Lily Cridge of Chatard was named the Indiana Gatorade Player of the Year for Cross Country. Cridge, the IHSAA State Champion in dominating fashion this fall, was nearly unbeatable this season as she cruised to titles and course records throughout the season.
Cridge has placed herself at the top of Indiana distance running over the past twelve months- storming into the spotlight last track season with her State Meet record 10:03 performance. She followed that up by going undefeated during the Indiana high school season, never really being challenged. She won the IHSAA State Finals by an amazing 30+ seconds. She then finished third in muddy conditions at the Nike Midwest Championships.
Cridge finished her season by finishing runner-up at the RunningLane National Championships. Racing against the best athletes in the nation, she lost only to the double national champion Natalie Cook of Flower Mound. Cridge's time of 16:22 is an all-time best on the grass for Indiana female runner.
According to Gatorade's press release, "the award, recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the field".
Cridge was cited in the Gatorade press release as being devoted member of church and a volunteer at Gleaner's Food Bank in Indianapolis. Cridge also carries a 3.79 GPA to show her strong academic commitment as well athletic prowess at Chatard.
Cridge will undoubted lead an all-star class of female track athletes this spring. Indiana is not only loaded with an extremely talented distance class right now, but there is also huge talent spread all over the track in 2022. Cridge will give Indiana a chance to have a sub-10:00 3200m runner who can make a big splash nationally into the summer postseason meets.
Congrats to Lily Cridge and the Chatard coaching staff and team for this great honor.