Meadows senior Gosse bound for New York as prep Heisman finalist

Garrett Gosse has a long list of achievements in sports and academics at The Meadows School. The senior believes one wouldn’t be possible without the other.

“There’s a definite link between the classroom and the athletic field,” said Gosse, a football, basketball and baseball standout. “You learn things from the athletic field that you might not learn in the classroom. I think that each of them help each other out.”

Gosse’s philosophy helps show why he was named Monday among six national male finalists for the Wendy’s High School Heisman, an award that honors seniors who excel in athletics, academics and community leadership.

The six male and six female finalists will travel to New York, where the winner of each award will be announced Dec. 10 on ESPN2 (Cox 31).

About 48,000 students applied for the award, which was narrowed to 1,020 state finalists and then 102 state winners last week.

Gosse learned he was a national finalist during a ceremony in The Meadows’ auditorium Monday.

The 6-foot-3-inch Gosse is a strong-armed quarterback in football, a versatile forward in basketball and an ace right-hander in baseball. He was a Class 2A first-team all-state selection in all three sports as a junior, and leads the Mustangs (8-2) into a football state semifinal at Pershing County on Saturday.

Even though Gosse could graduate as the most accomplished athlete in the history of The Meadows, his academic resume could be more impressive.

He has a 4.72 cumulative grade-point average, a perfect math and science score on his ACT and was named the school’s Junior Student of the Year. He is being recruited by Ivy League football programs, but is yet to decide on a college.

“His ability to absorb things and strive for more, that’s Garrett,” said Frank DeSantis, The Meadows’ longtime football and baseball coach and athletic director. “Every day he wants more information. He’s just a once-in-a-lifetime player.”

Gosse has passed for 2,359 yards and 29 touchdowns this season. With 7,151 yards and 89 touchdowns during his career, Gosse ranks second in state history in both categories, according to the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association record book.

He has compiled those numbers in only three years as a starter.

“Garrett’s got one of those minds where he recognizes and processes things two, three times in advance,” said Garrett’s father, Rick Gosse, a basketball star at UNR in the 1980s. “It’s been fun to watch him play out there, from seeing him as a skinny freshman to grow up and be one of the passing leaders. It’s just been a great joy.”

Gosse’s selection is the third time The Meadows has had a national finalist for the award in the past six years.

Former volleyball, basketball and softball player Cara Buchanan was a national finalist in 2006, and former football and basketball player Brett Leibowitz won the national award in 2008.

“It says a tremendous amount about this school and how it allows students to perform in the classroom and the athletic field,” Garrett Gosse said. “It’s where a student could be a star actor in a play, and then go out on the football field. It’s a great school, and it lets you achieve everything you want to do.”