Cherry Creek’s Riley Stewart named girls cross country runner of the year by Gatorade

Cherry Creek’s Riley Stewart has been selected as the girls cross country runner of the year in Colorado by Gatorade.

Stewart, a sophomore, won the Class 5A title with a time of 18:12.3, and helped the Bruins win the team championship. She won the Nike Cross Nationals Southwest Regional championships (17:03.73) and was then 31st nationally at the NXN Final.

Stewart also placed sixth at the Foot Locker Cross Country Midwest Regional championships and 17th at the national Foot Locker Cross Country Championships.

A 4.0 student, Stewart has volunteered on behalf of public park clean-up initiatives.

“I’ve coached athletes for the past 16 years and I’ve had very few who are as talented as Riley Stewart,” said Ethan Dusto, head coach at Cherry Creek High. “None of them have had the same combination of talent, hard work and humility that she exhibits.”