The Gatorade Company, in collaboration with USA TODAY High School Sports, today announced Dalton Daum of Butte High School as its 2013-14 Gatorade Montana Boys Track & Field Athlete of the Year.
The award, which recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the track, distinguishes Daum as Montana’s best high school boys track & field athlete.
The 6-foot-2, 175-pound junior sprinter won a pair of individual state championships this spring and led the Bulldogs to a 12th-place finish as a team at the Class AA state meet. Daum took gold in the 100-meter dash with a time of 10.86 seconds and the 200-meter dash in 21.70. A 2014 Academic All-State selection, he also won both the 100 (10.87) and the 200 (21.78) at the Class AA East Regional meet.
Daum has maintained a 3.87 GPA in the classroom. A member of the National Honor Society, he has volunteered locally on behalf of multiple area food and clothing drives to benefit families in need and as a youth football and track coach.
“Dalton Daum is truly a gifted track and field athlete,” said Butte High head coach Arie Grey. “He has proven that he is a very smooth and explosive sprinter.”
Daum will begin his senior year of high school this fall.