All Local, All The Time
All Local, All The Time
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The Niwot cross-country teams found their way back into the Class 4A top-10 in 2017, and now they’re ready to take it a step further. “Their goals are a state title and to go to Nike Nationals as a team,” third-year head coach Kelly Christensen.said. “Those are the goals they set, and that’s the work we did in preparation for that.” Both teams started charting their course to the Class 4A championship immediately after last year’s state meet. Since then, they’ve endured weeks of grueling indoor...
Niwot head boys tennis coach Miikka Keronen’s state-title-or-bust expectations for his team are nothing new, but this year they’re carrying a little more freight. Stinging after last year’s fourth-place finish at the championship tournament in Pueblo—their worst since 2008—the Cougars buckled down during the off-season and are heading into 2018 looking for redemption. “We don’t like to make excuses, we make adjustments,” Keronen said of his team’s renewed intensity. “We decided to get ever...
There haven’t been a lot of successes for the Niwot football program over the past decade, but second-year head coach Jeremy Lanter thinks that may finally be changing. Thanks to a renewed emphasis on character and team chemistry, Lanter said his players have made adjustments on and off the field that will turn their hard work into Friday night wins. “They want what hasn’t been done here in 12 years,” he said. “They want to accomplish something for themselves. I think that’s part of the reason...
There may not be a lot of familiar faces when the 2018 Niwot boys soccer team takes the field for the first time on Aug. 21, but that doesn’t have Head Coach Stephen Dimit too concerned. Though he lost half of his 2017 varsity roster to graduation, the third-year head coach replenished his stock from a “super-motivated” pool of underclassmen and seems ready to take the Cougars on another deep run in the Class 4A state tournament. “We have a collection of young players, and we’re going to start...
The Niwot boys golf team captured two first place titles in the first two tournaments of the 2018 season, but head coach Ed Weaver doesn’t want anyone getting too comfortable. “I expected them to be very competitive early,” he said following the Cougars’ six-stroke win at the Spartan Invitational in Greeley on Aug. 13. “But I also know it’s a long season, and we still have to play consistently.” That said, it’s hard not to get excited about the team’s performance in the early going, even if th...
The 2017 Niwot softball season was memorable, but not for the any of the right reasons. With barely enough players to field a complete varsity lineup and just one experienced pitcher, last year’s youthful squad struggled against the powerhouse programs in the Northern League, and their dearth of veteran talent was painfully obvious at times. The Cougars finished the season with an unimpressive 6-13 record and missed the playoffs for the third straight year. Heading into 2018, head coach Bobby M...
The Niwot Touchdown club welcomed former University of Colorado head football coach Gary Barnett to its fifth annual Cougar Classic golf tournament, held Aug. 3 at Twin Peaks Golf Course in Longmont. More than 75 players turned out for this year’s 18-hole scramble, making it the Club’s largest event in its five-year history. “We had a lot of support from a lot of different places and a lot of different people,” Niwot head football coach Jeremy Lanter said. “It was incredible to see that many...
Fourth-year cheerleader Kaitlin Knowlden has been through her share of ups and downs with the Niwot Cheer team, but one memory that stands out is the last year’s Class 4A state competition. “We hit our routine extremely clean,” the senior co-captain said. The Cougars finished 13th out of 31 teams, a remarkable accomplishment after nearly disbanding early in the school year. “We made everything look good and we were all really spirited. It was a really good performance and we were all really...
Head coach Ed Weaver has high expectations for the 2018 Niwot boys golf team, and he makes a convincing case for them. On paper, his projected varsity squad is almost an embarrassment of riches. He is returning all three state qualifiers from last season, and expects to pick up a talented incoming freshman. Add in a handful of rapidly improving juniors and sophomores behind them, and Weaver anticipates having enough depth to vie not just for event titles, but eventually the conference and...
Skye Messinger, University of Kansas infielder, has a couple of weeks off before heading back to school August 18th, but he’s not wasting an opportunity to work on his game. Messinger and his older brother, Connor Messinger, go down to the Niwot High School baseball field weekday mornings at 6 a.m. to get some work in before Connor heads off to his day job working for his father, Cary Messinger, at Flying Colors Painting in Niwot. “We work on ground balls and various defenses,” Skye said. “Then...
