All Local, All The Time
All Local, All The Time
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The Niwot volleyball team had many weapons at its disposal this season, and one of the most effective was the irrepressible cheer of senior Katie Hirsh. “That girl gets us pumped up and fired up,” head coach Daisha Agho said of the setter turned defensive specialist. “She takes us out of huddles every single time because of her spunk and her attitude. When things are looking down, we look to Katie to get a spark.” Things were certainly looking down for the Cougars at this year’s Class 4A state...
The Niwot cheer squad is going to have to get a bigger trophy case. On Nov. 3, the Cougars took first place in the varsity show cheer competition at the USA Rocky Mountain Classic in Broomfield and qualified for a bid to the national competition in Anaheim, Calif., next February. According to Head Cheerleader Savannah Parrot, her team’s ‘clean’ routines were the key to victory. “We can’t control how quickly we advance with our skills, but we can control how clean we are with the skills th...
Niwot’s weekend at the Denver Coliseum for 2018 Class 4A state volleyball championships had a theatrical quality to it. There were hard-fought rivalry wins, a devastating injury to a key player, inspirational performances and finally, an unlikely trip to Niwot’s first state championship match in nearly three decades. What the Cougars didn’t get was a Hollywood ending. Real-life powerhouse Lewis Palmer saw to that with an anti-climactic sweep in the finals (11-25, 15-25, 10-25). But if finis...
Fresh off the heels of his school’s second team state championship of the 2018 fall sports season, Niwot assistant principal and athletic director Chase McBride announced that he will be taking his talents to the next level. Effective after the 2018-19 school year, McBride will replace the retiring Rob Berry as Executive Director of Athletics, Fine Arts, PE and Health for the St. Vrain Valley Schools. “It’s such a successful district and there are such good ADs within the district, that I could...
The Cougars are headed back to the semifinals after a hard-fought, four-set victory over Holy Family (25-22, 28-26, 20-25, 27-25) on day two of the Class 4A state volleyball championships at the Denver Coliseum. Unfortunately, that win may have come at a high price. During the final play of the match, senior Audrey Richard suffered what looked to be a serious injury in a collision with a Holy Family player, and is questionable for Saturday’s match against the winner of No. 4 Longmont vs. No. 2...
If cold drizzle wasn’t enough to dampen the spirits of Niwot soccer fans who traveled to see their team’s playoff match against No. 2 seed Skyview on Oct. 30, then the final 15 minutes of the second half surely was. Up 2-1 heading into the home stretch, the defense allowed two late goals and the upset victory that seemed within reach of the No. 18 seed Cougars suddenly slipped away. “I can’t say that we necessarily outplayed them,” head coach Steve Dimit said after the emotional 3-2 loss, the...
The Niwot gymnastics team claimed the school’s second state crown in less than a week with a stirring win at the 2018 Class 4A championship meet, held Nov. 2 at Thornton High School. Led by senior captain Lindsay Chohon and newcomer Hattie Katechis, the Cougars scored 181.500 team points to win this year’s title, the sixth in the program’s history. “I’m at a loss for words,” head coach Marisa Purcell said after winning the championship, her second as head coach. “I’m proud of them for coming...
On Nov. 2, the No. 3 seed Niwot clinched their third consecutive bid to the state championships with wins over No. 36 Mullen (25-13, 25-13, 25-13) and No. 22 Thomas Jefferson (25-8, 25-27, 25-16, 25-17) in the Class 4A regional 3 tournament. "I'm very happy," Niwot head coach Daisha Agho said. "That's obviously the outcome we wanted." The 2018 Class 4A volleyball championships are slated for Nov. 8-10 at the Denver Coliseum. The Cougars head into the newly configured state tournament as the No....
Niwot entered the 2018 boys soccer season with four first-time starters on the back line, but stopping goals turned out to be the least of their worries down the stretch, thanks to senior keeper Mario Munoz. Under Munoz's vocal tutelage, the untested Cougar defense was solid all year, especially against powerhouse offenses such as Air Academy and Legacy. They allowed just 18 goals in 17 games, and kept Niwot competitive even in their six losses, which were all by a single point. Munoz and the de...
