State cross country: Aiden Le Roux, Addison Ritzenhein are fastest boy and girl in Colorado after setting course records

COLORADO SPRINGS — Aiden Le Roux is officially the fastest high school runner in Colorado.

The Cheyenne Mountain junior ran 15:02.1 on Saturday at the CHSAA state cross country meet at the Norris Penrose Event Center, winning the Class 4A title and setting an all-classification course record in the process.

“This is the backyard for my high school, and I do run here a lot and I love this course,” Le Roux said. “It means a lot to hold the record for it. I didn’t know what the record was, but I was running as fast as I could. I wasn’t looking at the clock.”

Le Roux beat out his teammate, senior Brogan Collins, by 16 seconds to win the championship. Collins surged in the latter half of the race to help Le Roux nearly break the 15-minute mark. Le Roux’s time was seven seconds better than the Class 5A champion, Mountain Vista senior Benjamin Anderson, who turned in a 5A course record 15:09.5 as he also went one-two with his teammate Benjamin Adams.

Saturday marked Le Roux’s first state title after he couldn’t run at the state meet as a freshman because he was injured, and took fifth last year.

“Being able to win is one thing, but being able to share it with your team and having your teammate push you throughout the race, that’s really important,” Le Roux said.

Colorado’s fastest girl

The least surprising result on Saturday? Niwot’s Addison Ritzenhein, the state’s top distance runner, won yet again.

It marked the junior’s third straight state title. The first two came in Class 4A, and with the Cougars’ move to Class 5A this fall, the step up proved no problem for Ritzenhein. After setting the 4A course record last year, she blasted the all-classification course record on Saturday, with her mark of 16:54.7 bettering the previous mark held by Valor Christian’s Brooke Wilson by five seconds.

“Watching Brooke set that record, it shows how strong Colorado female runners are,” Ritzenhein said. “It’s such a special thing to keep adding on to that, and lowering it, and hopefully it gives some more inspiration to other young runners to go after that.”

Ritzenhein, who claimed a national title by winning Nike Cross Nationals last year with a time of 17:10.4, will look to defend her crown at that race again in early December. And she said she expects to make her college decision, which is between Northern Arizona and North Carolina State, after that meet.

“This win today is going to set me up for success at (Nike Cross Regionals) and NXN,” Ritzenhein said. “There’s some similarities to NXN. NXN is grass, that’s the biggest difference. But like here (at Norris Penrose), there’s lots of hills, there’s a little water because last year at NXN there was a huge puddle of water in the course.”

Blowing away the field

While Ritzenhein won by 27 seconds, the largest margin of victory for either a girl or boy on Saturday belonged to Eaton’s Delaney Reuter.

The sophomore won the 3A title with a time of 17:26.9, which was 54.3 seconds better than runner-up Elizabeth McQuitty of Alamosa. Not bad for a runner who just finished her first full-time season in the sport. Her freshman year was split between volleyball and cross country.

“Last year, I wasn’t even going to all the practices because of volleyball and I still made it to state and won a lot of races,” Reuter said. “That’s when I realized running could be something I could pursue.”

Reuter was sixth at the state meet last year as she was battling Achilles tendonitis.

“Last year, it wasn’t the time or performance I wanted,” Reuter said. “This was a comeback year for me, and a lot of preparation over the summer. I’ve been pushing a little bit every day, and I’m seeing the gains.”

Eight team champions crowned

Of the eight team champions, Class 4A featured two new team victors in the Timnath girls and Thompson Valley boys.

For Timnath, it marked the school’s second team state title since the school re-opened three years ago. The original Timnath High School was open from 1921 to 1960.

The Cubs won last spring’s 2A girls track title with several of the same runners who propelled them to the 4A cross country championship on Saturday, including sophomore Izzy Schimmelpfennig (who placed third), junior Addison Geraets (ninth) and senior Natalie Washburn (30th).

“Becoming one of the best teams in Colorado, that’s the long-term goal,” Timnath head coach Matt Miltenberg said. “I would say they probably skipped a couple of steps this year, which is really exciting.”

The program’s rise from placing 10th and sixth in 3A over the past two seasons, respectively, to the top of 4A this season was helped by the program’s numbers more than doubling from 11 runners in 2023 to 24 in ’24.

“They bought into what we were trying to build really quickly,” Miltenberg said. “They’ve been fully committed to the work, fully committed to each other. I’m still kind of speechless they’ve been able to win (a title) this quickly, but they earned it.”

In 5A, the Niwot boys won their fourth title, and first in the biggest classification after moving up this fall. The Mountain Vista girls won their third title.

In 3A, the Salida boys won their second title and first since 2009. Meanwhile, The Classical Academy girls continued their string of dominance this century with their 16th title since 2003, and six of the last seven.

And 2A featured teams who both went back-to-back. Golden View Classical Academy again won the boys title, and Heritage Christian Academy repeated as the girls champion.

CHSAA state cross country meet

Norris Penrose Event Center

Distance: 5 kilometers

Saturday

(Click here to view results in mobile)

BOYS

Class 5A

Team results: 1. Niwot 44, 2. Valor Christian 87, 3. Castle View 121, 4. Boulder 158, 5. Mountain Vista 204.

Class 4A

Team results: 1. Thompson Valley 64, 2. Coronado 69, 3. Cheyenne Mountain 83, 4. Eagle Valley 146, 5. Summit 160.

Class 3A

Team results: 1. Salida 85, 2. Jefferson Academy 116, 3. Banning Lewis Prep 126, 4. The Classical Academy 148, 5. Alamosa 180.

Class 2A

Team results: 1. Golden View Classical Academy 47, 2. Crested Butte 66, 3. Thomas Maclaren Charter 68, 4.
Loveland Classical 119, 5. SkyView Academy 138.

GIRLS

Class 5A

Team results: 1. Mountain Vista 63, 2. Air Academy 101, 3. Fossil Ridge 108, 4. Chaparral 132, 5. Niwot 160.

Class 4A

Team results: 1. Timnath 98, 2. Battle Mountain 116, 3. Summit 124, 4. Holy Family 147, 5. Cheyenne Mountain 155.

Class 3A

Team results: 1. The Classical Academy 36, 2. Manitou Springs 83, 3. Salida 108, 4. Banning Lewis Prep 172, 5. Prospect Ridge 213.

Class 2A

Team results: 1. Heritage Christian 25, 2. Lake County 54, 3. Ridgway 65, 4. North Fork 103, 5. Denver Christian 105.

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