By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
For the second consecutive year, Northern Kentucky has a double-winner in the Kentucky Gatorade Player of the Year Awards that honor outstanding performers in high school sports each year.
Paul Van Laningham of Cooper won the award in boys track and field on Thursday, four months after he was named the state’s best boys cross country runner by the sports drink company.
Last year, Will Sheets of Covington Catholic won the same two awards as Van Laningham. Both distance runners won state titles in both sports during their senior year.
At the Class 3A boys state meet in May, Van Laningham won the 1,600-meter run and placed second in the 800 and 3,200 events.
He scored 26 points for the Cooper team that placed third in the large school boys standings with 45 total points.
Earlier this month, Van Laningham finished fifth in the mile at the Brooks PR Invitational with a state-record time of 4:01.83, which ranked No. 10 nationally among high school competitors this spring.
Last week, he finished among the top 10 in both the mile and 2-mile runs at the Nike Outdoor Nationals.
Van Laningham put his name in statewide record books twice during his senior year. His winning time of 15:01.12 in the Class 3A boys state cross country meet broke the record he posted the previous season. At the Class 3A indoor state track meet, he set a new statewide record in the boys 3,200-meter run (9:09.48).
A University of Wisconsin recruit, Van Laningham maintained a weighted 4.62 GPA in the classroom. He takes part in multiple community service initiatives through his church youth group. He will receive grant money from Gatorade to donate to a community program.
Gatorade appoints selection committees to name Player of the Year award-winners in 12 different sports in each of the 50 states and Washington, D.C. A national winner is selected from the pool of state winners in each sport.
In 2022-23, Amanda Schlueter of St. Henry was named Kentucky Player of the Year in girls soccer and Sheets took the state award in boys cross country. One year later, Julia Hunt of Holy Cross was Kentucky Player of the Year in volleyball.