VOLLEYBALL Sarah Falk (Niwot) has played eight matches for Sacramento State this fall. Falk, a redshirt freshman, is a middle blocker. After seeing action in only three of the first 18 games, she has played in five of the last eight games. Falk has five kills on the season in 10 attacks, with only one error. Mackenzie Fidelak (Niwot) played her first collegiate match for Stanford University in a 3-0 victory over West Virginia Sept. 1. Fidelak, who is listed as an outside hitter/opposite on the r...
With two of the top three finishers in the all-around competition, the Niwot gymnastics team took first in this year's Class 4A state championship meet, held Nov. 2 at Thornton high school....
There wasn’t much to celebrate after Niwot’s 42-0 home loss to Fort Morgan on Oct. 25, but head coach Jeremy Lanter doesn’t think there’s reason to despair, either. “We had the worst second quarter we’ve had in football,” Lanter said after the squad gave up three touchdowns to the fourth-ranked Mustangs. “But the kids came out in the third quarter and they didn’t give up, and they kept working, and they started playing for each other, and that certainly makes the old guy proud.” The Cougars moun...
If Niwot head coach Daisha Agho had many serious concerns about her squad heading into the postseason, then their play down the stretch against the top teams in Class 4A and 5A went a long way to quell them. Led by the senior trio of Emma Falk, Zoe Gonzales and Audrey Richard, the Cougars posted rousing victories against Longmont and Holy Family, then closed out the regular season by taking three out of four matches in the two-day Ponderosa Tournament, held Oct. 26-27. For Agho, the team’s f...
Niwot’s Ares Reading was not satisfied with his 11th-place finish at the cross country championships a year ago, so he decided to take a new approach for his senior year. Hoping to shake off the lingering effects of moving from California to a mile above sea level, Reading embarked on a grueling off-season workout program with his teammates over the summer in a bid for faster times. “The season before the season is where the work really gets put in, so I decided to focus on that,” he said....
Niwot star Cruz Culpepper capped off his sensational 2018 season by taking first overall at the Class 4A state championships, held Oct. 27 in Colorado Springs. Despite struggling “a bit” during the hilly second mile, the junior finished in 15 minutes, 48 seconds to claim his first-ever individual state title. “I didn’t have my best day, but I felt solid,” Culpepper said about his performance. Niwot’s Ares Reading came in just behind his teammate, as he has in nearly all of their races this...
Long months of hard work and sacrifice paid off in the most satisfying way for the Niwot girls cross country team at this year’s Class 4A state championships, held Oct. 27 at the Norris-Penrose Center in Colorado Springs. Led by one-two finishers Layla Roebke and Taylor James, the Cougars ended with 47 points to claim their first-ever state title, a feat made possible thanks to the unusually strong team bond forged during a grueling regular season, according to junior Joelle McDonald, who was N...
Though he hasn’t been a Niwot student for long, junior Ben Bicknell is happy with his decision to transfer from neighboring Silver Creek, especially after his weekend with coach Miikka Keronen and the boys at this year’s Class 4A Tennis Championships earlier this month. There, the junior lost just three games in a run through the No. 3 singles bracket to his first-ever state finals match. Though he ended as state runner-up, Bicknell recalled the event as “the best time I’ve had this year....
The Niwot girls put an exclamation point on their “amazing” regular season with a dominating win at the Class 4A Region 3 cross-country championships, held at Lyons High School on Oct. 18. Running in a pack, the Cougars posted four of the race’s five fastest times to claim the team title and qualified to represent Niwot at the Class 4A State Championships in Colorado Springs on Oct. 27. “We had four girls, and any one of them could have won it,” Niwot head cross-country coach Kelly Christens...
The Niwot boys soccer team closed out an inconsistent regular season with a 2-1 loss to archrival Silver Creek on Oct. 16, but the way they lost was almost as painful as the final score, according to head coach Stephen Dimit. “We’re struggling,” he said after his team’s second straight defeat. “We’re creating chances to win the game, but we’re not finishing well and that’s been the story of the last week.” The Cougars certainly had their chances against the Raptors. In both the first and sec...