It has been a dramatic year for the Niwot cheer squad. After nearly disbanding last August, former Niwot High and University of Colorado cheerleader Alexis Bellinger assumed the helm, and led the team to an inspiring top-15 finish at the Class 4A state competition in December. A successful spring recruiting drive added a new crop of ardent freshman, and then two weeks ago, the cheerleaders dominated the competition at CSA Cheer Camp at CU-Boulder and brought home two first-place trophies for...
In three seasons with Niwot’s varsity baseball team, Joey DesEnfants has played every single position on the diamond, including a memorable nine-game stint at starting catcher as a freshman. Now, on the cusp of his final season, the “true utility player” is ready for yet another important role: team leader. “Having a strong veteran leader is important no matter the ages of athletes on your team,” Head Baseball Coach Adam Strah wrote in an email. “However with a young team it is extremely i...
Former University of Colorado Head Football Coach Gary Barnett will be the guest of honor at the fifth annual Cougar Classic golf tournament, hosted by the Niwot Touchdown Club. Barnett, a friend of the Niwot football program and former Niwot resident now living in Gunbarrel, reached out to second-year head coach Jeremy Lanter late last year to offer advice for overcoming a winless season. In 1996, Barnett co-authored High Hopes: Taking the Purple to Pasadena, a memoir of his third season as...
Two NYS baseball teams were crowned division champions after winning their league tournaments last month....
The Niwot U16 summer baseball team players who ended their season on July 15 with a narrow loss in their league tournament semi-finals probably might not recognize the squad that took the field back in May, according to Coach Mike Newton. “My biggest takeaway from this season is the improvement from where we started,” Newton said after the Cougars fell 6-4 to the Mead Mavericks, who were 11-3 during the regular season. “Understanding that we need to make a routine play, we need to pound the s...
The Niwot U16 baseball team won two of its final three games of the regular season and closed out the summer with an appearance in the semi-finals of their league tournament against Mead....
Niwot held their annual spring signing ceremony for athletes committed to playing at the next level on Tuesday, May 22. Caleb Martinez— University of Sioux Falls (Sioux Falls, SD) There’s no question that Caleb Martinez has enough talent to succeed as a collegiate pitcher. As Niwot’s staff ace for the past two seasons, he amassed a 2.69 ERA and 81 strikeouts, putting him squarely among the ranks of the Class 4A league leaders. But it isn’t just physical skills that will make him success...
FOOTBALL Mitch Webster (Silver Creek) will be a junior linebacker for Augustana University this fall. Webster saw action in four games last season. Paul “Tiny” Koehler, former long-time football coach at Niwot High, has officially retired from coaching at Fort Lewis College. Koehler, who coached running backs at Fort Lewis for the past several seasons, returned to assist with spring camp after the 2017 season. He was back in Niwot last week for the NHS Class of 1988 reunion, and noted that he...
Niwot forward Anna McCarthy didn’t waste any time getting her standout senior season underway. In the Cougars’ 2018 opener against Skyview back on March 8, the third-year varsity forward singlehandedly dominated the Wolverines, scoring two goals within the first ten minutes, and then adding three more to lead her team to an auspicious 6-2 victory. McCarthy went on to fulfill the promise of that fateful first game, though she didn’t quite match that level of productivity in a single game again...
BASEBALL David Bote, son of former NHS Baseball Coach Bob Bote, earned his third promotion to the Chicago Cubs’ major league squad June 26 when Kris Bryant went on the disabled list. Bote has been back and forth between Iowa (AAA) and the Cubs this season after making his major league debut with the Cubs during an April trip to Colorado. At Iowa, Bote was hitting .268 with 12 homers and 38 RBI, both high marks on the team. He has played second base, third base, shortstop and outfield in the m...
Former CU Head Football Coach Gary Barnett to compete in fundraising event Former University of Colorado head football coach Gary Barnett knows a thing or two about struggling football programs. In 1995, he coached perennial Big 10 basement-dweller Northwestern to its first appearance in the Rose Bowl since 1949, a feat still recognized as one of the more dramatic turnarounds in college football history. So when Barnett called Jeremy Lanter out of the blue last December to offer his advice and m...
