Irene Riggs
Morgantown High School
Impact Statement
Riggs has developed into one of the nation’s top runners and will continue to do so at Stanford.
Biography
Riggs capped her scholastic cross country career by winning the gold medal at the prestigious Nike Cross Nationals in Portland, Oregon. She won the national title with a time of 16-minutes, 40.9-seconds, which was 14 seconds ahead of the second place runner.
The Stanford-bound Riggs qualified for the nationals at the Southeast Regionals where she clocked the second-fastest 5K time in girls’ cross country history, finishing with a time of 16:02.01.
Prior to her December national championship, Riggs won her third straight West Virginia AAA state championship. Her last two titles led to her being named Gatorade’s West Virginia Runner of the Year for the 2020-21 and 2021-22 sports seasons.
During the spring track season, Riggs will try to win her third straight Gatorade Girls Track & Field Player of the Year. Last spring, Riggs swept the 800-, 1600- and 3200-meter runs at the AAA state meet.
Riggs is the first West Virginia runner to win the NHSCA Senior Girls’ Cross Country Runner of the Year Award.
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