Student-Athlete of the Week: Lucca Fulkerson

Lucca Fulkerson didn't start her decorated cross country career at Niwot, but if everything goes according to plan, the speedy senior will be capping it off with the Cougars next month as they win their third straight Class 4A state championship. So far in 2020, that plan has been hitting its benchmarks both for Fulkerson and the team, and, judging from performances in the early weeks, she may even earn some championship hardware herself.

"This summer is the most we've ever run before, or at least that I've ever run before," Fulkerson said after Niwot's recent sweep in the Fairview Invitational, where she took third overall. "So we're making big jumps. Everyone's been training really hard, and it shows in our workouts that everybody's ready to go. So I'm definitely really confident with how our team is looking now."

That confidence is well justified. In two meets against the top teams in the state this season, the Niwot girls have been dominant, thanks in no small part to Fulkerson. At the Battle Mountain Husky Invitational on Sept. 5, she took fourth overall despite a miscue on the course, and helped lead the Cougars to a 20-point victory over the host team, which was the runner-up at the 2019 state meet. Then, on Sept. 12, she was third overall at the Fairview Invitational, where Niwot won by more than 50 points over a field including top Class 5A contenders Mountain Vista and Broomfield. Even more impressively, that performance came during a particularly intensive training week for the team that was designed to make her "legs not feel great," according to Niwot head cross country coach Kelly Christensen.

"Lucca's in year four in her training, so her volume is significant," Christensen said of her performance at Fairview. "The middle of the season for our juniors and seniors right now is hit or miss on how they're going to feel. They're just dealing with a little more volume, intensity, and stress, and as we get closer to the end of the season, they'll get used to that and run really well. The goal for her today was just to respond and see how it goes."

Obviously, it went pretty well, and Fulkerson pointed to the previous week's high altitude race in Eagle County as a potential contributor, adding that altitude was definitely a factor in her top finish in the mile race at July's Music City Distance Carnival, where she took fourth overall in a stacked national field.

"High altitude definitely helps with your overall fitness, and I think that's really great, but I do like racing here," she said, indicating the Front Range. "We also got to go to Tennessee for a track meet and that was amazing. Going from high altitude to low altitude is very rewarding because you definitely feel it."

Fulkerson has also been successful going to lower altitude in the regional and national Nike Cross series races, including the Desert Twilight Festival in Arizona last year, where she finished second in the girls open race. She was also a part of the Niwot team that took third overall at Nationals in December, and launched the Cougars into the national spotlight.

But it didn't take donning a Niwot uniform for Fulkerson to see success. She took up cross country in middle school, after a sharp-eyed P.E. teacher/cross country coach noticed that the dedicated swimmer also had an affinity for running. Before too long, Fulkerson was spending more time on the track than in the pool and decided to switch her main sport from swimming to running.

Fulkerson spent her first two years of high school cross country running for the Dawson School, a K-12 private school located south of Niwot. While a Mustang, she posted consecutive top-five finishes in the Class 2A state championships, and also won a regional title as a sophomore.

But Dawson doesn't have a track team, so when the spring of 2019 rolled around, Fulkerson had to go elsewhere if she wanted to compete. To their mutual benefit, that elsewhere ended up being Niwot, and she served a key role as a distance specialist in that year's state championship run. She also bonded with her Cougar coaches and teammates so thoroughly that she decided to transfer schools and give up her junior year of competition.

"I definitely love the team here and everybody is super motivating," she said. "At Dawson I loved the team, but I didn't have as big of an environment or as many girls to run with. So I felt like I was missing out a little bit on racing with the Niwot girls because I was training with them but not racing with them. Especially during the summer, and through NXR and NXN, I couldn't participate with the team because I technically wasn't part of Niwot High School. So I talked to my mom, and we decided it would be a really good idea to just switch to be with this team and also for the different school experience. I think it was a good switch over all."

Of course, Fulkerson's senior season has been beset by health restrictions and other accommodations to the COVID-19 pandemic, most notably small group practices and new racing formats. She especially misses the energy and excitement of competing in large statewide meets, such as the Liberty Bell Invitational. While it hasn't impacted her performance on the course, she said she does feel the loss of team camaraderie and unity. "Usually at practice, we all run together as one big group, and you can run with different people every run, and you see everybody, you're not just limited to a certain group. It's worked out so far, but it's definitely a bummer because we don't feel as unified during practice because we're not allowed to. We have to be separated."

When she's not running for Niwot, Fulkerson has a demanding schedule of AP classes, including Literature and Economics, a new subject for her. She also belongs to Niwot High's Garden Club and recently learned a firsthand lesson about protecting plants from snow.

As for her plans after graduation, Fulkerson is still in the planning stages of her academic path, but is definitely planning to continue her running career. She is narrowing down college choices, and reports Princeton is currently in the lead.