The Cougars traveled to Greeley on Friday, Oct. 19, ready to get back into the win column against the 0-7 Northridge Grizzlies. It was a well-played game by both teams, but Niwot lost a late lead thanks to turnovers, and fell to the Grizzlies 14-12. The Cougars were ahead 12-8 with three minutes left in the fourth quarter, when Niwot's sophomore quarterback Ayden Bartko threw a tough interception to give the Northridge the ball back and another chance to score. The Grizzlies took advantage and...
Picture perfect weather at Golden’s Ulysses Park served as a beautiful backdrop for a not-so-beautiful performance by the Niwot softball team at the Class 4A Region 4 tournament on Oct. 13. Thanks to uneven defense and an uncharacteristically tepid offense, the 20th-ranked Cougars dropped two of three games on the day, bringing their first post-season run since 2015 to an earlier than hoped for end. “We got off to a slow start,” Niwot Head Coach Bobby Matthews said. “I don’t know if it was ne...
Niwot tennis coach Miikka Keronen normally isn’t one to be content with a second-place finish, but even he had a hard time finding fault with the Cougars’ performance at last weekend’s Class 4A state tournament in Pueblo. Niwot placed a finalist in five of the seven championship matches and had two more in Saturday’s playback finals. Unfortunately, they ran up against an opponent that came within one match of making it into the Class 4A tennis record books. “I felt like we did not underachi...
Niwot picked up its fifth straight conference win at home over Greeley Central on Oct. 11, thanks to some hard kills by their big middle hitters, Emma Falk and Zoe Gonzales. However, those impressive individual efforts were nearly overshadowed by a lack of discipline down the stretch, prompting concern from Cougar head coach Daisha Agho. “I’m not really excited about the way we played in the third set,” Agho said. Niwot won the first two handily (25-13, 25-10), but allowed Greeley Central to st...
The Niwot softball team has earned a trip to the postseason for the first time since 2015, thanks in large part to newcomer Ayva McComas, who has been a powerful threat for the Cougars on both offense and defense this year. According to Niwot Head Coach Bobby Matthews, the freshman’s “team first mentality” has also proved a powerful force among her teammates. “She is a huge leader on the team and does it without saying anything,” he wrote in an email. “Not too many practices has she gone home w...
The Niwot boys tennis team capped off their best regular season since 2015 with a dominating performance at the Class 4A Region 5 tournament, held Oct. 3-4 at the Longmont Rec. Center. Niwot swept all seven championship matches and qualified for a team berth to the state tournament, which opens at Pueblo’s City Park on Oct. 11. Going to the Class 4A state tournament is nothing new for the Cougars—they’ve finished among the top three teams there in nine of the past ten years—but head coach Miikka...
The three-win Niwot football team fell back to earth a bit after a 47-17 thumping by the previously winless Thompson Valley Eagles at Everly-Montgomery field on Oct. 4. The Cougar offense moved the ball well against the Eagles, but a penchant for miscues and turnovers reared its ugly head once again, dooming the Cougars to their first loss since Aug. 30. “They’re certainly better than an 0-5 team,” Niwot Head Coach Jeremy Lanter said after his team’s first loss in the new Class 3A North Valley...
Niwot’s rejiggered infield wasn’t perfect in the 6-4 extra-inning win over Ft. Lupton on Sept. 29, but “some big, giant plays” on defense not only saved the game for the Cougars, but also gave the team some momentum heading into the crucial last week of the season. “Everybody, defensively, was locked in,” Head Coach Bobby Matthews said. “We had a few mistakes here and there, but at the beginning of the year, we said ‘minimize the damage,’ and that’s what we did today…. I think this game goes...
On Friday, Sept. 28, Niwot traveled to Gypsum where the Cougars picked up a 20-14 victory over Eagle Valley, which was celebrating homecoming. Niwot sophomore quarterback Ayden Bartko attempted nine passes and completed five for 95 yards, an average of 19.0 yards per completion. On the ground, Niwot had 36 carries for 160 yards and three touchdowns, one by junior Eric Ruiz, who ended the night with 63 yards rushing. Junior Julian Molina scored the other two TDs, and had a total of 52 yards rushi...