Faced with growing alarm among parents about concussions and injuries, Niwot football coach Jeremy Lanter decided to be proactive. “I’ve sat in 20 different homes for 20 different meetings with parents, and one of the biggest concerns is the safety piece,” he said. “Addressing that with them and listening to their concerns, and finding out what we can do, is a step in the right direction.” To that end, Lanter has embarked on a two-pronged approach to player safety ahead of the 2018 season, one o...
There won’t be as many familiar faces on next year’s Niwot football team, and that’s a good thing, according to second-year head coach Jeremy Lanter. This spring, he welcomed 20 first-time players to training camp, in addition to a “decent sized freshman class.” For Lanter, all the “new blood” in the program has helped to create an atmosphere of excitement and optimism for the upcoming season. “Our newcomers have done such a phenomenal job for us,” Lanter said. “The players that are coming rig...
Recent Niwot graduate Reilly Herbst loves everything about being a hockey goalkeeper—the equipment, being pelted with pucks, and especially the pressure. “That’s the best part,” he said. “It’s the one position everyone looks at.” The 18-year old also has his sights set on a career in the NHL, so earlier this month when he was offered a roster spot by the Chicago Steel of the United States Hockey League for their 2018-19 season, he leapt at his chance to join the country’s only Tier 1 junior d...
Jeremy Lanter is looking forward to his second season as Niwot’s head football coach, and not just because he feels the Cougars will be more competitive on the field. With 20 first-time players, in addition to a healthy crop of freshman, Lanter said newcomers have breathed energy and optimism into his program, which has seen its share of struggles in recent years. “Now although the numbers have been similar, the excitement has been one of the biggest changes in the program,” he wrote in an em...
Niwot wrestler Jose Lopez came to the sport later than most of his peers, but that lack of experience hasn’t kept him from success on the mat. A surprise state-qualifier during his rookie junior season, he amassed an impressive record as a senior before a broken arm thwarted his 2018 postseason ambitions. Late last month, the heavyweight’s career took another step forward when he signed a letter of intent to wrestle collegiately at the alliterative Cloud County Community College, in Concordia, K...
Niwot High campus supervisor La’Mar West suspected something might be up when Principal Eric Rauschkolb invited him to an after school meeting with St. Vrain Superintendent Don Haddad last month, but he was absolutely “shell-shocked” when he found out that Haddad was there to present him with a Superintendent's Excellence in Education Award. “I had no idea it was coming,” he said. “I’m not one of those people who is big on awards or titles or anything, so the fact that I got it was pretty cr...
When you consider what is meant by “student-athlete,” often one side of the equation counts more heavily than the other. However, Dawson junior James Bohn truly embodies the idea of the student-athlete – demonstrating the value and challenge of balancing the two sides, and achieving the very highest echelons of each. Bohn’s primary sport is slalom kayaking (K1), and he serves as captain of Dawson School’s acclaimed Canoe/Kayak Team, which regularly sends its athletes to national and international competitions. Bohn has competed in Olympic T...
Even though their team fell short of its ultimate goal, seniors Alex Herman and Oskar Wells consider Niwot’s 18th-place finish at this year’s Class 4A state track and field championships a fitting coda to the boys’ most successful season in years. After scoring just 4 points total in their last four state appearances, this year’s squad racked up a total of 21 points at the three-day event, thanks mostly to Wells, who medaled twice, first for his fifth-place finish in the 800M and again with th...
The Niwot girls golf team capped off its memorable 2018 season with a hard-fought top-10 finish at the Class 4A Championships held May 21-22 at Country Club of Colorado in Colorado Springs. Freshman Halie Ostrom led the Cougars with a +54 for the two-round tournament, which was good for 36th place overall in the 84-player field. Senior Mya Ostrom and sophomore Julia Solem both shot +66, tying for 49th-place. Niwot ended with a total score of 612 over the two days, to finish ninth out of 14 in...
