Detroit Country Day School Student Named Gatorade Michigan Boys Track & Field Athlete of the Year

BEVERLY HILLS, Mich., June 30, 2011 — Detroit Country Day School is pleased to announce that Dartis Willis has been named the 2010-2011 Gatorade Michigan Boys Track & Field Athlete of the Year.

Willis won the high jump with a clearance of six feet, 11 inches at the Division II Lower Peninsula Track & Field Finals this spring. He is also the state record-holder in the indoor high jump and finished third in the state in the long jump this outdoor season.

The award recognizes not only athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the track. Willis, who is also a talented saxophonist and volunteer with area youth track programs, has received a scholarship to compete in track and field as a freshman at Stanford University in the 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 ESPN RISE and the Gatorade high school sports leadership team, which work with top sport-specific experts and a media advisory board of accomplished, veteran prep sports journalists to determine the state winners in each sport.

About Detroit Country Day School

Detroit Country Day School offers students from pre-school through high school an exemplary education rooted in academic vigor and a commitment to the full development of each student’s potential. The school is an independent, coeducational, non-denominational, college preparatory school nationally recognized for excellence in academics, athletics and the fine and performing arts.

Founded in 1914 by F. Alden Shaw, Detroit Country Day School today enrolls more than 1500 students on four campuses located in Beverly Hills and Bloomfield Township, Michigan.

MEDIA CONTACT

Stacy Butts
248.258.2333
[email protected]