Shining Mountain's Ginger Hutton goes all in for cross country - Colorado High School Activities Association

Ginger Hutton of Shining Mountain Waldorf can’t stop running.

After nabbing all-state cross country honors as a junior and placing sixth at the 2013 Class 2A state championship, she spent part of her summer competing at the track and field Junior Olympics in Texas, where she placed sixth in the 800-meter run and seventh in the 1500-meter run.

If Hutton seems born to run, perhaps it’s because it’s in her genes. While initially hesitant to go out for cross country, Hutton credits her sister Birdie, who holds a number of Shining Mountain Waldorf records in track and field, for guiding her into the sport as an uncertain freshman.

“My sister Birdie is an awesome runner and a great role model. When I was going into high school, she was always trying to get me out to run, and finally at the start of track season my freshman year I agreed,” said Hutton. “Thus I will never forget that season of falling in love with running, and running one and two at state (track and field meet) in the mile with her.”

Despite being an excellent overall athlete who competes in the high jump and has played other varsity sports, this fall Hutton is cutting down her schedule to focus strictly on cross country. And after training most of the summer for track and field, she might be in an even better position to compete — which doesn’t bode well for other runners looking to catch her.

“I’ve only run one cross country season during which I also played varsity volleyball, so up until now I concentrated more on the track season,” said Hutton. “This fall I will be focused solely on cross country and we will see how my late track season (training and racing) rolls over.”

As one of just two returning members of the 2A all-state squad from a year ago, Hutton has high expectations for the upcoming season.

Shining Mountain Waldorf returns a number of excellent runners from last year’s group that placed sixth at the 2A state championship, names Hutton is quick to bring up when discussing her team’s expectations for 2014.

“I’m hoping that our team wins state,” said Hutton. “I feel that we have a very strong girl’s team (with) Paisley Sheehan, Ella Baca (and) Inaya Shore for cross country and I am excited to see how the season plays out.”