Both Western Albemarle’s Gannon Willcutts and Goochland’s Reid Chenault put together impressive careers both in competition and in the classroom.
Wednesday, the VHSL recognized those two athletes exploits when the league announced its annual Allstate Foundation/VHSL Achievement awards, naming Chenault the Group 2A Male Athlete of the Year while Willcutts was name the Group 3A Male Athlete of the year.
Willcutts is the latest highly accomplished distance runner out of Western Albemarle that’s set to run in college at an academic powerhouse, joining names like Tyler Stutzman (Stanford), David Taylor (Cornell) and Annie Taylor (Cornell). Willcutts will take his resume to Princeton, a resume that includes five state titles, two separate Scrimmage Play cross country runner-of-the-year awards as a junior and senior. He won the Group 3A cross country individual title and that performance led the Warriors to a team title, Western’s first in 15 years. He’s also won state track titles twice in the indoor 3200 meters, once in the 1600 indoor and once in the 3200-meter outdoor race. In the classroom, Willcutts is the president of the National Honor Society and is a senior class officers. He’s also in the math and social studies honor societies.
Chenault is the school record holder at Goochland in both passing yards and touchdowns in a game, season and career. Splitting time with Jordan Jefferson as a freshman, Chenault helped lead the Bulldogs to a state title and earned Scrimmage Play newcomer of the year honors in the process. He’s been an all-state punter as well as an all-conference quarterback. In baseball, Chenault was a second-team all-state and all-region performer as a junior. He’s also a member of the National Honor Society and Math National Honor Society.
Fluvanna County’s Jonathan Corbin also won the Group 3A Academic Activity award for outstanding achievement in VHSL activities, rooted in his two-time state runner-up performance in extemporaneous speaking. Corbin is also a three-time cross country captain for the Flucos as well as a swimmer and runner in indoor and outdoor track. He is headed to the Naval Academy.
Madison County’s Jordan Taylor was the Group 2A Academic Activity winner. Taylor is a three-time state forensics champion in dramatic interpretation and a runner-up in congressional debate. She’s also a member of the All-American Speech and Debate team. She owns the number one Dramatic Interpreter ranking in the nation and is the senior class president. She’s headed to the University of Alabama.
