Niwot girls XC take second at Nike Nationals

The Niwot High School girls cross country team traveled to Portland, Oregon, to run in the Nike Cross Nationals on Dec. 3 and brought home the second-place trophy.

A total of 22 teams from across the nation and 45 individual runners competed in the invitation-only event, where the Cougars were runner-up to the Kinetic Club from Saratoga Springs High School in Schenectady, NY.

Team scores were counted based on the places of the top five runners from each school, compared to the other team runners, without considering the places of the runners who were not affiliated with a team. Niwot's top five runners posted a total of 109 while Schenectedy came in with a total of 81.

Addy Ritzenhein, a freshman, led Niwot, finishing 18th overall with a time of 17:38.4. Bella Nelson, a sophomore, was next in 48th place, posting a time of 18:06.8.

Juniors Mia Prok (18:12.4) and Olivia Alessandrini (18:13.5) were next at 55th and 56th, respectively. Maddie Shults (18:28.0), a senior, was 72nd and Lex Bullen (18:43.8), also a senior, finished 92nd. Freshman Anna Prok (18:44.5) was 94th out of 195 runners.

Coach Kelly Christensen spoke of how proud he was of the team, and in particular, Madison Shults, who ran sick after coming down with a sore throat and a fever the day of the race. Christensen also said that Lex Bullen, a departing senior, had "run her heart out."

All the seniors and Bella Nelson, whose family will be moving to Oklahoma, will be sorely missed in 2023.

Niwot High School Athletic Director Joe Brown accompanied the team to Oregon as he often does when this level of competition is achieved. Brown stressed how important the culture which Coach Christensen has created in Niwot is, with over 100 kids coming out for cross country each season.

Nationally, Niwot has earned a reputation that had other competitors noticing and paying respectful attention to the Cougar team's uniforms. Brown said, "It's tough to build this kind of culture and even tougher to sustain it the way he has." The team has "no slow runners" according to Coach Christensen, "only fast, faster and fastest kids."

The Nike Cross Nationals is comprised of eight Regional Qualifying meets and the National Finals in Portland. The Nationals course is located at Glendoveer Golf Course in Portland.