The Gatorade Company, in collaboration with USA TODAY High School Sports, has announced a local has won the 2014-15 Gatorade Tennessee Girls Cross Country Runner of the Year. NewsRadio WGNS Sports Director Bryan Barrett has more...

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Cuneo is the first Gatorade Tennessee Girls Cross Country Runner of the Year to be chosen from Central Magnet School.

The award, which recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the racecourse, distinguishes Cuneo as Tennessee's best high school girls cross country runner. She's now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Girls Cross Country Runner of the Year award to be announced later this month.

The 5-foot-2 freshman raced to the Division I AA-A individual state championship this past season with a time of 18:57.58, leading the Lady Tigers to a third-place finish as a team. The 2014 First Team All-State selection, Cuneo was the fastest Tennessee competitor at the Nike Cross Nationals Southeast Regional championships, crossing the line in fourth place in 17:27.3. She went on to compete at the NXN Final, where she earned All-American honors with an eighth-place finish in 17:41.

Cuneo has maintained an A average in the classroom. A member of the Key Club, she has volunteered locally on behalf of her church youth group and as both a soccer and a track & field camp counselor.

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 high school sports leadership team in partnership with USA TODAY High School Sports, 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.