Free State junior Alexa Harmon-Thomas distances herself from the pack during a first-place finish in the girls 300-meter hurdles, Saturday at the Class 6A state track and field meet at Cessna Stadium in Wichita. Harmon-Thomas’ mark of 42.70 seconds tied the meet record as the Firebirds’ girls also took home state-champion honors as a team.

Alexa Harmon-Thomas of Free State High has been named the 2012-13 Gatorade Kansas Girls Track & Field Athlete of the Year, a program first.

The 5-foot-11 junior won three individual Class 6A state championships this spring and helped lead the Firebirds to the 6A team title. She won the 100-meter high hurdles with a time of 14.11 seconds, the 300 hurdles in 42.70 and leapt 19 feet, 5 inches to earn gold in the long jump. She also finished second in the high jump at state.

Next, Harmon-Thomas won the heptathlon at the Great Southwest Classic with 5,158 points, which ranks as the nation’s No. 2 performance among prep competitors in 2013.

“Alexa is an exceptional athlete, and I’ve watched her become an outstanding teammate, too,” former Free State coach Steve Heffernan said in a release. “She is possibly the best athlete our school has ever had, but she handles her accomplishments with humility and grace.”

Gatorade’s athlete of the year award recognizes “not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the track.” Harmon-Thomas maintains an A average at FSHS and has volunteered on behalf of local youth track programs and her church’s vacation Bible school, according to the release.

Harmon-Thomas is now a finalist for the Gatorade National Girls Track & Field Athlete of the Year award, which will be announced next week.