Jordan Anthony named Gatorade’s Miss. track and field player of year

Tylertown High School Chiefs national track and field recordholder Jordan Anthony is the 2021-2022 Gatorade Mississippi Boys Track and Field Player of the Year.

Recognition continues to mount for Tylertown High School’s Jordan Anthony, named June 29 as Mississippi’s Gatorade boys track and field player of the year for 2021-2022. It’s the second win of the award for Anthony, who was also selected for the 2020-2021 year.
The Gatorade award recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence but high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the field.
As Mississippi’s best high school track and field athlete, Anthony is a finalist for the
prestigious Gatorade National Boys Track & Field Player of the Year award to be announced this month.
The 5-11, 160-pound recent graduate of Tylertown High School swept the 100- and 200-meter dash at the Class 3A state meet, leading the Chiefs to the state title. He also won both events at the 2022 Mississippi Track and Field Meet of Champions.
Anthony’s personal-best time of 10.14 seconds this spring in the 100 set a Mississippi state record and ranks No. 7 in U.S. prep history.
His personal best of 20.35 in the 200 this season also established a new state record and ranks No. 14 in U.S. prep history.
Most recently, Anthony finished out his high school career by breaking the tape in the 200-meter to bring home the national title at the USATF U-20 National Championships.
“There is no doubt that Jordan Anthony is the greatest short sprinter in Mississippi High School Boys Track and Field history, and perhaps even one of the best in U.S. history,” said Chris Webber, MileSplit Mississippi state editor. “The talent that he has shown throughout his high school career is phenomenal, and those who were fortunate enough to witness Anthony compete are very lucky.”
A member of the Mesa Mt. Olive Baptist Church, he has volunteered locally on behalf of the Xcel Athletics Track and Field Club, providing instruction for youth athletes.
Anthony has maintained a B average in the classroom. He also played on the THS Chiefs football team that finished with a 12-1 record this year and signed to play for the University of Kentucky in the fall.
“Jordan Anthony graduates as the greatest high school sprinter the state of Mississippi has ever produced,” said Erik Boal, an editor at DyeStat. “His U.S. No. 1 in the 200 this spring along with the nation’s No. 2 prep time in the 100 in 2022 is awfully impressive. He’s got a bright future in the NCAA.”
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.