NHS cross country rocks the Hawk JV Championships

With the varsity teams making their final preparations for the state cross country championship season, the spotlight shone on Niwot High School's junior varsity runners on Wednesday, Oct. 11, at the Hawk JV Championships. Once again, the girls' and boys' teams showed there are plenty of reasons to expect other runners from Colorado to be chasing the Cougars for years to come.

Led by three freshmen, the Class 4A Niwot girls took the first three places over the Adams County Regional Park course and four of the top five finishes to edge 5A Fossil Ridge for the team title. The Cougars' 27 team points were just low enough to narrowly defeat the SaberCats who took the other six top 10 places. Area teams from Boulder Valley -- Fairview, Boulder, and Monarch, all Class 5A schools -- rounded out the top five team finishers in the 16-school JV event.

Despite four top-10 finishers in the 21-team boys' event, the Cougars had to settle for second place to Fort Collins High. The Lambkins fans saw all five of its team's scoring runners finish in the top 10 to give the 5A squad a narrow 34-43 victory over the Cougars. Fossil Ridge (95 points), Fairview (182) and Jefferson Academy (186) finished well behind the leaders, taking the other top five places.

The focus shifts back to the varsity competition on Thursday, Oct. 19, when Coach Kelly Christensen's top nine boys and top nine girls will represent Niwot at the 4A Region 3 Cross Country Championships. The races will be held at the North Area Athletic Complex in Arvada. The other 12 teams in the region will be trying to chase down the Cougars, but both Niwot teams will be heavy favorites in the races as runners and teams look to qualify for the 4A State Championships.

The top four teams and the top 15 individuals at the regional meet qualify for the 2023 CHSAA State Cross Country Championships, scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 28, in Colorado Springs.

GIRLS JV XC

The freshman trio of Elise Hagen, Elsza Bergen and Scarlett Parks took the top three medals at the Hawk JV Championships. Hagen's winning time of 19:04.5 was 15 seconds better than Bergen and 25 seconds quicker than Parks. Senior Viola Alessandrini took fifth place while another freshman, Eloise Boyd, wrapped up the team scoring with her 16th-place finish.

In the field of 239 runners, all 15 Cougars easily finished in the top half of the racers. Other top performers were Maelie Vanpe (23), Lucy Thompson (31), Eleanor Ottem (32), Magnolia Valentine (34), Desta Soma (58), Charlotte Stauch (61), Ava Abarelli (76), Simocea Esquibel (98), Ryann Valazquez (101), and Sage Bromberg (102).

BOYS JV XC

Junior Lincoln Brewer and sophomore Sean Williams were nipping at the heels of Poudre High School's Malachi Wilbourn at the finish line but couldn't quite catch the runaway Impala. Brewer's 16:33.1 finish was less than five seconds behind the winner, while Williams raced across the line at just 16:37.7. Senior Aidan Jiang took sixth place and Niwot teammate Nate Thompson, a sophomore, crossed in ninth place. Junior Brayan Herrera closed out the team scoring with a 24th-place finish.

The Cougar boys placed 10 of their racers in the top 100 of the 274-runner event. Those joining the five runners who contributed to the second-place team total were Zachary Hlavacek (33), Duncan Atherton (39), Praveen Bopearchchigedon (52), Tai Morris (65) and Townes Bernstein. Other Cougars to complete the 5000-meter Adams County course were Cooper Keene, Paxton Zou, Adam Shoning, Jaden Johnson, Noah Simon and Jianuo Wang.