Press release
IRENE RIGGS NAMED 2022-23 GATORADE NATIONAL GIRLS CROSS COUNTRY PLAYER OF THE YEAR
MORGANTOWN, W.Va., Jan. 25, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- In its 38th year of honoring the nation's most elite high school athletes, Gatorade today announced Irene
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[{"type":"text","content":"MORGANTOWN, W.Va., Jan. 25, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- In its 38th year of honoring the nation's most elite high school athletes, Gatorade today announced Irene Riggs of Morgantown High School in Morgantown, W. Va. is the 2022-23 Gatorade National Girls Cross Country Player of the Year. Riggs won the prestigious award for her accomplishments on and off the field, joining an impressive group of former Gatorade National Girls Cross Country Players of the Year who have combined for more than eight National Championships and five bronze medals.\nRiggs was surprised with the trophy by her family, coaches and teammates at school. Check out a video of the announcement here.\nThe Gatorade Player of the Year award recognizes athletes not just for their excellence on the playing surface, but for their commitment in the classroom and impact in their community. Riggs beat out nearly 300,000 other student-athletes who compete in girls cross country nationwide, topping the list of state winners in cross country who collectively boast an incredible list of accomplishments, including 23 with signed National Letters of Intent to run cross country at Division I colleges/universities and 40 with a GPA of 4.0 and above. \n\"A three-time state champion and the first West Virginian in history to win a national prep cross country title, Irene Riggs did so in remarkable fashion, overcoming cold, windy conditions at Nike Cross Nationals to clock a 16:40.90, which ranks as the No. 2 mark ever run at Glendoveer Golf Course in Oregon,\" said Erik Boal, editor for DyeStat.com. \"Strikingly, that national championship run wasn't even her most memorable performance; she raced to the second-fastest girls high school 5K time in history with her 16:02.10 at the Nike Southeast Regional, eclipsing the 2019 WakeMed course record—previously held by three-time Gatorade National Player of the Year Katelyn Tuohy—by 20 seconds.\"\nIn addition to her finishes at the Nike Cross Nationals and Nike Southeast Regional, the 5-foot-8 senior also won the Group 3A individual state championship this season, which sparked the Mohigans to a state title as a team. The three-time Gatorade Player of the Year in cross country was unbeaten during the 2022 campaign and has picked up where she left off in the new year, breaking the tape this past weekend to win the U-20 title at the 2023 USATF ...