Girls' cross country athlete of year: Kaitlin Hanenburg, TCA

Alan Versaw makes it sound like Kaitlin Hanenburg is a better person than a runner. That is high praise, indeed.

Check out a gallery of photos featuring Kaitlin.

Hanenburg won her third straight Class 3A title — leading The Classical Academy to its seventh championship in a row — and earned Athlete of the Year honors from The Gazette for the second time in three seasons.

“She’s the kind of kid you always want as a parent,” said Versaw, who has coached Hanenburg for four years. “She does exactly what you ask, and she does it better than you ask. She’s modest, team-minded, dedicated.

“Coaching someone like her is the experience every coach should have at least once.”

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Hanenburg admits that she enjoys racing to see if she’s the best, even though most of her competitors would concede that at the start line.

“I love to compete and put that to the test,” she said. “It wouldn’t be fun if you knew you’d win every time.”

According to her coach, Hanenburg is down-to-earth and businesslike.

“I guess it’s a personality thing, that I get down to business,” she said. “My dad says that about me, too. I just hate to lose.”

But she loves to run. The longer and faster, the better Hanenburg likes it.

“The toughest workouts are my favorite,” she said. “It gives me a chance to run hard and push myself to the limit without the pressure of time. And I get to enjoy that with my teammates.”

Influenced by her sister Emily — who runs for the University of Colorado — Kaitlin started racing in eighth grade and gave up soccer.

“I saw how much she enjoyed running,” Hanenburg said. “I enjoy it, too. It’s been a great senior year.”

Hanenburg, who also plays basketball for TCA, is being recruited to continue running. She has a short list of schools — Stanford, Iowa State and Colorado State — one of which, Versaw knows, will be getting a gem.