Niwot hangs on to clinch first boys tennis state championship

Longtime Niwot coach Miikka Keronen was nervously watching the finals round at the 2020 Class 4A tennis championships when he got the news that he'd been waiting 18 years to hear-the Cougars were just one win away from clinching their first state team title and their best player in nearly a decade was still on the court.

"Whenever it comes down to the last match, you never know what's going to happen," Keronen said of his state-of-mind while watching the finals, adding that he was only a "little bit" nervous. "Aimee was kind of updating me on how the other teams were doing, and once I knew that it was up to Neil, I felt pretty good. He's the guy you want with the ball at the end."

The hard-hitting senior Neil Wilcox went on to prove Keronen's intuition correct with a dramatic comeback victory in the No.1 singles final over Nico Jamison of Greeley West. That added seven points to Niwot's total in the team standings, and delivered a narrow victory over rivals Cheyenne Mountain and Mullen.

"I think he would have taken on and beaten anybody this week," Keronen said of Wilcox's impressive comeback, which also netted the veteran a second straight individual title. "He was ready. Sometimes you are over-ready, and you over-psych yourself, and bad things happen, but he was in a really good state."

Wilcox was likely in a good state against Jamison because he had no idea that Niwot's long-held title hopes were now resting on his squarely shoulders. All he knew as he battled the sophomore in the first set is that he had a title to defend, his legs were tired, and his opponent, a sophomore, didn't seem tired at all. That wasn't much of a concern at first, but then Wilcox blew a 5-2 lead in the first set tiebreaker and suddenly found himself playing from behind.

"I've known Nico for a long time, and he's a good player," Wilcox said. "I was starting to get worried that I didn't have him. But once the second set started, I saw that he was just as beat up as I was, so I decided to trust the training I've been doing and go play as hard as I can."

That proved to be too much for Jamison, who didn't put up too much of a fight in the second and third sets. Wilcox went on to win 6-7, 6-1, 6-2, still unaware that his victory had finally delivered the long-awaited championship.

"No one told me before or during my match, but when [assistant coach] Aimee over to watch she was very excited," Wilcox said. "I think they kept it from me because they didn't want me to feel any extra pressure."

But once the secret was out of the bag, both Wilcox and his teammates found it hard to contain their emotions. The senior received a very "energetic" welcome from his teammates as he stepped off the court, and it was reciprocated just as enthusiastically.

"It was such an incredible feeling. I was already happy with winning the back-to-back singles championships, but when I heard that the whole team had won, it just went to the next level."

Of course, Wilcox didn't win the 2020 Class 4A championship single-handedly. Elsewhere for Niwot, sophomore Luke Weber easily won the title at No. 3 singles, much to Keronen's surprise and delight. He was also impressed with the No. 2 doubles team of Xavier Moy and Alan Wilcox, who were surprise runners-up in their bracket. Overall, Niwot earned points from six of its seven lines during the two-day tournament, with at least four advancing as far as the semi-finals.

"We had a good team, but we also got a little lucky there," Keronen said. "The draws play a big part in all of this, too. It's the player, the draw, and what happens that week."