The Gatorade Company, in collaboration with USA TODAY High School Sports, has announced Kirsten Olling of Breckenridge High School as its 2013-14 Gatorade Michigan Girls Cross Country Runner of the Year.
The award, which recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the racecourse. Now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Girls Cross Country Runner of the Year award to be announced in January, Olling joins an elite alumni association of past state award- winners.
Olling won four Division 4 state titles. She was eighth at the Foot Locker Midwest Regional championships in 17:52.
“Kirsten has run every day since starting high school, and makes sacrifices to accomplish the goals she has set for herself and the team,” said Breckenridge coach Royce Humm said in a statement. “She leads by example and wears her heart on her sleeve. She pushes her limits every day.”
Olling joins Gatorade Michigan Girls Cross Country Runner of the Year Katie Haines (2007-08, Rockford) as area athletes who have won the cross country award since its inception in 2007.