MISSOULA — It's the third day of the KPAX Sports Awards nominees, and now we'll introduce you to the selections from Hellgate High School.
The female nominee from Hellgate is Maddy Petrino while the male nominee is Connor Dick.
Petrino has been a three-sport athlete for the Knights in volleyball, basketball and softball.
In basketball she's seen the Knights advance to the state championship game, and in softball, she's been a captain for three years.
She's been involved in national honors society and has been strong in the classroom as well as having helped with service projects, and after high school, she's headed to Boise State for school where she will also work as a manager for the women's basketball program.
"I took everything with me (from sports), and I was able to kind of adapt to new things and I'm taking that with me later on in my life as well as just being able to understand what different people need from me, and how I can be a role in whatever activity they need me to be in," Petrino said.
Dick has been a star on the football field and basketball court for Hellgate the past two seasons after overcoming a leg injury early on in his high school career.
This past winter, he led Hellgate to the boys State AA basketball title, their first outright championship since 2013.
Along with his achievements on the court and field, Dick has also been a 4.0 student at Hellgate, and recently he made his commitment for his life after high school, and he'll stay right at home here in Missoula and will walk on for the Montana Grizzlies men's basketball team.
"I think playing sports for Hellgate makes just the high school experience that much better," Dick said. "It's so much fun to be able to suit up for football on a Friday night and go and play in front of everyone, and then same with basketball in the winter, it kind of helps you get through all of that with school and everything so I think it's only made my high school experience so much better."
Those are the nominees for Hellgate, and we'll be back on Monday to introduce you to the finalists from Big Sky High School.
