feet, 7 inches in the high jump in addition to her state-winning time in the 800 meters and national record in the 2,000-meter steeplechase.

She finished second at the Federation cross country meet this fall, seventh at the Champs Northeast Region Meet and 16th at the Champs National Meet. She also won the indoor 1,000 meters the past two seasons and the outdoor 800 meters last spring. At the Penn Relays earlier this year, Napoleon won the 1-mile run.

“I knew in seventh grade that she was going to do well, but really I would say it was when she came back after COVID that the level became a little bit more elite,” Stamets said of Napoleon’s lost freshman season due to the coronavirus pandemic. “During COVID, she did a lot of work on her own in terms of strength training and other things, and when she came back she was on a different level than the season before.”

Even as she takes all of those accomplishments with her to Raleigh next fall, Napoleon now considers the Gatorade honor her greatest.

“This is definitely one of the most proud things that I’ve done. I’m super proud of myself for this,” she said. “I definitely thought nationals and states was kind of my wrap-up. … This is super unexpected and I’m super grateful. … There are definitely a lot of candidates for this and probably a lot of people who deserve this award. I’m just happy they chose me to represent female track and field athletes.”