The Niwot boys tennis team is headed back to the Class 4A state championships, after another dominating performance in the Region 5 tournament on Oct. 4. Niwot players took first in all seven championship matches, and advance to next week’s state tournament in Pueblo as number one seeds from the region. The Cougars closed out the regular season with a 10-1 overall record, with their only loss coming on Sept. 25 at the hands of Colorado Academy, one of the top programs in the state and a p...
When Trevor Smith took up rock climbing in 2016, he hardly dreamed he’d be on his sport’s biggest stage just two years later. But that’s just where the Niwot junior found himself on Sept. 14 when he took second place at the 2018 IFSC Paraclimbing World Championships in Innsbruck, Austria. “It was otherworldly to me,” Smith said of winning the silver medal at the international event. “I’d been training for seven months at that point, and all of the work leading up to that moment all paid off....
Niwot head golf coach Ed Weaver wouldn’t say he was disappointed in his team’s performance at the Class 4A Region 3 tournament on Sept. 19, but it wasn’t the outcome he expected either. Bedeviled by unpredictable greens and a treacherous back nine at Loveland’s Olde Course, the Cougars finished in fourth place overall, and missed qualifying as a team for the Class 4A championship tournament for the first time since 2015. “The reality is, as a player, unless you’re trying to win the tournament,...
The football team managers may be highly visible during games as they sprint to and from the sideline with water, but the majority of their work is invisible to most fans. Uniforms, gear and game balls don’t just load themselves onto the bus, after all. For Niwot senior Hailie Johnson, however, being a team manager isn’t just about logistics. It’s about focusing on the details, so the players and coaches can focus on football. “A lot of people think that we just get water for the guys, but there...
Even though it took a few turns of the crank to get the defense started, the Niwot volleyball team easily dispatched Silver Creek 25-22, 25-13, 25-17, in an early season rivalry match on Sept. 11. Seniors Emma Falk and Zoe Gonzales combined for 14 kills and 13 digs in the 2018 home opener, which started rather inauspiciously for the Cougars. “They were pretty hyped for the game, and I think the anxiety of their first home match and who we were playing got to them for the first 10 points or s...
Battling unseasonable heat and a very hilly course, the Niwot boys and girls cross country teams both took first place at the RE-1J District cross country meet at Sunset golf course on Sept. 12. Four of the Niwot girls (Samrawit Dishon, Maggie Smith, Taylor James, and Joelle McDonald), finished among the top five, holding hands as they crossed the finish line. The boys top finishers were Caleb Bishop (3rd), Luke Robinson (5th), and Jack Kenkel (6th). Cougar freshman Zane Bergen was also among...
Senior Savannah Rafkin has been through her share of highs and lows with the Niwot softball program, and, this year, she is trying to use that experience to her team’s advantage. “I’ve tried to be a role model and more of a positive voice on the field,” the veteran outfielder said. “I’m the only player left on Niwot softball who knows what it’s like to be competitive and go to regionals, so I’m hoping to show the younger girls.” For Rafkin, that has meant more emphasis on camaraderie and f...
Niwot picked up their first Homecoming win in more than a decade, thanks to a dramatic last-second fumble recovery in the end zone by junior linebacker Julian Molina....
A downtown Niwot parade was not the only tradition that Niwot High did away with for Homecoming 2018. Thanks to a Julian Molina fumble recovery in the end zone with just seconds to go, the Cougars clinched their first homecoming victory in more than a decade. “Eric [Ruiz] blew through and hit the quarterback, and as soon as he hit the quarterback, the ball came out, and I just jumped on it,” the junior linebacker said after the Cougars’ comeback win in front of a rambunctious crowd at Everl...
Niwot’s short-handed back line surrendered just one goal to Air Academy’s attack on Sept. 8, but sometimes it takes more than a strong defense to keep the ball out of the back of the net. A pair of miscues in their own penalty box doomed the Cougars in an otherwise impressive performance against the defending Class 4A state champions, proving that even minor mistakes against top programs can be costly, according to head coach Stephen Dimit. “We had a couple of unfortunate misplays of the ball,...
The Niwot softball team’s recent five-game winning streak came to an abrupt halt against Mountain View on Sept. 6, but the team didn’t let the 20-2 blowout loss to the defending Class 4A champs slow them down for long. The Cougars were back to their winning ways the very next day at the Berthoud Spartan Invitational, a two-day tournament featuring more than 20 teams from around the state, including local rivals Longmont and Skyline. Now the Cougars are working on a new winning streak, but head c...
