Niwot High School cross country ranked #1 in the nation

Outstanding depth and tremendous individual performances were the key all season for the Colorado Class 4A State Cross Country Champions from Niwot High School. Those efforts were recognized by this year's 4A Girls and Boys All-State Team selections.

The Cougars' two sophomore standouts, Addison Ritzenhein and Rocco Culpepper, led the celebration with first team All-State honors. Ritzenhein, who also earned Runner of the Year honors, was joined by senior teammates, Olivia Alessandrini, Sarah Perkins, and Mia Prok, as first team honorees. It was the second straight all-state honor for Prok.

Ritzenhein, the daughter of three-time Olympian, former American 5,000-meter record holder and University of Colorado Hall of Famer Dathan Ritzenhein, shattered the previous 4A state meet record in her gold medal run over the challenging Norris Penrose Event Center course in Colorado Springs on Oct. 28. Her finishing time of 17:08.2 easily eclipsed the state championship record that had stood since 2015 by over 30 seconds. Ritzenhein's performance was the top showing for any girl in any class at the state finals, easily bettering the 17:28.8 time posted by 5A champion Rosie Mucharsky of Denver East High School.

The Cougar girls tallied just 20 points in the 5,000-meter championship race as all five of the contributors to the team point total finished among the top eight places. Niwot is the top-ranked team in the nation, according to MileSplit.com, after winning its sixth straight 4A team championship.

Sophomores Avalon Beltran and Anna Prok earned second team honors with their top 10 finishes at the state meet. Beltran finished eighth while Prok, the younger of the two Niwot sisters on the team, finished 10th in her first competitive run of the season. Senior Cayden Justice took 15th overall and garnered All-State honorable mention. Though the younger Prok and Justice did not contribute to the Cougars' record-tying team score, which counts only the top five places, they would have been no worse than second or third, respectively, had they run for any other team in the Class 4A field.

Culpepper, who finished third in the boys' state championship, improved on his ninth-place finish a year ago at state. The Cougars' top runner all season finished just eight seconds behind gold medalist Will Brunner of Battle Mountain High School. Culpepper battled back from eighth place late in the race to capture the bronze medal.

Junior Cole Mazurana, who transferred from Windsor High School to Niwot before the school year, finished in eighth place, and was joined on the All-State Second Team by teammate Ryder Keeton. The Niwot sophomore finished the state meet in 11th place.

Four Cougars earned All-State Honorable Mentions: sophomore Hunter Robbie (20th in the state meet), juniors Evan Kear (21st) and Keegan Geldean (25th), and freshman Quinn Sullivan (26th).

Joining the seven girls and seven boys with All-State recognition is Coach Kelly Christensen, who earned the title of Coach of the Year.

Christensen's teams will next take their shows on the road and compete in the Nike Regionals on Nov. 18 in Phoenix, Arizona. The girls and boys will be looking to earn team berths in the Nike National Championships on Saturday, Dec. 2, in Portland, Oregon. The first two teams from each of the nine Nike Regionals earn automatic invitations to the Portland event. Four additional at-large berths will be selected from the remaining teams to complete the field of 22 teams chasing the title of Nike National Champions.