Gatorade today announced Ian Johnson of Southside High School is the 2023-24 Gatorade South Carolina Boys Track & Field Player of the Year. Johnson is the first Gatorade South Carolina Boys Track & Field Player of the Year to be chosen from Southside High School.
The 5-foot-11, 135-pound senior sprinter swept the 100- and 200-meter dashes at the SCHSL AAA state meet this past season, leading the Tigers to a 13th-place finish as a team. Johnson clocked 2024's state-best time of 10.41 seconds in the 100 at the Class 3A, Region 2 meet. The 2024 All-Upstate Athlete of the Year, his top wind-legal 100 time of 10.43 ranked No. 38 nationally among boys prep competitors this spring.
Johnson has volunteered locally at a food bank and homeless shelter and he has donated his time as a youth track coach. Johnson has maintained a weighted 3.81 GPA in the classroom. He has signed a national letter of intent to compete on an athletic scholarship at Clemson University this fall.
Johnson joins recent Gatorade South Carolina Boys Track & Field Players of the Year Bryson Miller (2022-23, Dorman High School), T'Mars McCallum, Jr. (2021-22, Carolina Forest High School), Jaylen Boudreaux (2020-21, Cane Bay High School) and Tyler Graves (2019-20, Lower Richland High School), among the state's list of former award winners.