SAN DIEGO, CA (KGTV) — Riley Compton was born in San Diego, raised in Indiana, and was always into athletics. In fact, she played college softball at George Washington University.
"Athletics and doing well academically were always what I was comprised of."
Following college, Compton joined the Marine Corps and has been on active duty as a logistics officer for three years. Now while her goal is to make a career in the military, she still carries with her a passion for athletics.
Compton has been able to combine the two, military and athletics, and she was recently named Camp Pendleton's Female Athlete of the Year.
"The award was comprised of everything. Like who is Lieutenant Compton, in addition to being an athlete. It's like how do I do on my military physical fitness test? How am I doing in my job, and how am I balancing these things?"
The award also involved her athletic accomplishments on the base.
"A majority of it is my bobsledding recognition and competing for Team USA."
1st Lieutenant Riley calls her love of bobsledding an obsession. It's a sport she was first introduced to while playing softball at George Washington.
"I met a woman by the name of Elana Meyers-Taylor, and that might mean something to people because if they watched this past Olympics, she won two medals in bobsledding. I just remember listening to her and being mesmerized by what she had to say about bobsled. I hit a teammate next to me and I said to her, in another life I would be a bobsledder."
Riley has become quite the bobsledder having competed in the United States and Europe with team U.S.A. Her goal now is to make the U.S. Olympic team in 2026. But while she loves flying down the track at top-end speed, her ultimate goal is to empower women in sport as well as life.
"In bobsled, when the sport originated, it was male-dominated. I want to continue talking about this, that women can be in male-dominated roles, which include sport and the military, and we don't have to always do what society tells us we have to do."
Besides receiving Camp Pendleton's Female Athlete of the Year Award, 1st Lieutenant Riley is also up for the Marine Corps' overall female athlete of the year.
