Out In Leftfield
BY BRUCE WARREN
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NIWOT YOUTH SPORTS
NYS Facilities Director, Chris Heinritz, had an unexpected honor when President Barack Obama made an unscheduled stop at The Sink in Boulder during his April 24 visit to the CU campus. Heinritz is co-owner of The Sink, a popular fixture on the Hill next to campus. The Sink was given approximately 20 minutes notice that President Obama planned to make a stop. Heinritz and others at the pub had a chance to shake hands with the president and visit briefly.
TRACK
Megan Horsch (Niwot) ran her season’s best in the 5000M for the University of Northern Colorado at the Jack Christiansen Invite April 28 with a time of 18:26.54. Horsch took second in the race.
Lauren DeGroot (Niwot) ran a personal best 1:16.35 in the 400M Hurdles for Calvin College April 7 at the Adrian College All-American Invite. DeGroot finished seventh in the race. She has also competed in the 400M, 800M and 3000M Steeplechase.
Miranda Lahman (Niwot) finished fourth in the 400M Hurdles for Western Washington University at the St. Martin’s Invite April 28. Lahman also finished 14th in the 100M.
Pole vaulters were plentiful this year in the St. Vrain Valley School District, with a total of 19 vaulters qualifying for state. Although Niwot High has gone years without even one vaulter on the squad, this season saw three girls and one boy in the state competition. Dillon Manzanares took fourth overall at state for boys in Class 4A, while Haylie Johns (9th), Ariel Mosier (10th) and Paige Hillen competed at state for the girls. While Manzanares and Mosier are seniors, Johns is a sophomore and Hillen is only a freshman.
One of the reasons for the plethora of vaulters in the area is that many of the athletes go to Above the Bar, an athletic club in Boulder, to practice.
SWIMMING
Christine Jennings (Niwot) finished third in the USA Open Water Swimming 5K national championship at Miromar Lakes in Fort Myers, Fla., April 29. Jennings and four other swimmers separated from the pack of 60, and the leaders gradually narrowed to three. Jennings posted a time of 59:11.01 while Ashley Twitchell won it with a time of 58:54.17, and Emily Brunemann finished second at 58:54.47. Jennings also finished third in the Crippen Mile event, named after her late teammate, Fran Crippen. Jennings has spent the last year recovering from a serious leg injury suffered on the beach near the finish line of a race last year.
BASEBALL
Cody Lahman (Niwot) pitched two-thirds of an inning for Colorado Mesa University May 18 in a 7-5 loss to Minnesota State. Lahman came on in relief and did not allow any runs. The loss eliminated Colorado Mesa from the NCAA Regionals.
Earlier Lahman finished a 13-5 victory over Colorado Mines in the opening round of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament, getting the last two outs without a run scoring. He also pitched one and one-third scoreless innings in a 14-10 win over Colorado Mines, helping clinch the RMAC regular season title.
Lahman led the team with an ERA of 1.10, best among all pitchers with 10 or more appearances. He allowed 13 hits in just over 16 innings, with seven walks and nine strikeouts. Opponents hit only .217 against him.
Ryan Strufing (Niwot) picked up his fifth win of the season for Long Beach State April 29 with six strong innings against Cal State Northridge, giving up three runs in a 12-3 victory. He followed with a 5-4 win over Loyola Marymount May 6, giving up only two runs on three hits in six innings.
Strufing took the loss in his next start, 5-0 to UC Davis, giving up four runs in just over five innings. He went seven strong innings May 19, leaving with the game tied at 2-2 against Pacific. Strufing struck out a career-high seven batters, but Long Beach State lost in the ninth inning, 5-3.
For the season, Strufing has a 6-3 record with a 3.20 ERA, posting 46 strikeouts against 29 walks in 81-plus innings. Opponents are hitting only .232 against him. The Dirtbags are 27-25 on the season.
Forrest Carpenter (Niwot) pitched two innings for Metro State in a 14-8 loss to CSU-Pueblo. Carpenter entered in the middle of the seventh inning with two runners on base and left in the middle of the ninth inning, allowing six runs on five hits. Carpenter was hurt by an error and two wild pitches.
Ben Packard (Niwot) picked up a pinch-hit single for the University of Northern Colorado in a 5-2 win over Chicago State May 5. He also doubled and drove in a run a day earlier in a 19-9 victory over Chicago State.
HOCKEY
Logan Fauber, a freshman at Niwot High School, was selected to the USA Hockey National Player Development Camp in Rochester, NY for the second straight year.
Fauber was chosen at the Colorado State Camp in March to attend the Rocky Mountain District Camp in Salt Lake City May 3-6. After the seven-state District Camp, he was one of five defenseman invited to the National Camp July 14-19.
Fauber will also be representing Colorado at the United States Roller Hockey Championships (commonly referred to as State Wars) in St Louis in August.
Michael Sdao of Niwot was named first team All-Ivy League for Princeton University. Sdao was also named an assistant captain for Princeton for the second year in a row. He was drafted by the Ottawa Senators three years ago.
RUGBY
John Barkmeier, head coach of the Boulder Lions high school rugby team, reports that several local students play on the club team, which is a member of Rugby Colorado. Niwot High School students include sophomores Colin Cavanaugh, Kenny Ellis, and Jack Setter; junior Ryan Smith; and seniors Jacob Culjac-Reif, Dylan Klomhaus, Jack Ryan, Luis Gomez and Nate Shipley.
The Lions won their first match in the State Playoffs on April 28 against Ft. Collins and advanced to the semi-final against Aspen/Grand Junction on May 5. Culjac-Reif played fullback in the match and Shipley played 2nd Row, with the Lions winning the match, 36-24.
In the B-tournament, Boulder finished second to East High School. Cavanaugh played wing, Ellis played scrum-half and Setter played fly-half. Setter scored two tries in the tournament while Gomez scored one try. Boulder beat Colorado Springs/Chaparral 41-7 to advance to the finals before losing to East 32-12.
Other area players include Jay Brown of Gunbarrel (Fairview senior) who played flyhalf in the state playoff game, Shaquelle Chambers (Silver Creek Senior.) who played #8, James Kreitman.(Silver Creek senior) who played Inside Center, Ian McNabb (Silver Creek senior) who scored three tries, Mike McLean (Silver Creek senior) who played flanker, Connor Perkins of Gunbarrel (Fairview sophomore) who played prop, Caleb Ratliff (Silver Creek senior) who played prop, Alec Walters of Gunbarrel (Holy Family senior) who played scrumhalf and kicked three conversions, and James Whitmore (Silver Creek senior) who played wing and scored one try.
JJ Barber (Silver Creek) plays varsity rugby for Lake Forest College in Illinois. Barber formerly played for the Boulder Lions rugby team.
CYCLING
Gunbarrel resident Karen Johnson reports that 22 University of Texas students will arrive June 19 at Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church to spend two days recuperating in the middle of a 70-day, 4,000-mile bike ride from Texas to Alaska as part of an effort to spread encouragement and knowledge to people affected by cancer. “They’ve been training for over a year,” Johnson said. “All of them have been affected by cancer.” The riders will sleep at the church, and give a 20-minute presentation at a potluck dinner June 19 at 5:30 p.m.
“They want to visit cancer survivors,” she said, as well as hospitals and others affected by cancer. The program is in its seventh year, and several alumni of the ride live in the area. Anyone interested in hearing more can contact Johnson at the church at 303-530-4422.
