CHICAGO – In its 26th year honoring the nation’s top high school athletes, The Gatorade Company announced Thursday that Chad Noelle, a senior at Greene High School, is its 2010-2011 Gatorade New York Track and Field Athlete of the Year.

The award recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character on and off the track. Noelle is now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Boys Track and Field Athlete of the year, to be announced later this month.

As a senior, Noelle won the New York State Division II and Federation championships in the 1,600 meters timing 4:11.17. Noelle also won the Division II state championship in the 3,200 meters finishing in 8:59.03. Noelle was fifth in the two-mile and sixth in the mile at this month’s New Balance Outdoor Nationals.