Niwot cross country girls leave Arizona with Desert Twilight win

As is typical this season, Niwot cross country’s depth on the girls’ side delivered another meet win.

All eight Cougars girls who traveled down to Mesa, Ariz., for the Desert Twilight XC Festival on Sept. 30 finished within the top 20 to secure the team victory. The strong showing marked the third consecutive first-place finish for the Niwot girls — the St. Vrain Cross Country Invitational and the RE-IJ District Meet being the others.

In the 5,000-meter Desert Twilight race that included 21 total teams and 174 girls, not only did the Cougars win, but their 42 points were an entire 50 points away from second-place Valor Christian.

“I think 800 meters into the race, it was anticlimactic, to be honest with you,” said head coach Kelly Christensen. “I knew that our girls were good, I just didn't expect all eight to run as well as they did in that race. I kind of knew right away, not even twenty percent into the race, that we won. The girls came and delivered and ran hard for each other and celebrated a year of hard work. It was pretty fun to watch as a coach and a fan.”

Senior Madison Shults was the highest Niwot finisher in fourth place, junior Mia Prok placed sixth and sophomore Bella Nelson took 11th. Freshmen Anna Prok (14th), Addison Ritzenhein (15th) and junior Olivia Alessandrini (16th) followed with senior Lex Bullen (18th) and junior Cayden Justice (19th) rounding out the Cougars’ pack.

Niwot’s boys’ team finished third in the race with 99 points, just five behind second-place Cherokee Trail and 12 away from first-place Valor Christian. Only freshman Rocco Culpepper (9th) and senior Stefan Huag (22nd) were able to crack the top 25.

“We continue to have steps of improvement, but we have things go against us,” Christensen said.

In particular, senior Frederick Ambrose suffered an early fall on a misstep and was trampled by what Christensen estimated to be about 200 athletes for around 15 seconds before he could get up. Ambrose was still somehow able to recover and placed 93rd out of 219. He received stitches soon afterward and Christensen expects him to be cleared for return shortly.

“It speaks to his commitment to his teammates and how tough of a kid he is,” Christensen said.

On Oct. 1, Niwot’s runners who stayed home competed against many of the top Class 5A programs in the Pat Patten Invitational at Boulder’s Viele Lake Cross Country Course. The Niwot boys, led by 21st place-finisher sophomore Christopher Wood, took seventh overall while the girls placed sixth, driven by freshman Avalon Beltran in fourth place.

Niwot, for the second time this fall, will travel to Colorado Springs on Oct. 8 to get another run-through of the state championship course.

“As we shift to October, we always call it championship season,” Christensen said. “The focus for October becomes the state championship and running well there.”