CHICAGO - In its 41st year celebrating the nation’s best high school athletes, Gatorade today announced Aaron Leon of Eastmont High School is the 2025-26 Gatorade Washington Boys Soccer Player of the Year.
Gatorade Player of the Year is the top honor in high school sports, celebrating the nation’s best high school athletes for their excellence in sport, academics and community. The award recognizes Leon as Washington’s best high school boys soccer player, and he joins an elite legacy that spans professional athletes and coaches to CEOs, such as Alecko Eskandarian (1999-00, Bergen Catholic High School, New Jersey), Cristian Roldan (2012-13, El Rancho High School, California) and Dan Klink (2024-25, Loyola Blakefield, Maryland).
The 5-foot-11, 175-pound senior forward led the Wildcats to a 17-4-1 record and the Class 4A state championship this past season. Leon scored 46 goals and passed for nine assists, including hat tricks in both the state semifinals and final. In four state tournament games, the two-time Columbia Big 9 Conference Offensive Player of the Year tallied 12 goals and three assists. Ranked as the nation’s No. 79 recruit in his class by TopDrawerSoccer.com, he concluded his prep career with 101 goals and 37 assists.
Leon has volunteered locally as a youth soccer coach and has donated his time to multiple community service initiatives through his church congregation. “What separates Aaron from other elite players is his ability to perform at the highest levels against the best competition,” said David Guevara, head coach of Sunnyside High School. “I’ve never seen a player score multiple hat tricks against state tournament-caliber teams, let alone continue to do so throughout a postseason run. His performances were not simply dominant, they were historic.”
Leon has maintained a 3.09 GPA in the classroom. He has signed a written letter of athletic aid to play soccer at Seattle University this fall.
The Gatorade Player of the Year program annually recognizes one state winner from each of the 50 states and Washington D.C., in 12 different sports: football, girls volleyball, boys and girls cross country, boys and girls basketball, baseball, softball, boys and girls soccer, and boys and girls track & field. In total, 610 high school athletes are honored each year. From the pool of state winners, one national winner is selected in each of the 12 sports. The selection process is administered by the Gatorade Player of the Year Selection Committee, which leverages experts including coaches, scouts, media and others as sources to help evaluate and determine the winners in each sport.
As part of Gatorade’s commitment to breaking down barriers in sport, every Player of the Year also receives a grant to donate to a social impact partner. To date, the Gatorade Player of the Year program has provided more than $6.4 million in grants to winners across more than 2,200 organizations.
To learn more about the Gatorade Player of the Year program, check out past winners or to nominate student-athletes, visit playeroftheyear.gatorade.com or follow us on social media on Instagram at instagram.com/Gatorade, Facebook at facebook.com/GatoradePOY and X (Twitter) at x.com/Gatorade.