By SAM STAFF/Sports Writer

In its 39th year of honoring the nation’s most elite high school athletes, Gatorade today announced Julie Segroves of Biloxi High School is the 2023-24 Gatorade Mississippi Girls Track & Field Player of the Year.
Segroves is the first Gatorade Mississippi Girls Track & Field Player of the Year to be chosen from Biloxi High School. The award, which celebrates the nation’s top high school athletes for excellence on the field, in the classroom and in the community, distinguishes Segroves as Mississippi’s best high school girls track & field athlete.
From CEOs and coaches to star athletes, Gatorade Player of the Year winners showcase the power of sport, touting an all-star group of alumni that includes Sanya Richards-Ross (2001-02, St. Thomas Aquinas High School, Fla), Sydney McLaughlin (2016-17, 2015-16 & 2014-15, Union Catholic High School, N.J.) and Angelina Napoleon (2022-23, Allegany-Limestone Central School, N.Y.).
The 5-foot-2 junior pole vaulter won the Class 7A state championship this past season, clearing 13 feet, four inches to help the Indians finish fifth as a team. Segroves set the state record in the event a year ago with a clearance of 13- 8. Her title-winning height this spring ranked tied for 18th nationally among prep girls competitors.
Segroves has volunteered locally in her capacity as a member of both the National Honor Society and Beta Club. She has donated her time assisting youth athletes and helped fundraise more than $2,000 for the Westbrook Vault Club. She has also assisted with the distribution of holiday gifts by her school’s Campus Security Council.
“Julie Segroves didn’t quite reach the heights she did as a sophomore in her signature event, but she still finished among the nation’s top 20 prep girls this spring,” said Rich Gonzalez, editor of PrepCalTrack.com. “Though the sport advanced past the 15-foot barrier last year, until 2015, only three girls in U.S. high school history owned a clearance as high as Julie has.”

Segroves has maintained an A-plus average in the classroom. She will begin her 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.

Segroves joins recent Gatorade Mississippi Girls Track & Field Players of the Year Heidi Hudson (2022-23, Sumrall High School), Kennedi Sanders (2021-22 & 2020-21, Madison Ridgeland Academy) and Brooklyn Biancamano (2019-20, Long Beach High School), among the state’s list of former award winners.
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 $4.9 million in grants to winners across more than 1,900 organizations.