Katie Rainsberger. (Brock Laue/CHSAANow.com)
Katie Rainsberger, who set a course record in winning the Class 4A championship in the fall, was named the state’s girls cross country runner of the year by Gatorade on Thursday.
This is the second straight year in which Rainsberger has won the award, joining Niwot’s Elise Cranny (2013-14) and Boulder’s Kelsey Lakowske (2009-10) as the only other multiple winners.
Rainsberger carries a 4.49 weighted GPA, and helped the Kadets win the team title as well with her course record of 17:39.
“Individual titles are great,” Rainsberger told CHSAANow.com last October, “but when you are working with a team and for a team, it means all the more.”
After the Colorado season, Rainsberger won the Nike Cross Nationals individual championship, as well as the NXN Southwest Regional title.
She was also the 4A runner of the year as part of CHSAANow.com’s all-state team.
“Despite Katie’s remarkable talent, she’s humble and puts her team before herself,” Air Academy coach Steve Rischling said in a statement from Gatorade. “She is a once-in-a-career runner, but she’s still a better person than she is a runner.”
Rainsberger, a senior, has signed with Oregon.
She now becomes a finalist for the national award, which will be announced next week.