Congrats to the National Gatorade Player of the Year Dillon Powers!

The Gatorade Company, in parternship with ESPN Rise has announced U.S. Under-18 Men’s National Team midfielder Dillon Powers as the 2008-09 Gatorade National Boys Soccer Player of the Year. Powers, who plays for Andromeda SC of the Development Academy, recently returned from the Lisbon International Tournament in Portugal, where he appeared in all three U.S. games to help the team to a 1-1-1 record. Powers was also part of the U-18 MNT that finished first at the Australian Youth Olympic Festival in January.

Powers joins Lee Nguyen and Nick Garcia as the only other high school boys soccer players from the state of Texas to earn Gatorade National Boys Soccer Player of the Year honors.

The award, which recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the field, distinguishes Powers as the nation’s best high school boys soccer player.

Powers is not only a standout on the field, but he also holds an A average, has served as a member of the Student Council at Plano High and has completed multiple community-service initiatives in association with the National Honor Society, including peer tutoring. He has also volunteered on behalf of his local church youth group... Powers is a busy senior!

A national advisory board comprised of sportswriters and sport-specific experts from around the country helped select Powers from more than 383,000 high school boys soccer players nationwide. Powers is now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade Male High School Athlete of the Year Award, to be presented at a special afternoon ceremony prior to The ESPY Awards in July.