In its 39 year of honoring the nation's most elite high school athletes, Gatorade today announced Sharmelle Holmes of Fairfield Central High School is the 2023-24 Gatorade South Carolina Girls Track & Field Player of the Year. Holmes is the first Gatorade South Carolina Girls Track & Field Player of the Year to be chosen from Fairfield Central High School.
The award, which celebrates the nation's top high school athletes for excellence on the field, in the classroom and in the community, distinguishes Holmes as South Carolina's best high school girls track & field athlete.
The 5-foot-4 senior sprinter/jumper won the 100- and 200-meter dash as well as the long jump at the Class 2A state meet this past season, leading the Griffins to a third-place finish as a team. Holmes also ran the anchor leg for the winning 4x100-meter relay quartet at states. She earned All-American status by finishing fourth in the 100 at New Balance Nationals Outdoor with a time of 11.62 seconds. In 100 dash prelims at NBNO she clocked an 11.54, which ranked No. 32 nationally among girls prep competitors this spring. Her season-best 200 time of 23.67 ranked No. 39 nationally.
Holmes has volunteered locally as an assistant athletic trainer and as a youth track coach. "It's hard to argue against someone who won four events like Sharmelle did," said Chris White, head coach of Seneca High School. "She was amazing all year long and capped it off with a great state meet."
Holmes has maintained a weighted 4.23 GPA in the classroom. She has signed a national letter of intent to compete on an athletic scholarship at the University of Kentucky this fall.