There are a lot of good athletes in Northwest Montana.

Teams from the area won eight team state championships and even more individual titles, leaving the list of worthy athletes to be considered as an “Athlete of the Year” from the area in the dozens.

That’s a big title and quite an honor to be named as the best from such a talent-rich area.

Narrowing down to six boys and six girls for our finalists was a process of splitting hairs and picking nits.

#2016AOY FINALISTS

Which points of an athlete’s resume should matter the most?

Do we give more weight to individual achievement or team championships? Are athletes who play more than one sport more deserving than those that stick to a chosen discipline? Does one dominant season beat out a player who was a key piece in multiple championship contenders? How much is an all-star career and longevity worth?

We weighed everything, and not all the decisions were easy.

The field of 12 athletes that made the cut all had outstanding years, and more than a few remarkable athletes didn’t make the list, including individual state champions and others that led their teams to glory, arguably just as much as some on this list.

However, those athletes weren’t overlooked. There was plenty of debate over players with similar accolades from the same teams and which deserved more recognition, if only slightly.

Certain schools saw more standout athletes than others, though the question came up on whether to make sure at least one from each institution was represented.

Glacier High School had a tremendous year of individual and team performances, with four kids making our final list, all after historic seasons and record-breaking careers.

A few schools didn’t have any selections, though that doesn’t mean there weren’t any candidates from those schools worthy of inclusion. In some cases, would it have been a different year, those athletes would’ve easily cracked the list against a less stacked field.

And this wasn’t just an internal decision, with the lofty newspaper reporters sitting in their bunker deciding everything from box scores and stat lines. We asked for input from each of the athletic directors from the nine schools in the area. We considered performances from individual games and entire seasons and how singurlarly important each player was to the success of their teams.

What we came up with is a list of some of the finest athletes in the state and a group of kids that shows the talent and skill that comes from Northwest Montana in a variety of sports. They each made in impact on sports in the state and some made their mark nationally, proving that big talent doesn’t always have to come from big cities.

Most importantly, this is a group of kids that made the area proud in the last year and will likely continue to do so in the future.

In short: This is the best of the best.