COLORADO SPRINGS — Addison Ritzenhein couldn’t have had a better last day to her prep cross country career.
To start things on a crisp Saturday morning at the Norris Penrose Event Center, the Niwot senior star heard — though she didn’t get to see as she was warming up — that her younger brother Jude make the medal podium to help the Niwot boys program to a decisive victory in the Class 5A boys race.
Ritzenhein got on the course herself and cruised to her third straight state title and soon after learned that her Niwot team had claimed the 5A girls team championship as well with a close victory over Heritage.
“I really wish I could have watched (Jude’s) race, but I knew he had a lot of fun with it and was so proud,” Ritzenhein said. “That’s so important to me and it gave me a lot of confidence going into my own race.”
Ritzenhein didn’t need anything extra given her resume — a runner-up finish in 4A as a freshman in 2022, a 4A state championship in 2023 and 5A state crown last season after the program moved up in classification — and she lived up to it on the course.
A pack ran with her for the first mile of the race as 15 competitors were within five seconds of the lead, but she owned the last two, which allowed her to enter the stadium that houses the finish line unchallenged.
Soaking in the last moments, Ritzenhein crossed the finish line in 17 minutes, 8.5 seconds, not good enough to take down the course record of 16:54.7 she’d established a year earlier, but enough for a 30-second win over runner-up Payton Meineke of Riverdale Ridge.
“Not having somebody chase you down or anything and being able to enjoy the last moments coming down the final straightway is so special,” she said. “I think it’s really a full circle moment. My team is so proud, my coaches are proud and my family is proud.”
The cherry on top of Ritzenhein’s day — though it is in the one she said she wanted the most — was the team championship, which came by a margin of just three points and happened despite no other placer in the top 20. After Ritzenhein came junior Elise Hagen in 22nd place overall, while senior Anna Prok (25th), and freshmen Siona Kelly (36th) and Emily Bolda (39th) provided the points needed to win the title.
“We have prepared so much and really wanted this title,” Ritzenhein said. “I think it’s something so special to see how much hard work we put in and to see it play out. … My team means so much to me. They are the reason I run.”
Niwot’s team championship was its seventh all-time, all in the last eight years, and first in 5A.
Heritage came into the race with an undefeated individual in senior Emry Schwalm, who ended up with a 12th-place finish in her final state race with a time of 18:17.8. Helping the Eagles’ push, however, was senior Caroline Fender in ninth place, while sophomore Scout Destefano finished a place behind Schwalm in 13th.
Individually, Meineke claimed second place a year after she did not finish the state race, while Air Academy junior Chamorra Cooper added her second straight top-10 finish with a third-place result and Cherry Creek senior Emily Cohen made her third straight appearance in the top four with a fourth-place result.
Cooper missed virtually the first two weeks of the season due to a calf injury and illness, but she was able to regain form and put together a good race at the end.
“I’m happy to be where I am,” said Cooper, who finished in 17:48.1. “I know last year I got seventh, so I was obviously trying to get back on the podium. I’m happy to be up there with all these amazing girls.”
Rounding out a diverse top 10 that included runners from nine different schools were Mountain Vista senior Claire Guiberson in fifth, Boulder sophomore Calia Vaughn in sixth, senior Jordan Banta — Cooper’s Air Academy teammate — in seventh, Regis Jesuit freshman McKenna Groen in ninth and Fossil Ridge junior Avery Breitigam in 10th.