Chaminade’s Barlow named Missouri Player of the Year in high school soccer

The accolades continue to come to Chaminade soccer standout Tommy Barlow.

The Gatorade Company, in collaboration with USA TODAY High School sports, Tuesday (Feb. 19) announced Barlow as its 2012-13 Gatorade Missouri Boys Soccer Player of the Year. Barlow is the fourth Gatorade Missouri Boys Soccer Player of the Year to be chosen from Chaminade College Preparatory School.

The award, which recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the field, distinguishes Barlow as Missouri’s best high school boys soccer player.

Barlow is a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Boys Soccer Player of the Year award that will be announced in May.

“It’s pretty neat. It’s a big deal,” Chaminade coach Mike Gauvain said.  “We knew he was in the running for this.  I think it’s very well deseved.  He was the top guy all season in the area.  He scored goals in big games for us.

“The nice thing is that he’s only a junior. Hopefully, he plays one more year for us.”

The 6-foot-1, 165-pound junior midfielder scored 27 goals and passed for 17 assists this past season, leading the Red Devils (25-3-2) to the Class 3 state championship match against CBC. An All-American selection by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America, Barlow was also the Missouri Soccer Coaches Association Class 3 Player of the Year. He concluded his junior year with 58 goals and 28 assists in his prep soccer career.

Barlow has maintained a ‘B’ average in the classroom. He has volunteered locally as part of a fundraising campaign to benefit cancer research, a neighborhood beautification project and at a soup kitchen.

“He’s a vey nice young man,” Gauvain said. “He’s really starting to mature. It looks like he’s got everything in line. He’s a wonderful player. He’s up there with the any of the top kids ever to come out of St. Louis. If he stays healthy and progresses, I think he’s got a potential  to play well beyond college, too.”

Barlow will begin his senior year at Chaminade this fall.

Gauvain said Barlow is being heavily recruited for college. He’s being pursued by Saint Louis University, Indiana, Northwestern and Wisconsin.

“He’s got some choices,” Gauvain said. ”

Barlow joins three other Chaminade College Preparatory former recipients of the Gatorade Missouri Boys Soccer Players of the Year:  Mike Roach (2006-2007), Tim Collico (2001-2002) and Brad Davis (1999-2000).

“”He’s up there with the other three who were Missouri Players of the Year that we’ve had,” Gauvain said. “They have banners in the gym and now Tommy will too.”

Chaminade’s basketball player Bradley Beal, now in the NBA, was the state and national winner in 2011. NBA star David Lee also was a basketball Player of the Year.

“We’ve had some top-notch athletes come through Chaminade,” Gauvain said. “They’ll all been outstanding kids.”

The Gatorade Player of the Year program annually recognizes one winner in the District of Columbia and each of the 50 states that sanction high school football, girls volleyball, boys and girls cross country, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls soccer, baseball, softball, and boys and girls track & field, and awards one National Player of the Year in each sport. The selection process is administered by the Gatorade high school sports leadership team in partnership with USA TODAY High School Sports, which work with top sport-specific experts and a media advisory board of accomplished, veteran prep sports journalists to determine the state winners in each sport.