COLORADO SPRINGS — While hills might intimidate many runners, Addison Ritzenhein gets a smile when she sees one.
The Niwot star junior dominated the inclines, the descents and everything in between on the course at the Norris Penrose Events Center Saturday afternoon on her way to a sizable win in the Class 5A girls state cross country race.
Ritzenhein led from start to finish and crossed the finish line in 16 minutes, 54.7 seconds, to establish a course record on her way to a championship to go with the 4A crown she won last year before the program moved up to the largest classification.
“I honestly really like the hills. …I think it’s a good check in,” Ritzenhein said after she had taken down the previous course record of 16:59.17 set in 2022 by Valor Christian’s Brooke Wilson. “It’s very different than a flat course where it’s just the same thing over and over again. Hills really check you into a race I think and of course, I really like the downhills.
“Where we live, we have some pretty big hills so we run them every day and it’s our main point of strength.”
Nothing was able to slow down Ritzenhein, last year’s Colorado Gatorade Runner of the Year, including a new classification.
The Cougars moved up from 4A — where they overwhelmed the competition a year ago — and finished fifth as a team in their 5A debut with a lot of new faces in the lineup. Ritzenhein returned as a tone setter and enjoyed more than just her win, her second since a runner-up finish as a freshman in 2022.
“We had four runners who had never raced state before, so getting them out here and showing them what it’s about so they could be prepared for next year was great,” she said. “It’s a special time of year and I’m just very excited with how this went. It was a great experience."
While Ritzenhein was the class of the meet individually, that distinction belonged to Mountain Vista in the team chase.
Ranked No. 2 in the country, coach Jonathan Dalby's Golden Eagles were in top form at the state meet on their way to a score of 52 points.
The tandem of senior Keeghan Edwards and junior Claire Guiberson led the way for Mountain Vista as they finished fifth and sixth, respectively. Returning from a recent injury, Edwards bested Guiberson by 0.03 of a second to take team-high honors.
Rounding out the scoring for the Golden Eagles were senior Peyton Adams in 12th, senior Zoe Brandt in 19th, junior Brenna Jorde in 21st and senior Gabriela Boeckman in 31st.
“We hoped for a result like this, but actually getting it is beyond words to explain,” Edwards said. “I am just so grateful for this team and the chance we got to compete against these other girls. It was anybody’s race today and I’m just glad we came together. Most of us are seniors and it’s the last race in Colorado for most of us, so we wanted to do it for our coaches and for each other."
The runner-up trophy went to Air Academy, which scored 96 points in its bid for a third consecutive state title. The Kadets were paced by senior Tessa Walter, who finished in second with a time of 17:21.7, while sophomore Chamorra Cooper also made the top-10 medal podium with a seventh-place result in 17:49.2. It was the second straight runner-up finish for Walter, while Cooper was also seventh last year.
Fossil Ridge’s 110 points put it in third place.
Rounding out the top-10 medal podium was Cherry Creek’s Emily Cohen in third (her second straight top-four finish), along with Fossil Ridge’s Tatum Berg in fourth, the Heritage duo of Caroline Fender and Emry Schwalm in eighth and ninth, respectively, while 2023 state champion Rosie Mucharsky of Denver East ended up 10th.