Two years into her high school running career, Niwot sophomore Addy Ritzenhein has been raking in the accolades like it’s her job — or, rather, like she’s continuing the family business.
As the daughter of a former Olympian and a former CU All-American, Addy’s life has always circulated around running. Her mother, Kalin (Toedebusch), took her to the 2012 London Olympics to watch her father, Dathan, compete among the world’s best athletes.
At the time, running didn’t interest her very much.
“I went to pretty much all of his big races,” Addy said. “Pretty much, though, I just watched Mickey Mouse in the stadiums and stuff. I didn’t really pay too much attention. I remember watching him in the London Olympics and during his marathons.”
That love developed later in life, when Addy joined REAL Training to make friends in seventh grade. Four years later, she’s a national cross country champion, a National Gatorade Player of the Year, a Colorado state cross country champion, and has raked in a multitude of state track titles.
This May alone, she won the 1,600-meter run, the 3,200-meter run and the 4×800-meter relay at the 4A state championships. For the third time in two years, she was named the Daily Camera girls track athlete and cross country runner of the year.
While she credits her parents for fostering her love for the sport, she believes Niwot’s team culture has been responsible for her steep climb through distance running.
“I think the coaches really make a big difference,” Addy said. “We have some of the best coaches out there. They really care for their athletes. They’re very supportive too, and we’re a really close-knit team. We just have a really good connection, really good friendship with everybody. I think that’s what motivates us.
“I’ve always been around running, so I think it’s just a huge motivation. It feels very close to home. It’s nothing new. I really like running. I think it’s because I’ve seen my dad do it. It just feels like a huge accomplishment too.”
Dathan and Kalin have taken a hands-off approach to her training, instead letting coaches Maurice Henriques and Kelly Christensen take on the brunt of that responsibility. Even Dathan, who once held the American 5,000-meter record, was surprised by how quickly she rose in the ranks. He believes her adaptability through previous sports helped her get there.
“What she’s doing now is maybe a bit of a surprise to us and how quickly she took to it, but she’s always been a great athlete,” he explained. “From like 2 years old, she was doing rec gymnastics and she didn’t compete, but loved the athletic part. And then for a couple of years before she started running, she did competitive swimming.
“When she joined the team full time going into her freshman year, it was pretty quick.
Over the course of the summer, we went from being, ‘Oh, she’ll be a good runner’ to, ‘Wow, she’s going to be really good.’”
In a few weeks, she’ll head to Paris with her parents to watch the athletes that Dathan coaches compete in the Olympics.
