Both Niwot cross country teams take first at RE-1J District Meet

Even before the season began, Coach Kelly Christensen knew his team was capable of a breakout performance at the RE-1J District Meet. Held at Sunset Golf Course in Longmont, the meet is limited to schools in St. Vrain Valley, and serves as a quasi-district championship. So Christensen made sure his runners were prepared mentally as well as physically.

“We didn’t really change our training regimen last week, but we did bump up the intensity psychologically,” he explained.

It was a tactic that paid off for Christensen. Both the boys and girls teams crushed their district rivals in team scoring at Wednesday’s meet, and Niwot names crowded the top of the individual scoreboard.

“We ran great,” Christensen said. “We are super excited about how our runners did.”

In the boys race, four Niwot runners finished in the top 10, including junior Kenny Lang, whose time of 17 minutes, 34 seconds was good for second overall. Junior Ethan Steiner (18:01) captured the third place medal, while junior Oskar Wells (18:22) was sixth, and sophomore Benjamin Bi (18:31) was eighth. A total of 10 Niwot runners finished among the top-25.

Unofficially, Niwot actually had five runners in the top 10. Freshman Cruz Culpepper placed third overall, finishing just seconds behind Lang, but because of an ongoing eligibility issue, Culpepper’s results were not added to the official scoring.

The Niwot girls similarly dominated their side of the meet, with another four top 10 finishers and nine in the top 25. Sophomore Maggie Smith claimed her second top-three medal of the season, coming in second overall with a time of 20 minutes, 22 seconds.

“Maggie was tired, but she ran great,” Coach Christensen said. “She’s definitely a state title contender.”

Senior Jenny McCaffrey (20:37) was fourth, followed by sophomore Claire Jepson (21:53) in sixth and freshman Joelle McDonald (21:58) in eighth.

Up next for the Cougars is the Pat Patten Invitational on Sept. 23 at Viele Lake in Boulder.

Boys Team Scores — Niwot, 32; Erie, 67; Mead, 78; Lyons, 92; Skyline, 95; Silver Creek, 160; Frederick, 216; Twin Peaks Charter, 238; Longmont, 256.

Boys Top Individuals — Isaac Roberts (Fr.), Lyons, 17:07; Kenny Lang (Jr.), Niwot, 17:35; Ethan Steiner (Jr.), Niwot, 18:01; Hayden DeBuse (Jr.), Mead, 18:12; Jamison Cartwright (So.), Erie, 18:16; Oskar Wells (Jr.), Niwot, 18:22; Mark Boden (Jr.), Skyline, 18:26; Benjamin Bi (So.), Niwot, 18:31; Luke Simeon (Sr.), Erie, 18:39; Isaac Dukes (Jr.), Mead, 18:40.

Niwot Individuals — 2. Kenny Lang (Jr.), 17:35; 3. Ethan Steiner (Jr.), 18:01; 6. Oskar Wells (Jr.), 18:22; 8. Benjamin Bi (So.), 18:31; 13. Matthew Funk (Sr.), 19:21; 18. Jack Volf (So.), 19:35; 21. Tommy Stager (Sr.), 19:48; 22. Luke Robinson (Fr.), 19:49; 23. Irvin Marroquin (Sr.), 19:50; 24. Peter LeCavalier (Jr.), 19:50; 35. Ben Klingbeil (Fr.), 20:22; 43. Jensen Douillard (So.), 20:47; 49. Christopher Simmonds (Fr.), 21:10; 55. Cole Toothaker (Fr.), 21:26; 61. Ethan Jiang (Fr.), 21:31; 69. Weston Matherly (Jr.), 21:59; 73. Jesse Falk (Sr.), 22:20; 75. Rayan Elahi (Fr.), 22:39; 82. Alex Herman (Jr.), 22:47; 92. Jason Fetters (Sr.), 23:15; 114. Nolan Johan (So.), 26:21; 117. Warren Bartlett (Sr.), 26:50; 125. Francis dePierro (Fr.), 29:32; 126. Niketh Gorla (So.), 31:41.

Girls Team scores — Niwot 30, Mead 55, Lyons 69, Erie 105, Longmont 111, Silver Creek 165, Frederick 191.

Girls Top 10 individuals — 1. CeAnn Udovich, Lyons, 20:10.97; 2. Maggie Smith, Niwot, 20:22.15; 3. Sophia Maeda, Mead, 20:27.94; 4. Jenna McCaffrey, Niwot, 20:37.86; 5. Emily Condon, Erie, 21:44.66; Claire Jepson, Niwot, 21:53.80; 7. Kaitlynn Salazar, Mead, 21:54.62; 8. Joelle McDonald, Niwot, 21:58.73; Sierra Bell, Mead, 22:06.56; 10. Claire Gillett, Niwot, 22:13.01

Niwot Individuals — 2. Maggie Smith (So.), 20:22; 4. Jenna McCaffrey (Sr.), 20:38; 6. Claire Jepson (So.), 21:54; 8. Joelle McDonald (Fr.), 21:59; 10. Claire Gillett (Sr.), 22:13; 14. Grace Martinson (Jr.), 23:26; 17. Caitlin Hyers (Jr.), 23:29; 20. Courtney Smoljan (Sr.), 23:50; 22. Elise Gillett (Fr.), 23:59; 26. Mallory Finley (So.), 24:07; 30. Erika Timbang (So.), 24:31; 36. Ella Miller (Sr.), 24:51; 40. Sage Marten (Jr.), 25:06; 41. Lauren McHugh (Jr.), 25:11; 58. Mary McLean (Fr.), 27:07; 64. Cailin Sullivan (Jr.), 27:54; 65. Naomi Bastow (Sr.), 28:05; 66. Audrey Ryan (Sr.), 28:05; 76. Mary Gillett (Jr.), 30:07; 80. Annamari Jarvinen (Jr.), 31:02; 86. Ashley Willis (So.), 32:45; 89. Alisa Johnson (Jr.), 33:10; 90. Elizabeth Mahoney (Fr.), 33:42.