Morgantown High senior Riggs, a Stanford signee, is first athlete in any sport from her state to receive national recognition from Gatorade in 38-year existence of awards program after becoming first female competitor to win titles at both Nike Cross Nationals and USATF U20 Championships
By Erik Boal, DyeStat Editor
There was one more finish line tape for Irene Riggs to break Wednesday, only this one didn’t come on a cross country course, rather at the end of a park trail under an arch of orange balloons with her teammates, friends and family waiting on the other side, along with a giant trophy as part of a surprise presentation.
For all the memorable achievements Riggs enjoyed during her final cross country season at Morgantown High, the recognition as Gatorade National Girls Cross Country Player of the Year might have been the most remarkable of all.
IRENE RIGGS INTERVIEW WITH ERIK BOAL | GATORADE ANNOUNCEMENT VIDEO
Riggs, a Stanford-bound senior and the reigning Nike Cross Nationals champion as well as the USATF Under-20 gold medalist, became the first athlete from West Virginia in the 38-year history of the Gatorade national awards to be honored in any sport.
“It’s really exciting and honoring. I feel really grateful to be able to represent the state that way,” Riggs said. “Obviously, West Virginia distance running has grown a lot and so I just feel really blessed to be one of the athletes that can help represent our state.”
Gatorade first recognized student-athletes with national awards in 1986, but didn’t add cross country to the list of sports highlighted until 2008. Riggs joins a group of more than 350 prep competitors presented by Gatorade with the top national honor in their respective sport.
“It’s meant a lot. It’s definitely something that I’m obviously super grateful for,” Riggs said. “In the past, I definitely feel like our state has been a little overshadowed, but I’ve definitely seen that we’ve come into the spotlight more just within the past couple of years and I think that all these athletes that have come from our state have contributed to that. It takes a group effort and obviously I have an amazing team and we’ve been able to represent the state well. I just think that it’s something that’s really exciting and a lot of the runners from West Virginia can continue to look forward to.”
Riggs is the first female recipient of the Gatorade cross country award to sign with Stanford since Aisling…
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