Cheyenne Mountain’s Aiden Le Roux Named Gatorade Colorado Boys Cross Country Player of the Year

CHICAGO — In its 40th year of honoring the nation’s most elite high school athletes, Gatorade today announced Aiden Le Roux of Cheyenne Mountain High School is the 2024-25 Gatorade Colorado Boys Cross Country Player of the Year. Le Roux is the first Gatorade Colorado Boys Cross Country Player of the Year to be chosen from Cheyenne Mountain High School.

Gatorade Player of the Year is the top honor in high school sports, celebrating the nation’s best high school athletes for their success on the field, in the classroom and in the community. The award distinguishes Le Roux as Colorado’s best high school boys cross country athlete, and he joins an impressive group of alumni that spans CEOs, coaches and star athletes such as Lukas Verzbicas (2009-10 & 2010-11, Carl Sandburg High School, Illinois), Edward Cheserek (2012-13, St. Benedict’s Preparatory School, New Jersey) and Daniel Simmons (2022-23 & 2023-24, American Fork High School, Utah).

The 5-foot-7, 120-pound junior won the CHSAA Class 4A state meet this past season with an all-class record time of 15:01.9, breaking the tape nearly 16 seconds ahead of his next-closest competitor and leading the Red-Tailed Hawks to third place as a team. A two-time All-State honoree, Le Roux took ninth at the national NXN Final to earn First Team All-America recognition. He clocked a 5K personal-best of 14:30.86 last fall when he finished fifth at the NXN Southwest Regional.

Le Roux has volunteered locally by helping to set up for his school’s annual Science Olympiad. He has also donated his time by providing child care services at Fun Camp, a summertime youth sports program. “Aiden Le Roux compiled one of the nation’s best racing résumés in highly impressive fashion, riding his textbook, from-the-starting-gun aggression to absolutely wear down opponents,” said Rich Gonzalez of PrepCalTrack. “A highly cerebral racer with uncanny pain tolerance, he’s poised to be one of the nation’s best as a senior.”

Le Roux has maintained a weighted 4.07 GPA in the classroom. He will begin his senior year of high school this fall.

The Gatorade Player of the Year program annually recognizes one winner in the District of Columbia and each of the 50 states across 12 different high school sports – football, girls volleyball, boys and girls cross country, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls soccer, baseball, softball, and boys and girls track & field – and awards one National Player of the Year in each sport. The selection process is administered by the Gatorade Player of the Year Selection Committee, which leverages experts including coaches, scouts, media and others as sources to help evaluate and determine the state winners in each sport.

Le Roux joins recent Gatorade Colorado Boys Cross Country Players of the Year Porter Middaugh (2023-24, Battle Mountain High School), Christian Groendyk (2022-23, Fort Collins High School), Zane Bergen (2021-22, Niwot High School) and Parker Wolfe (2020-21, Cherry Creek High School), among the state’s list of former award winners.

As part of Gatorade’s commitment to breaking down barriers in sport, every Player of the Year also receives a grant to donate to a social impact partner. To date, the Gatorade Player of the Year program has provided more than $5.6 million in grants to winners across more than 2,000 organizations.

To learn more about the Gatorade Player of the Year program, check out past winners or to nominate student-athletes, visit playeroftheyear.gatorade.com or follow us on social media on Instagram at instagram.com/Gatorade, Facebook at facebook.com/GatoradePOY and X(Twitter) at x.com/Gatorade.