A possibility had already been there as Sadie Engelhardt came out to be the best name in high school track sports. Last year she almost became synonymous with 1500m events. Not just that, three years ago on her debut in prominence, the runner put a notice to every one of her appearances.

She did that by breaking the world record in the mile in her age group. Notably, she was just 14 then. Now, she might feel like her payback day for all the records she made in these three years has finally arrived. Gatorade paved that way, adorned with gems. The 2024 ESPY awards have done the rest. 

On Wednesday, Gatorade named her as the National Girls Track and Field Player of the Year. The celebration continued to Thursday on ESPY’s platform as she became the Best Female Player of the Year. With that, she is now the first track and field national winner after Katelyn Tuohy (in 2018) in the segment. Today, such a laurel came to her after she proved herself most fitting out of the six Female Player of the Year finalists. The world has presumably changed for someone who comes from the junior years of Ventura High School and lifts the trophy in the star-filled Dolby Theatre, in the city of dream Los Angeles. 

But for Sadie Engelhardt, it is the prize of her consistency – such consistency that put her in the front-runner position in the middle distance running. The latest example of it came into public on June 15 when she broke her personal meet record. It was in the mile run in New Balance National Outdoors in Philadelphia, where the 17-year-old posted 4:37.04 to cross the finishing line. Three days earlier of this performance, she showed up in the Brooks PR Invitational to win the 800m event. In all these events, one simple yet stunning tactic helped her heavily. 

Sadie Engelhardt applied the strategy of going with full cylinders in the last 200 meters of all those events and the victory was hers. In the meantime, she could hold on to the ground until the last minute. Ultimately, that ability receives the most mentions and accolades. 

Sadie Engelhardt had no idea of her achievement being the nation’s best 

Last month, when Sadie Engelhardt was named the Gatorade National Girls Track and Field award, she had no prior idea of achieving the title. Rather, she got to know about it from her mates on her practice track. Her spontaneous reaction remained, “This is insane. Wow. The BC stars are popping like this.” Meanwhile, her mother, Shannon Engelhardt, also joined the celebration on that track and put her daughter’s emotions in a few words. 

Notably, Sadie’s family has always been the rock behind her every endeavor. On her prized day as well, her mother added that part as she said, “So good. We got you. So good. You had no idea”. Later, Gatorade authority Michael Del Pozzo spilled the beans on Sadie Engelhardt’s ability. 

He counted her on and off the track highly and expected the story of victory to be continued in the future. “This is just the beginning for Sadie, and we look forward to seeing what she will accomplish,” as he said. Because of her exorbitant ability, Sadie Engelhardt has already landed her graduate offer from NC State. Now, after today, the expectations from her will skyrocket.