Niwot IB valedictorian Kamran Elahi said he was thrilled when he learned early in the 2017-18 school year that he had earned the top rank amongst his talented cohorts. “I had an idea I was up there,” the senior said. “Obviously there’s a ton of really, really smart, really nice kids that I go to school with, so I was a little bit unsure. It was probably one of the happiest moments of my high school career to find that out.” Elahi was quick to dispel the notion that students in Niwot’s e...
Neither rain, nor cold, nor Valor Christian could dampen the spirits of junior Maggie Smith and the Niwot girls 4x400M relay team on the gloomy final day of the 2018 Class 4A State track & field meet, held May 17-19 at Jeffco Stadium. With a time of 3 minutes, 55.64 seconds, Smith, Erika Timbang, Kelia Portis, and freshman Taylor James cruised to the state title in the mile relay, beating Valor by more than 1.5 seconds, and putting a bow on a impressive weekend that saw the Niwot girls score...
The Home Run Derby kicked off the Opening Weekend of Niwot Youth Sports baseball May 5. With the first clicks of the bats and the smell of fresh cut grass, the boys of summer have arrived. “We had a blast at the MLB Junior Home Run Derby last weekend,” organizer Bobby Turner said. “Niwot Youth Sports had good representation with the Cougars 13U team. Several boys had multiple home runs with the win going to Josh Lurie, a student at Altona Middle School.” “Josh has been a standout on the NYS Coug...
Led by upstart freshman Lucy Lu, the Niwot girls tennis team upended the Class 4A status quo with an impressive victory at the state tournament in Pueblo May 12. With wins in five of the seven championship brackets, and two more matches in the consolation finals, the Cougars dethroned nine-time defending champion Cheyenne Mountain to clinch the second girls tennis title in Niwot history. For head tennis coach Aimee Keronen, watching her team’s confident march to the ultimate prize during S...
In nine games on their home field this season, the Niwot girls soccer team outscored opponents 34-1. Unfortunately, that single goal was enough to end this year’s Class 4A state title hopes prematurely. In a riveting back-and-forth match on May 9, the No. 9 seed Cougars fell 1-0 to No. 24 Lewis-Palmer in the first round of the state tournament. With less than three minutes to go before the end of the first half, Rangers’ junior Adrianna Cook capitalized on the Cougars’ failure to clear a corne...
Fairview golfer Kelsey Webster will be making her fourth straight bid for the Class 5A state title almost literally in her own backyard. With an impressive four-stroke win in the Central Region tournament at South Suburban GC on May 7, the senior earned a chance to vie for her sport’s top honor at the Boulder Country Club, host of this year’s state championship tournament, and a venue the Gunbarrel resident is “very, very familiar with,” according to Fairview golf coach John Zerwin. That do...
At the 2018 Northern Conference championships at the Greeley Rec Center May 12, head coach Debbie Stewart and the Silver Creek boys swim team checked off two more items on their 2018 to-do list: First, win a fourth-straight conference title, and second qualify more than 20 swimmers for state. That leaves just one to go, and after their dominating performance in Greeley, Stewart is even more optimistic about a strong showing at the upcoming Class 4A State meet in Colorado Springs. “The last g...
Baseball and softball games at Hangge Fields at Monarch Park were part of the Opening Day festivities for Niwot Youth Sports on Saturday May 5. The program, which has roots back to the Left Hand Men’s Club in 1969, provides baseball and softball programs for children in the Niwot-Gunbarrel area. According to Executive Director Pat Longseth, over 300 boys and girls are signed up for the baseball program, and approximately 120 girls are playing softball. . Longseth is himself a former player in th...
You wouldn’t know it from his win-loss record, but right-handed pitcher Caleb Martinez had an impressive 2018. In 10 appearances for Niwot, the right-hander had a total ERA of just 2.79 with 51 strikeouts, the fourth highest total in the Northern League. He really hit his stride late in the season, with back-to-back complete games for the Cougars in the last week of April, including a 4-2 win over Northern League foe Thompson Valley. “His mechanics have been solid all season,” Niwot pitch...
For a sure sign that the Niwot boys track team is having a special season, look no further than the Northern League championships, held May 4-5 at Everly Montgomery Stadium in Longmont. Behind surprisingly strong performances in the sprints and jumping events, the Cougars scored 151 team points to claim the 2018 conference title, a feat Niwot head track coach Maurice Henriques called “a great accomplishment for our program.” “Being here for eight years, we’ve never a Northern Conference meet,...
