Cheyenne East sophomore runner Maggie Madsen was chosen as the Gatorade Wyoming Girls Cross County Player of the Year award winner for the 2024-25 year on Thursday. Madsen is the first winner from the Thunderbirds program chosen for the Gatorade honor. Madsen is now a finalist for the Gatorade National Cross County Player of the Year award, which will be announced later this month.

In its 40th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company announced Madsen’s award via a press release. The honor recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the field and distinguishes Madsen as Wyoming’s best high school girls’ cross-country runner.

The 5-4 sophomore won the Class 4A state cross-country championship last fall in Cheyenne. Her time was 18:26.4. She won that race by nearly 24 seconds over the defending 4A champion. Madsen placed seventh at the Nike Cross Nationals Northwest Regional last November. She ran a personal best at 17:41.50. Maggie won eight of the ten races she competed in last fall. Madsen was the top Wyoming finisher at the Dave Sanders Invitational in Colorado. She placed fourth.