For the second year in a row, Flathead High has produced the Montana Gatorade Athlete of the Year for boys track and field.
In its 28th year honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, the Gatorade Company named Matthew Tokarz the top competitor in the state.
Tokarz won two individual state championships in his senior season this spring. He broke both the AA and the all-class state records in the triple jump at the championship meet in Bozeman last month, leaping 48-feet, nine-and-a-half inches. The old AA record set in 1972 was 47-6 and the all-class mark from 1983 was 48-2. Tokarz jumped 22-7.75 to win the long jump title, only seven inches shy of the 1980 AA record.
Tokarz is the fourth male athlete from Flathead to be chosen for the Gatorade honor. David Vidal won the award twice, in 2000 and 2001. Seth Grossman won in 2007 and Zach Perrin won in 2012.
“Matt Tokarz has developed into an outstanding young gentleman who just happens to possess a lot of athletic ability,” said Flathead High head boys coach Dan Hodge. “I have watched as he matured physically, athletically, academically and socially. He has continuously demonstrated the ability to do excellent work and has developed excellent working habits.”
Tokarz has signed a National Letter of Intent to play football on an athletic scholarship at Montana State University this fall. He originally planned to compete at Montana Tech in Butte. He maintained a B average in the classroom and volunteered locally on behalf of multiple community services initiatives in association with his church parish and as a youth track and field coach.
Morgan Sulser from Billings Senior was named the Gatorade girls track athlete of the year for Montana. The junior runner won the 100-meter hurdles in a state-record time of 14.11 seconds; the 200-meter dash in 25.20; and ran the opening leg for the 400 relay team that won in 48.65. Sulser led the Lady Broncs to their third consecutive Class AA state championship as a team.