CHICAGO — Glacier distance runner Annie Hill was named the Gatorade Montana girls track and field athlete of the year on Thursday, the first time she’s earned the award for track in her illustrious career.

Hill, who just finished her junior season, also won the award for the 2015 cross country season. She is the first Kalispell girl to earn the award in track since Flathead’s Zoe Nelson won three straight times from 2003-05. Flathead boys have won the award three times in the last six years.

The 5-foot-2 Hill won the 800-, 1,600-, and 3,200-meter runs at the Class AA state track meet this spring and finished second in the 400, dominating the distance events to help the Glacier girls to a second-place team finish.

Hill finished fourth last week in the girls mile at the elite Brooks PR Invitational in Seattle and holds top 15 times in the nation in the 1,600 and 3,200.

“It’s a little more surprising this year,” Hill said. “I worked hard this season. I’m proud of it.

“I had a good season and had an upward progression. I tried a lot of new things. My season went pretty well.”

“She’s got a good head on her shoulders,” Glacier girls track coach Jerry Boschee said. “Individually she had a really good year, but it was all about her team. She could’ve been chasing records all year, but instead she was focused on helping her teammates finish and try and win a state championship.”

An accomplished pianist and violinist, Hill holds a 4.0 GPA, is a member of the National Honor Society and has volunteered locally on behalf of the Boys and Girls Club of America.

The Gatorade Player of the Year program annually recognizes one winner in the District of Columbia and each of the 50 states that sanction high school football, girls volleyball, boys and girls cross country, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls soccer, baseball, softball, and boys and girls track & field, and awards one National Player of the Year in each sport. The selection process is administered by the Gatorade Player of the Year Selection Committee, which work with top sport-specific experts and a media advisory board of accomplished, veteran prep sports journalists to determine the state winners in each sport.

As a Gatorade Player of the Year, Hill will be able to select a national or local youth sports organization to receive a grant as part of the Gatorade Play It Forward program. Every Gatorade Player of the Year state winner receives a $1,000 grant to donate and will have the opportunity to enter for an additional $10,000 spotlight grant by writing a brief essay explaining why their selected organization deserves additional support.

“I’m very excited for next year,” Hill said. “It’s my senior year and I’ve got big expectations and big hopes.”