Niwot cross country enters season with high expectations and record turnout

The past, future and present are all looking pretty good right now for the Niwot cross country program. One year after the girls' squad won state and the boys finished runner-up, the Cougars' juggernaut remains dangerous.

On the boys' side, coming so close to winning Class 4A last season has Niwot motivated to finish the job in 2022.

"I know the boys were pretty disappointed being runner-up and not doing as well as a team as they wanted to," said head coach Kelly Christensen. "They're on a really good start. They have a lot more depth this year than we've ever had, a lot of freshmen and sophomores and four seniors heading the way on the boys' side. They've got big goals to win state again and be one of the top-five in the state."

The Cougars have some production to replace, however, with two-time Class 4A state champion Zane Bergen now graduated. Christensen said he'll be relying heavily on four seniors – Carlos Kipkorir Cheruiyot, Stefan Huag, Frederick Ambrose and Jeremy Gillett - to be leaders. Freshman Rocco Culpepper, the younger brother of Niwot cross country great Cruz Culpepper, is another name to watch.

At an annual barbecue in June, the Niwot boys analyzed what went wrong last season and agreed on setting another high bar.

"Their goal was to win the title back," Christensen said. "We just kept thinking about the process of getting there and part of that is focusing on supporting each other, being a better teammate (and) being the team that consistently works hard."

The Niwot girls, meanwhile, are looking to defend their state title with a "very loaded" group, according to Christensen. Seniors Madison Shults, Lex Bullen and Lauren Hendershot all return, and the junior class is also strong in terms of talent.

"Junior-wise, Mia (Prok) and Lex are definitely some of our better leaders and strong personalities, and (they're) super talented," Christensen said. "There's a good handful of junior girls actually: Sarah Perkins, who made the state team the last two years, Olivia (Alessandrini), who hasn't made a state team yet, but she had a really good track season and she was in Italy racing all summer."

Christensen also believes junior Cayden Justice is ready for another successful year.

Of Niwot's 104 athletes on the team - a school record - Christensen estimates that 70 of them are either freshmen or sophomores. He was particularly excited to see what Prok's younger sister, Anna Prok, can do in her first high school season, as well as Addison Ritzhein, who's the daughter of University of Colorado All-American and three-time U.S. Olympian Dathan Ritzenhein.

Niwot's underclassmen will get some work in the program's first meet of the season on Aug. 27 at Mountain Vista High School in Highlands Ranch. Christensen said none of Niwot's veteran varsity athletes will compete in the two-mile race. Instead, he'll be saving the Cougars' top runners for the RE-1J District Meet on Sept. 7.

For all of Niwot, building back a powerful culture is a major desire entering the season.

"Our bigger goals are getting back to being better teammates and having more fun," Christensen said. "COVID kind of took away some of the traditions and the team aspect of things, and we're just trying to act like it's a normal year again and get back to the basics there."

Track and field head coach Maurice Henriques will assist Christensen, and about 25 to 30 of his track runners will also be competing in cross country this fall.