WYOMING — Pinedale High School junior and cross-country runner Madison Antonino continues to outpace the competition, this time becoming the first harrier from Pinedale to earn the Gatorade Wyoming Girls Cross-Country Player of the Year. Antonino runs with the Jackson Hole High School Cross Country team but maintains a 3.92 in the classroom at PHS. During the cross-country season, she makes daily 150-mile roundtrips to and from practice.

Antonino received the 2023-24 award on Jan. 22, making her a finalist for the Gatorade National Cross-Country Player of the Year award, which will be announced later this month.

Antonino, who stands at 5’2”, is Wyoming’s fastest prep cross-country runner at every meet she entered, including the Bob Firman Invitational and Cardinal Classic. She clocked her personal best time of 18:06.20 at the Nike Northwest Regional Championships last November, making her the state’s top finisher at the event. Last fall, she broke through the tape at the Class 4A State Meet in Cheyenne, finishing in first place with an individual time of 18:17.2 and helping her team with fifth place overall.

Antonino’s excellence on the course, in the classroom and in the Sublette County community earned her the prestigious honor among the nation’s top high school athletes.

Antonino co-organizes Pinedale Elementary School’s annual Turkey Trot race, mentors local youth and helps elderly folks decorate for the holidays.

The Gatorade Player of the Year program, which is in its 39th year, recognizes one winner from each state in sanctioned cross-country, basketball, soccer, baseball, volleyball, football, softball and track and field and awards one National Player of the Year in each sport. The process is administered by the organization’s selection committee, which “leverages experts including coaches, scouts, media and others as sources to help evaluate and determine the state winner in each sport,” according to the Gatorade Player of the Year website.