There’s a debate to be had about whether Niwot senior Mya Ostrom is a more dedicated student or a more dedicated golfer, but one thing there’s no argument about is her composure during a stress-filled round at the Class 4A Regional 4 tournament at Highland Hills GC on May 7. “That is the most pressure that I've seen in a girls tournament and she showed great poise,” Head Coach Ed Weaver said after Ostrom’s unconventional round. Thanks to a special arrangement between Weaver, the Colorado...
The Niwot girls tennis team is headed back to the Class 4A state tournament after cruising to the Region 5 title at the Longmont Rec Center tennis courts on May 4. All seven lines were straight-set winners in the championship round of the rain-shortened event, which was originally scheduled for May 2 and 3, but had to be postponed twice. When play finally opened on Friday morning, the Cougars efficiently made their way through the early rounds, winning all but a handful of games, then made...
The Niwot girls soccer team sent their eight seniors off in memorable fashion with a tight 1-0 victory over first-place Northridge to clinch at least a share of the 2018 Northern League title. In front of a packed home crowd on hand to celebrate Senior Night, the Cougars dismantled their final conference opponent with a controlled possession attack that kept the Grizzlies’ defense on its toes and the ball away from its high-scoring offense. “Individually, everybody came to play today,” Niwot hea...
Niwot ace Caleb Martinez struck out five and walked just two in a six-inning outing against cross-town rival Longmont (15-1) on April 28, but that wasn’t enough to overcome uneven defensive play and a lack of timely hitting. Failing to capitalize on the senior’s second consecutive complete game, the Cougars committed four errors and stranded six batters on their way to a 4-0 loss, their second against the league-leading Trojans in three days. Despite the losses, Niwot head coach Adam Strah sai...
Behind strong performances from seniors Benjamin Willett and Christopher Wingfield, the Silver Creek boys swim team closed out the 2018 regular season with a second-place finish at the Mountain View Invite on April 28. Silver Creek’s team consists of swimmers and divers from both Silver Creek High School and NIwot High School. Wingfield claimed individual third-place medals in the 200 free (1 minute, 53.53 seconds), and the 100 butterfly (55.18), and picked up fourth-place finishes with the 2...
Starting defensive back Lauren Cranny may be accustomed to keeping the ball away from the net, but she had no trouble overcoming that inclination against cross-town rival Longmont on April 18. Making her first high school start at midfield, the speedy sophomore scored her second and third career goals to lead Niwot to a 4-0 victory, the Cougars’ first multiple-goal game since April 5. “Lauren Cranny is just an all-around great player and athlete,” Niwot head coach Stephen Dimit said follo...
In the seven matches since their narrow 4-3 loss to defending Class 4A champion Cheyenne Mountain on March 17, the Niwot girls tennis team has been nearly untouchable. Led by a stacked singles lineup, the Cougars posted wins in 48 of 49 individual matches for six consecutive shutouts. Heading into the final week of the regular season, head coach Aimee Keronen said her team is ready for another deep run in the postseason. “They’re gelling more and more,” Keronen said at her team’s road match a...
Rarely is a snowstorm in the third week of April recalled with fondness, but Niwot head baseball coach Adam Strah was thankful for the miserable conditions that forced his team off the field for two days late last week. Stung by their 13-1 loss to Thompson Valley on April 19, the Cougars buckled down over the snowy weekend, and came out on Monday afternoon looking like a new team. “Even though we were indoors, we had two fantastic practices,” he said. “Friday and Saturday were probably some...
For recognition of her “truly extraordinary understanding of service, leadership, and duty,” the National WWII Museum has selected Niwot senior Mary Stischer as the Colorado recipient of the Billy Michal Student Leadership Award for 2018. Stischer will be recognized at the Museum’s American Spirit Awards Gala, which will be held June 7-8 in New Orleans. Stischer was nominated for the award by Niwot social studies teacher Beth Lozen, who noted the senior’s penchant for “enriching the lives of...
