LOS ANGELES — In a year full of amazing moments, recent Morgantown High graduate Irene Riggs has finally been able to take a trip without a race attached to it.
Riggs is spending this week in Los Angeles, attending the Gatorade Player of the Year Awards on Tuesday and The ESPY Awards on Wednesday. She was invited out west by virtue of being named the Gatorade National Player of the Year in cross country earlier this year, the first-ever national winner from West Virginia.
As part of her trailblazing year, Riggs has competed in races in places like North Carolina, California, Oregon and even Australia.
“This year’s been like a whirlwind, it’s definitely not what I expected,” Riggs said. “Australia was one of the highlights of my year, it was a cool experience and it’s just kind of crazy.”
This week, however, Riggs just gets to enjoy the experience without needing to run a race, not that she ever minded the races, however.
“Even when I go to races, one of my favorite parts is just being able to meet people and getting to spend time with all the amazing athletes,” Riggs said via Zoom prior to the Gatorade Awards Tuesday evening. “I think this is kind of similar even though there’s not a race aspect to it. I’m still meeting people and it’s really fun and really an incredible thing to meet athletes from different sports. I’ve always been around runners so it’s cool to meet different people.”
Riggs is one of 12 Gatorade national award winners that were invited out to California this week. While many of the other 11 are from traditional hotbeds for athletics such as Texas and Florida, Riggs said she takes pride in coming out of the Mountain State.
“I think I’m the first from my state to win a national one so that’s definitely a huge honor to be able to represent my state that way,” she said. “There’re a lot of really great distance runners from the state but we kind of get forgotten about a little bit. It’s nice to be able to represent the state for distance running.
“The state gives me so much support so it’s really exciting for everybody that I can represent the state that well.”
While Riggs takes pride in her home state, she’ll have to get a feel for life out west as she will join the track and cross country teams at Stanford University later this summer.
College athletics will be nothing new for Riggs, whose twin sister, Caroline, is set to swim at Yale. One of her older sisters, Abigail, swam at WVU where their father, Vic, is the head swimming and diving coach.
Despite coming from a family of swimmers, Riggs thinks her parents’ not pushing her into the pool has played a large part in her success as an athlete.
“My dad is a college swim coach so I have that exposure, but I’ve also been blessed with the fact that my parents have been really laid back with sports,” she explained. “They have never really gotten involved with my sport ever and they have never pushed me to do anything. I think that is the best thing I could’ve asked for because it really fosters your commitment to the sport and not someone else’s.”
Riggs can’t suppress her inner swimmer, however, and admitted that Olympic swimmer Katie Ledecky was the athlete she is most hoping to see at the ESPYs on Wednesday.
“The swimmer in me, I know Katie Ledecky was there last year so if she’s there this year — she’s the greatest female athlete ever — I will just completely fangirl if she’s there,” Riggs admitted. She stuck with her main discipline too, however. “I was really excited about (American hurdler/sprinter) Sydney McLaughlin, but she’ll be here (Tuesday) so that’s really crazy. I didn’t know that until I was in the car.”
Following another stay out west for a swim meet for Caroline and a week-long family vacation, Riggs said she expects to report to Stanford in the last week of August ready for her freshman season.
“Freshman year is such an adjustment,” she said. “The changes are so drastic going into college — you’re on your own, you’re far away from home, you have time management — so I really think going in with the mindset that if you’re able to just continue what you’ve been doing and performing the way you have, that in itself is a big accomplishment.”
For now, however, Riggs will enjoy her stay in the City of Angels and will hopefully catch of glimpse of Ledecky on Wednesday.
“I didn’t really know what to expect this week so it’s been a new surprise every day,” she said. “We’re definitely being spoiled, but it’s really fun and an honor. It’s really cool to meet all theses athletes from different sports that have the same mindset as you.”
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