Niwot runner and 5A state champion Addison Ritzenhein has been named Gatorade Colorado Girls Cross Country Player of the Year for the second straight year, Gatorade announced this week.
The junior put up a time of 16:54.7 to take home that individual state title — her third straight — and lead her team to a fifth-place finish. Her time was good enough to set a course record across all classes.
At Nike Cross Nationals in December, she ran a 17:15.3 and finished fifth to earn first-team All-America honors. She’s won six of her eight races this season, including the Desert Twilight meet in Arizona, where she clocked a 16:41.3.
In addition to her dominance on the cross country course, Ritzenhein is a member of the Niwot High School Leadership Academy and sings in the school choir. She has volunteered locally with REAL Training youth running club and maintains a 4.31 GPA.
“Competing in a remarkably competitive era, Addison Ritzenhein remained a measuring stick for success,” said Rich Gonzalez of PrepCalTrack in a release announcing the news. “The defending national champion and daughter of an Olympian (Dathan Ritzenhein, a former two-time Gatorade Track and Field Player of the Year in Michigan), she avoided the ‘pressure trap’ to remain among the nation’s premier racers and embodied a selfless and exemplary teammate as well.”
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