Gatorade announced on March 13 that Kate Harpring of Marist School has been named the 2025-26 Gatorade Georgia Girls Basketball Player of the Year.
The award is considered one of the top honors in high school sports, recognizing student-athletes for their achievements in athletics, academics, and community service. Harpring joins a group of past winners that includes professional athletes and leaders such as Candace Parker, Paige Bueckers, and Aaliyah Chavez.
Harpring, a senior guard standing 5-foot-11, led her team to a 27-2 record and a spot in the Class 4A state championship game. She averaged 29.5 points, 11.2 rebounds, 4.2 steals, and 4.1 assists per game while shooting 62 percent from the field over 29 games. As the returning Gatorade Player of the Year for Georgia and one of five finalists for the Naismith Award, she entered the state final just five points short of breaking the state scoring record with a career total of 3,394 points. She is ranked as the No. 1 recruit in her class by a national recruiting service.
In addition to her athletic accomplishments, Harpring has volunteered with local organizations addressing food insecurity and participated in community service through her church. Kevin Moore, head coach at St. Pius X High School, said: “Kate Harpring is one of a kind. She impacts the game in almost every way: scoring, facilitating, defending and leading. What makes her special isn’t just her statistical production, but the consistency with which she influences the flow of the game.”
Harpring has maintained an A-minus average academically and has signed to play basketball at the University of North Carolina next fall.
The Gatorade Player of the Year program recognizes one winner from each state and Washington D.C., across twelve sports each year—totaling more than six hundred honorees annually—with national winners selected from among them by a committee including coaches and other experts. Each winner receives a grant to donate to a social impact partner as part of Gatorade’s efforts to support communities.
