CHICAGO — Rae Smart of Billings Skyview has been named the 2024-25 Gatorade Montana girls track and field player of the year, the organization announced Monday in a news release dated June 24.
Smart, a 5-foot-9 senior, swept the throwing titles at the Class AA state meet in May and set the the all-class state record with a javelin throw of 162 feet, 11 inches. The throw ranked fourth nationally among high school girls this spring.
She also won the shot put for the second consecutive year and added a win in the discus. She won the shot with a 42-10 mark and the discus with a 127-5 throw. Her personal-best mark in the shot was a 46-5 recorded at the Midland Roundtable Top 10 meet in April. Smart had her best discus throw of 138-6 during her junior season.
"Rae is great — extremely competitive and performs at the big meets," Billings West coach Rob Stanton said in the Gatorade news release. "As an example, our javelin thrower jumped ahead of Rae on her final toss [at the state meet]. Rae had to throw farther on her last toss to win. Not only did she win, she had a 30-plus-foot PR and set an all-class record for the javelin."
Smart, who was also an all-state soccer and basketball player, has signed to play basketball and compete in track and field at Montana State University Billings.
According to the Gatorade release, she maintained a 4.39 weighted grade-point average, volunteered with a Unified physical education class, served as a youth soccer and basketball coach and donated time with the Reading Rocks program at elementary schools.
Smart is the first girl from Skyview to win the award. Olivia Lewis of Corvallis was the 2024 winner.
