Every year, Gatorade scours the nation looking for the best high school athletes and honors them at a luncheon and award ceremony before the annual ESPY awards in Los Angeles. Two of the athletes are crowned Gatorade High School Athlete of the Year and then move on to fame, fortune and glory... sometimes. Some of the past winners include LeBron James, Candace Parker, Dwight Howard, and Greg Oden. Out of the 12 honorees this year, female basketball phenom Skylar Diggins from Indiana and Texas quarterback Garrett Gilbert were crowned the female and male athletes of the year.

"I don't know how it was going to turn out," Diggins said after she won. "When you see all the girls on the screen doing their sport and the passion on their faces, anyone could have won that. But this is definitely a blessing and an honor and what an opportunity it is to come out here. You look at the award winners who have won this in the past, the last one was Maya Moore, and those are definitely big shoes to fill."

Next year, Diggins will be playing ball at Notre Dame but for the rest of the summer she'll be traveling overseas with the U18 USA Girls Basketball team competing in a variety of tournaments. Another athlete who was nominated was Florida high school junior Brandon Knight. Although the young baller didn't win, he'll most likely be nominated again next year and is looking towards a successful career in college and possibly the NBA.

"It's a great honor," Knight said about being nominated. "You get to be in the presence of a lot of greatness like Kevin Durant and the Olympic athletes. It's just a great honor and lets you know that you're doing something right for the little bit of time you've been playing in your respective sport. It pushes you to want to be better."

Knight will be a senior in high school next year and the universities have already been calling. He isn't even close to a decision and is currently open to attending any school.

Athletes like Landon Donovan (of the LA Galaxy), Matthew Stafford (of the Detroit Lions), Jessica Mendoza (US Women's Softball Team), Misty May-Treanor (US Women's Volleyball Team) and Kevin Durant (Oklahoma City Thunder) were all on hand to honor the athletes while the ceremony was hosted by Stuart Scott.

"It's exciting to see these young players rise up and be great," said Durant after the ceremony and luncheon. "For a player like me, it's exciting to see these young players go from the bottom and work their way to the top. It's an exciting time for them and now it's a new chapter in their life."

Check out some images from the event:

Skylar Diggins, Kevin Durant, Stuart Scott and Brandon Knight


Garrett Gilbert and Skylar Diggins


Skylar Diggins