Yelm High School’s dominant multi-sport athlete Brayden Platt was named the Gatorade Washington Boys Track and Field Player of the Year on June 29.
The incoming senior wrapped up his 2023 campaign with a state championship in shot put and a national championship in javelin.
The honor recognizes outstanding athletic excellence, high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the field, according to Gatorade. The award also recognizes Platt as Washington’s best high school boys track and field athlete.
“Being named Washington Gatorade Boys Track and Field Athlete of the Year means a lot to me, especially with Jeremiah (Nubbe) winning it last year,” Platt told the Nisqually Valley News. “It’s great to keep the honor close to home with another thrower winning the award.”
Platt’s throwing coach at Yelm High School, Cami Stovall, said he worked hard throughout the offseason leading up to track, including completing training that focused on his flexibility and explosiveness with throws.
She added that as the season continued to play out, Platt continuously worked on his throwing fundamentals as well as flexibility. That work led to his remarkable achievements this year, she said.
“Brayden received this honor because of his work outside of the athletic realm, too. He has fantastic grades and he’s a wicked smart kid,” Stovall said in an interview with the Nisqually Valley News. “On top of that, he’s an incredibly hard worker.”
Gatorade has honored the nation’s best high school athletes for 38 years. For the third consecutive year, an athlete from within the Nisqually Valley has been selected as Gatorade Washington Boys Track and Field Player of the Year. Platt joins Jeremiah Nubbe of Rainier High School, who is currently a member of the University of Texas’s track and field program and won the Gatorade Washington Boys Track and Field Athlete of the Year honor twice before he departed for Austin, Texas.
“Both Jeremiah and Brayden are incredibly special athletes. They’re gifted physically and they’re very coachable. They’re both fantastic about applying what we’re coaching, and that has a lot to do with their successes in Gatorade Athlete of the Year. They’re both freaks of nature in the best possible way,” Stovall said. “It’s crazy that it’s three years in a row within a 10-mile radius.”
Though Platt will enroll early for football at the university he commits to, Stovall believes he would’ve had the opportunity to win the honor in back-to-back years like Nubbe did.
“Brayden is going to enroll early in football next year, so he won’t have a track season,” she said. “But for him to go out with his final season having this award is pretty amazing. I fully believe that if he competed next year, he’d be like Jeremiah and win it back to back. His shot put will continue to increase in distance and his javelin numbers will be unreal.”
She added that Platt would’ve continued to shatter records as a senior.
The junior, who stands at 6-foot-2 and weighs 245 pounds, clinched the national title in the javelin throw at Nike Outdoor Nationals in early June. His winning throw of 228 feet topped the charts nationally for high school competitors in 2023 and was the 28th best distance in U.S. high school track and field history.
Out of all boys track and field prep athletes, only 16 have managed to throw farther than Platt, according to Gatorade.
Platt also achieved All-American honors at the Nike Outdoor Nationals by throwing the shot put a distance of 64.25 feet, which earned him a national ranking of 21st.
“Brayden Platt’s return to Nike Outdoor Nationals was a triumphant one — as last year’s silver medalist in the javelin, he mined gold this time out, setting a record in the process,” Rich Gonzalez, editor of PrepCalTrack.com, said in Gatorade’s release. “His winning effort in the javelin of 228-0 feet not only secured the win, it also broke the state junior class record.”
During his time as a Tornado, Platt has volunteered locally as a youth track coach and as a youth football counselor. In the classroom, Platt maintained a 3.81 GPA in the classroom and will begin his senior season in the fall.
“I am super proud of him,” Coach Chris Stovall told the Nisqually Valley News. “Incredible kid, driven, humble and a student of his sports.”
