One of the most prestigious awards in high school athletics is the Athena award, an award given to one outstanding female athlete from each school. This year, Senior Hannah Anderson was chosen to receive the incredible award.

Hannah was the obvious pick for this award. Since tenth grade, Hannah has played at the varsity level in hockey, as well as soccer and track where she was a captain.

“She is very deserving of the award, she is such a hard working student and athlete who inspires others to do their best,” senior Olivia Konigson said.

In the end, Hannah chose to pursue track next year, and will run track at the University of North Dakota.

“I always looked up to my brother and sister because they were both great athletes. My sister ran track in junior high so my dad always talked about it and so when I was in seventh grade I tried it too,” Hannah said.

One year after seventh grade when Hannah began running track , she was competing at the state meet, and would for each season that followed. The success in track wasn’t luck though, Hannah put endless hours into the sport in order to compete at her level.

“With track, to be successful Hannah had to do a lot, she joined Minnesota Elite and trained in the off season, last summer she took a bus 32 hours to Houston for nationals,” Hannah’s mom Margaret said.

All the work she puts in can sometimes take a toll on Hannah however.

“It’s mentally and physically tough. I try to listen to my body and not push it too hard, but at the same time try to push myself to be the best I can be. It definitely requires a lot of commitment and time management skills. I don’t have a lot of time to just hang out, but I like to stay busy. Sometimes I get overwhelmed but it’s worth it,” Hannah said.

Since she was a toddler, Hannah has been destroying the competition.

“She was always super determined and wanted to try things from a young age, she tried volleyball, she skied and snowboarded.Field day was like the olympics for her. She would line up everything like her socks and wristbands,” Margaret said.

When Hannah was six or seven playing hockey, her team beat White Bear by like 11 or 12 points, and I felt so bad for them and Hannah said, “I don’t, they deserved to get creamed,” Margaret said.

“My parents are definitely supportive and they are there for me all the time, even at my lowest points, they will be there. When I was first playing hockey I kept falling down and crying and my mom just kept saying “it’s okay, I’ll get you a slushee!” We have a pond outside and my brother would help me and he would show me new skating moves and we would shoot pucks in the basement,” Hannah said.

After all the medals, trophies, and patches on her letter jacket, Hannah hasn’t lost sight of what truly matters.

“I wanted to take advantage of all that high school has to offer especially athletics. Nothing compares to making friendships with your teammates that will last a lifetime,” Hannah said.