On Sept. 8, the machine-like Niwot boys tennis team dispatched Dawson School in short order, winning all seven matches. The top two singles players, sophomore Neil Wilcox and senior Riley Black, extended their unbeaten streak to seven games each, while senior Riley Mulshine picked up his another win at No. 3 singles. The Cougars are now winners of seven in a row, and are heading into the second half of their schedule. Up next for the Cougars are a pair of Northern League matches against...
After starting the 2018 with three straight losses, the Niwot softball team rattled off four wins in a row, including an 8-6 walk off over Thornton on Aug. 27....
When Niwot head football coach Jeremy Lanter came to him last month looking for a strong leg to shore up the Cougar special teams, head soccer coach Stephen Dimit didn’t have to think very hard about who to recommend. “I immediately thought of Josh,” he said, referring to defender Josh Palomares, a first-year varsity player for the Cougar soccer team. “He can just blast the soccer ball, and I thought, well a football is just shaped a little differently, so let’s see what happens.” Dimit’s int...
Niwot Head Coach Jeremy Lanter didn’t necessarily like the numbers he saw on the scoreboard after his team’s home opener against Greeley Central on Aug. 30, but he did like the numbers he saw on the field during the game. Despite a two-touchdown loss, the Cougars improved in virtually every offensive and defensive category between weeks one and two, a trend the coach expects to continue. “They’re working so hard on every aspect of the game,” Lanter said after the Cougars’ 20-6 loss to the Wild...
Fresh off their head-turning performances at the season-opening Vista Nation 2-Mile on Aug. 24, Niwot’s top distance runners stepped aside for their underclass teammates at the Centaurus Warriors Invite on Sept. 1. For Cougars head coach Kelly Christensen, it was an exciting glimpse into the future of his program, as well as a way to solidify his 2018 varsity lineup. “They’re all ready, physically,” he said of the runners still competing for the remaining spots on the varsity roster. “It’s t...
Led by junior running back Liam Flanagan, the Niwot Cougars beat Fort Lupton 26-13 on Friday night for their first win in nearly two years. “I’m just really happy for our kids,” Lanter said after his first career victory as a head coach. “We made mistakes, and they overcame adversity, which is what they do best. They’re such good kids, and I’m really happy that they got to experience this. They’ve been working for it very hard.” Flanagan rushed for three touchdowns against the Bluedevils, the mo...
During this first two seasons with the Niwot golf team, Sam Hoover was content to let his older brother Jack absorb the spotlight. In 2018, however, the younger Hoover is emerging from that shadow little by little. Not only is he playing the best golf of his career, he has also cultivated a rival he doesn’t share a last name with. As Niwot’s number three golfer, Sam has scored among the top-five in three of six events this season, including a fourth-place finish at the third annual Resurrection...
The Niwot boys soccer team rang in the 2018 season with a rousing home win over Brighton on Aug. 21. Led by senior Jonathan Jimenez-Flores’ first career hat trick, the Cougars scored six goals against the Bulldogs, a performance the forward hoped would set a tone for the year to come. “It was a really good start to the season,” Jimenez-Flores said. “We lost a lot of seniors from last year, and it’s a really young back line, so we did pretty good for the first game.” Jimenez-Flores ended the game...
If the Niwot football season opener didn’t quite go the way he had hoped, offensive coordinator Stan Matsunaka was unruffled after the 36-0 loss to George Washington on Friday night at All-City Stadium. Though the youthful team struggled to execute on both sides of the ball during the contest, it is evident that the Niwot football program made significant strides during the offseason. “I think the whole atmosphere this year is a lot different,” Matsunaka said. He served as head coach for the g...
For the first time in four years, there won’t be a number seven in the Niwot varsity volleyball lineup, but second-year head coach Daisha Agho said that the 2017 Class 4A Player of the Year will be with the Cougars in spirit on their quest for the 2018 postseason. “Of course Mac [Mackenzie Fidelak] is missed,” Agho wrote in an email about last year’s captain. Fidelak led the team to the Class 4A state semifinals for the first time in 20 years. “But she has left our players with the gift of h...
