Out in Leftfield

GOLF

Kelsey Webster (Fairview) of Gunbarrel was named to the Women's Golf Coaches Association

All-American Scholar for the 2019-2020 season. Webster, a sophomore psychology major at the University of Colorado, posted a 77.58 stroke norm for 12 rounds. To be eligible for WGCA Golf All-American Scholar status, a golfer must have a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.50 (on a 4.0 scale) and must have played in 50 percent of the college's regularly scheduled competitive rounds during the season.

BASEBALL

Former Niwot High baseball coach Bob Bote, who resigned as Standley Lake head baseball coach prior to the 2020 season, served as an assistant coach at Ralston Valley during the shortened 2020 season. Bote, whose son David Bote is an infielder with the Chicago Cubs, wanted to be able to follow his son's career without the responsibilities of a head coaching position. David Bote was hitting .333 in spring training after 10 games before the season was interrupted.

Several former Niwot High assistant coaches are continuing their coaching careers at the high school level. Jack Taylor, who grew up playing baseball in Gunbarrel for what is now the Niwot Youth Sports program, returned to the position of head coach at Boulder High School before the season was cut short. Mike Newton, former pitching coach at Niwot High, began his first season as a head coach at Erie High School this spring. Sam Distefano, who played at Niwot High, is the head coach at Holyoke High School in northeastern Colorado. Connor Messinger and Joe Wilson, both Niwot High grads, are assistant coaches at their alma mater.

Skyler Messinger (Niwot) started all 17 games for the University of Kansas prior to the shutdown of the program. Messinger, who plays third base for the Jayhawks, hit .250 in the abbreviated season, with one homer and eight RBI's. He added four doubles, second on the team. In KU's last win of the season on March 6, Messinger had two hits and two RBI's in a 6-1 victory over Indiana State. Kansas closed the season with four straight losses to go 7-10 for the shortened season.

Jamie Hollowell (Niwot) continues in his role as the Colorado Rockies' analytics guru. Hollowell, who played college baseball at Haverford University, serves as Manager – Baseball Research & Development for the Rockies, a position he has held since January 2019. Prior to that Hollowell was a Data Architect for the Rockies for three years.

Ford Ladd (Niwot) hit .357 in a shortened senior season for New York University last spring. Ladd played all five games before the coronavirus caused a cancellation of the season, scoring three runs and posting three RBIs. Ladd was primarily a first baseman, and also pitched one game, giving up six runs in five innings of a 7-2 loss to William Paterson March 5.

Mike Hoog (Niwot) is far removed from his days as a baseball player, but he is not forgotten. Hoog, a powerful left-handed hitter, probably still holds the record for homeruns at Niwot High, regularly depositing pitches over the short right field fence, and often on top of the school's roof, back when the baseball field was located where the parking lot is now.

After a stellar high school career as a first-baseman and pitcher, Hoog went to the University of North Carolina, where he pitched for a very successful program. NCAA.com put together a series a year ago, choosing an All-Star team of players who played for the Tar Heels over the years. The authors selected the team based solely upon collegiate performances rather than pro careers. Hoog was named as one of five starting pitchers on the squad. The others were Andrew Miller, Dave Lemonds, Scott Bankhead and Adam Warren, each of whom went on to pitch in the major leagues.

Miller has 14 seasons under his belt and is still pitching for the Cardinals, Lemonds pitched two years for both Chicago teams, Bankhead pitched for 10 seasons, and Warren is still active after eight seasons.

Hoog was drafted in the 19th round by the New York Mets out of high school in 1986 as a first-baseman, but chose to go to North Carolina on a scholarship instead. At North Carolina, Hoog set school pitching records for wins, starts, innings pitched and strikeouts, but the lefthander injured his arm during his senior year, and ended up signing as a free agent with the Atlanta Braves organization in 1992 after graduation. He pitched one season at Idaho Falls in the Pioneer League, posting a 4-1 record and five saves, but ended his playing career to attend law school. Hoog returned to Colorado for work, and also served for 10 years as Skyline High School baseball coach, stepping down in 2016.

BASKETBALL

Tyson Christiansen (Niwot) is the marketing director for the Denver Nuggets. Christensen moved back to Colorado after serving as the marketing director for Madison Square Garden in New York, which hosts the New York Rangers hockey team and the New York Knicks basketball team. Christensen has also worked in marketing and ticketing for the Phoenix Suns basketball team and the New York Yankees baseball team.

