Monday, January 23, 2023 — In its 38th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, Gatorade announced today that Mountain Brook High School's Reagan Riley is the 2022-23 Gatorade Alabama Girls Cross Country Player of the Year. Riley is the second Gatorade Alabama Girls Cross Country Player of the Year to be chosen from MBHS (Madeline Morgan: 2007-08, 2008-09) and the 11th individual athlete from MBHS to receive a Gatorade Player of the Year award.

The award, which recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the field, distinguishes Riley as Alabama’s best high school girls cross country runner. She is now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Girls Cross Country Player of the Year award, which will be announced later this month.

The 5-foot-6 senior raced to a second straight Class 6A individual state championship this past season with a time of 17:57.30, leading the Spartans to back-to-back team titles. Riley also won the Southern Showcase and took second at Nike Hole in the Wall Invitational in Washington. She placed ninth at the Garmin RunningLane National Championships. The co-president of the Justice Club, organized to raise awareness about human trafficking, Riley has also volunteered locally at Alabama Game Changers, where she tutors autistic youth to make them feel comfortable in new environments. She is also the secretary of the Civitan Club, which plans service projects within her community.

Riley has maintained a weighted 4.16 GPA in the classroom. She has signed a National Letter of Intent to run on scholarship at the University of Notre Dame this fall.

Click here to learn more about the Gatorade Player of the Year program.

**Past MBHS Gatorade Player of the Year Recipients - 11 recipients, 15 Gatorade Player of the Year Awards**

Charles Wood

2002-03

Boys Soccer

Austin McKee

2004-05

Boys Soccer

Nathan Diel

2009-10

Boys Soccer

Nathan Diehl

2010-11

Boys Soccer

Madeline Morgan

2007-08

Girls Track & Field

Madeline Morgan

2007-08, 2008-09

Girls Cross Country

Leigh Haynes

2014-15

Girls Soccer

Sara Carr

2015-16

Volleyball

Trendon Watford

2017-18, 2018-19

Boys Basketball

Grace Carr

2019-20

Volleyball

Jack Heaps

2021-22

Boys Soccer

Isabel Smith

2021-22

Girls Soccer

Reagan Riley

2022-23

Girls Cross Country