Wednesday’s art class was a little more interesting than usual for Luis Rendon.

It was while sitting at his Cosby High School desk that he was presented with a work of art he couldn’t have imagined – the Gatorade Boy’s Soccer National Player of the Year, an honor that came with a surprise visit from MLS standout Alecko Eskandarian.

Rendon, an FC Richmond star and our No. 53 ranked player in our 2012 Top 100 List, became the first soccer player from Virginia to receive the award on a day that further solidified his place as a premier U.S. player.

Rendon was selected from a pool of the 50 state winners and the District of Columbia. He is now up for the Gatorade Male Athlete of the Year Award, which will recognize the ultimate winner among all sports.

Between now and then, Rendon will find himself a bit occupied. After being recently called into U.S. U18 Men’s National Camp, he’ll be rejoining the team and heading to Portugal on May 19 as he competes in international friendly matches against Holland, Portugal and Finland.

Heading to Duke in 2012, Rendon spent much of the day with Eskandarian who captured the award in 1999-2000.

Gatorade National Boys Soccer Players By Year

2010-2011    Luis Rendon
2009-2010    Soony Saad
2008-2009    Dillon Powers
2007-2008    Chris Agorsor
2006-2007    Brayan Martinez
2005-2006    Eric Alexander
2004-2005    Lee Nguyen
2003-2004    Patrick Phelan
2002-2003    Greg Dalby
2001-2002    Jordan Harvey
2000-2001    Ned Grabavoy
1999-2000    Alecko Eskandarian
1998-1999    Kyle Martino
1997-1998    Nick Downing
1996-1997    Nick Garcia
1995-1996    Andy Kirk
1994-1995    Pierre Venditti
1993-1994    Andriy Shapowal
1992-1993    Mike Fisher
1991-1992    Matt McKeon
1990-1991    Claudio Reyna
1989-1990    Todd Haskins
1988-1989    Chris Henderson
1987-1988    Lyle Yorks
1986-1987    John Gwin
1985-1986    Kevin Hundelt

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