SOFTBALL

Brooklynn DeLozier (Niwot) played 15 games for New Mexico Highlands before the season was shut down this spring. DeLozier, who primarily played leftfield for NMH, hit .143 on the season. She had two hits including a double in three plate appearances against Regis University March 8, scoring a run in a 5-3 loss. She also had two hits in a loss to Angelo State Feb. 15.

Bailey Kleespies (Niwot) was named to the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference All- Academic First Team, and was also voted to the CoSIDA Academic All-District 6 squad, which consists of only 10 players voted on by District 6 athletic directors. Kleespies is a senior finance major at Colorado Mesa University, with a 3.881 GPA. She was also an Honorable Mention All-RMAC selection in 2018 and 2019 and was named to the RMAC All-Academic Honor Roll in each of those two seasons. She has been a member of three RMAC Championship teams and posted a .318 career batting average with 14 home runs and 89 RBIs in 123 career games.

She started 21 of 22 games she played this season at third base before the pandemic ended the season. She was hitting .310 at the time, with eight doubles, tops on the team and fifth in the conference. Kleespies also hit three home runs, including two grand-slams, while driving in 24 runs to rank second on the team and tied for seventh in the conference. She hit both grand-slams on the same day on Feb. 8 against St. Mary's and Hawai'i-Hilo, the second of which was a walk-off homer, giving her 11 RBIs on the day. She finished with a .549 slugging percentage and a .364 on-base average.

Meghan Waidler (Niwot) ended her senior season at the University of Colorado – Colorado Springs with a .360 average in 21 games. Waidler, a first baseman and designated hitter, scored 10 runs and had 12 RBIs. She had a monster game against New Mexico Highlands March 1, with three hits, including a double and a triple, driving in four runs and scoring three in a 13-1 victory. A day earlier, Waidler went 1-3 with a run scored and an RBI in a 9-1 win over New Mexico Highlands in which she faced her former NHS teammate, Brooklynn DeLozier. Waidler's RBI came on a sacrifice fly to DeLozier in leftfield that day, who was 0-2 at the plate.

Grace Ladd (Niwot) pitched in five games for Brown University in her senior season before the season ended. Ladd made two starts in the circle and posted a 3.15 ERA, with one complete game, nine strikeouts, and 20.0 innings pitched on the year. On Feb. 23, Ladd pitched 7 innings and allowed only two runs against George Washington University, but took the loss in the 2-1 game. She also struck out four in two innings of relief against UNC Wilmington Feb. 22, and pitched five innings in relief without allowing an earned run against San Jose State March 1 in a 5-0 loss.

CROSS COUNTRY/TRACK

Claire Gillett (Niwot) earned West Coast Conference All-Academic Honorable Mention honors at Gonzaga University for her efforts last fall. She finished 19th at the Inland Empire Championships Oct. 12 with her personal best time of 18:09 for the 5K course. She also posted her best time in the mile at the UW Preview Jan. 18 with a time of 5:06.86, good for 25th place.

Alexis Carroll (Niwot) finished ninth in the triple jump for the University of Colorado – Colorado Springs at the RMAC Indoor Track & Field Championships Feb. 28-29 with a mark of 37'1.25". Carroll also competes in the long jump and 60 Hurdles, finishing second in the hurdles at the Air Force Collegiate Open Feb. 21 with a time of 9.61 seconds. Her long jump of 15'6" was good for 11th place at the same meet.

SWIMMING

Lucas Bergeson (Niwot) posted his best times of the season for Whitman College at the NWC Championships Feb. 13. Bergeson, a senior, posted a time of 1:46.28 in the 200-yard freestyle, the first time he had broken 1:50 on the season. He also broke the five-minute mark in the 500-yard freestyle for the first time with a time of 4:47.35, and set a season-best mark in the 1650-yard freestyle with a mark of 17:00.51. He holds the eighth-best time in school history for the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:46.77 set in the fall of 2019, the eighth-best time in the 1000-yard freestyle set in the fall of 2018, and the sixth-best time in the 1650-yard freestyle with a time of 16:57.46 set in 2018.

HOCKEY

Michael Sdao of Niwot has joined the coaching staff of the Lincoln Stars, the team announced. Sdao played for the Stars as a defenseman from 2007-2009, registering 19 points, 340 penalty minutes and a plus-12 rating in 104 games. Sdao was selected 191st overall by the Ottawa Senators in the 2009 NHL draft. Following his time in Lincoln, Sdao spent four years playing college hockey at Princeton University where he served as an alternate captain. He then began an eight-year career in pro hockey, including four seasons in the American Hockey League and four in the ECHL. In 2019-20, Sdao played for the Adirondack Thunder, before the ECHL's season was cancelled on March 15th due to the pandemic.