BILLINGS — This year’s Midland Roundtable Athlete of the Year finalists are all well-accomplished, as usual, but Tiahna Vladic stands out as the only Montana Gatorade Award winner on the list.
Vladic has actually won it twice. The Billings Senior star took home Gatorade’s top cross country honor as a sophomore and again last fall after winning her second State AA title. Vladic is the latest in a line of great Bronc distance runners, citing Christina Aragon as her idol, but she’s a little different than the others – especially her music of choice.
“I’m into rap. It kind of pumps me up for my races,” Vladic laughed. “A lot of people don’t expect that from me.”
Vladic expanded on her favorites artists: “A$AP Rocky — they’re kind of some weird names — and then Tyler the Creator are probably some of my favorites.”
Vladic credits her family influences, four brothers, for her love of the genre.
“My two older brothers listened to rap. It just pumps you up for whatever you’re competing in and whatever you’re doing,” she said.
Vladic will certainly bring A$AP Rocky and the others to Boise State with her next year, where she’ll run cross country and track on scholarship.
The Midland Roundtable will announce one male and one female winner at the Athlete of the Year banquet on Wednesday, May 15 at the Billings Hotel and Convention Center.
