Niwot track girls take 1st, boys take 2nd at State

The Colorado State Track and Field Championships resulted in big wins for Niwot High School at Jeffco Stadium in Lakewood. The 3-day event, which concluded May 18, gave the Cougars a chance to compete against the best in Class 4A in the state.

And the runners and throwers from Niwot did not disappoint, turning in exceptional performances to dominate the meet, with a fifth consecutive state team championship by the Cougar girls, and a second-place tie by the Cougar boys. No other school came close to Niwot's combined performances.

The Niwot girls turned in eight state championship performances, led by junior Jade West, who not only won her third straight state title in the shot put, but also took home the gold medal in the discus, and Addison Ritzenhein, who won state in both the 3200 and the 1600 meter runs. Reese Kasper also earned a state title in the 300 meter hurdles for the Cougars. Both Ritzenhein and Kasper came home with three first-place medals as Ritzenhein was part of a winning distance relay, and Kasper ran legs of two victorious sprint relays.

The Cougar boys came close to winning their own title, settling for a second-place tie, but bringing home a new state record in the 4x800 meter relay.

Before the state meet, Kelly Christensen, the cross country and distance coach, and Maurice Henriques, the head track coach, were both concerned about the state relays.

"As a team we should be able to bring home another state title," Christensen said about the girls squad before the meet, but he expressed concern about the relays. "I would say that all of the relays are going to be a lot harder for us to win. We're ranked in the top three in all of them, but it's going to be a lot harder to actually win a state title in those relays."

Before the meet, Coach Henriques talked about how he coaches the teams. "I pick a word every year and our word is 'encourage' this year," he said. "So we've just been trying to be encouraged in everything that we do with our teammates and stuff like that. There are too many times where we focus on results. ... This year 'encourage' just stuck out.

"Some people don't realize, they see all this success and they don't really know what's behind it. So like these last two weeks, we do a green chair ceremony where if you're a senior, you get to sit in this chair in front of the team, and everybody gets to tell that kiddo how much of an impact that they've had on them throughout the years, and it's powerful,... when you know that you've got so much love and support, and what you mean to the team is not just about results. It's probably the best thing that I came up with at Niwot."

As it turned out, Niwot brought back four state titles in relays alone out of the 11 championships earned by the Cougars, despite the more difficult competition this year. Three of the relay titles came from the girls squad and one from the boys team.

Eliana Henriques, Simocea Esquibel, Julia Rudolph and Reese Kasper took first place in the 4x400 meter relay, while Henriques, Esquibel, and Kasper were joined by Kate Schmidthuber in winning the 4x200 meter relay. Distance runners Olivia Alessandrini, Mia Prok, Anna Prok and Addison Ritzenhein combined to take first in the 4x800 meter relay for the Cougar girls.

The Cougar boys' 4x800 meter relay was also exceptional, winning the state title and breaking the previous state record set in 2019 with a time of 7 minutes and 43.92 seconds, which shattered the state record for all classes by four and one-half seconds. Even more impressive, the runners forming the distance relay had never previously practiced together before the state meet. Quinn Sullivan, Cole Mazurana, Gavin Engtrakul and Rocco Culpepper have run distance races for the Cougars throughout the spring, but the state meet was the first time the four had run together in the 4x800 relay. Culpepper not only took home gold for the relay, but also won state titles in the 800 meter run and the 1600 meter run.

Niwot Boys Results

Several other athletes contributed to the point totals for Niwot. On the boys side, Abraham Menjivar took eighth in the 400 meter run (49.66) after qualifying in the prelims with a time of 49.56. The Cougar boys dominated the individual 800 meter run as well, setting the stage for the record-breaking 4x800 meter relay. In addition to Culpepper's winning effort (1:55.23), Sullivan took third (1:56.53), Lincoln Brewer took 13th (2:00.18), Engtrakul took 15th (2:00.89) and Mazurana took 17th (2:02.22) in the event.

In the boys 1600 meter run, Culpepper posted a winning time of 4:17.23, while Sullivan took third (4:19.07), Mazurana was 15th (4:25.39), and Ryder Keeton was 16th (4:26.84). In the 3200 meter run, six Cougar runners placed in the top 18. Evan Kear took seventh with a time of 9:21.04, and was followed by Keeton in eighth (9:23.16), Hunter Robbie in 11th (9:37.99), Gabriel Marshall in 13th (9:53.72), Mazurana in 15th (9:57.81) and Keegan Geldean in 17th (10:09.44).

In the hurdles, Mats Lehan took eighth in the 110 meter hurdles (14.98) while Kingston Staton's time of 15.71 was 15th best overall in the prelims, but did not qualify for the finals. Staton also had the 10th best prelim time in the 300 meter hurdles (40.14), just missing qualifying for the finals. Lehan also missed the finals in the event, finishing 13th overall (40.37).

In the 4x400 meter relay, the Cougars took third place (3:21.64) behind Joshua Archuleta, Menjivar, Sullivan and Culpepper.

In the field events, Weston Domich added points for the Cougars with a fourth-place finish in the triple jump (45'3.5").

As a team, the Cougars posted 66 total points, resulting in a tie for second place with Montrose High School. Northfield High School took the boys title with 74 points.

Niwot Girls Results

On the girls side, Schmidthuber had the 16th best time (16.47) in the 200 meter run but did not qualify for the finals. Rudolph finished fourth in the 400 meter run (57.44), while Esquibel took eighth (58.07). Henriques (59.28) and Sammie Holliday (1:00.42) had the 14th and 15th best times in the prelims, but did not qualify for the finals.

In the distance events, the Cougars were out in force. Ritzenhein took third in the 800 meter run (2:13.39), while Rudolph took fifth (2:14.37) and Mia Prok took eighth (2:15.80) to add to Niwot's team score. Kendall Madine (12th - 2:19.17), Alessandrini (15th - 2:20.79) and Cayden Justice (17th - 2:23.07) and Anna Prok (DidNotStart) also ran the 800 meter run, giving Niwot seven of the top 18 runners.

Ritzenhein's winning time of 4:47.07 in the 1600 meter run was seven and one-half seconds ahead of the second-place runner. Mia Prok took fifth in the event (5:03.71), Anna Prok was seventh (5:10.25), and Alessandrini finished eighth (5:10.68) to complete the scoring for Niwot in the event. Elise Hagen (12th - 5:13.03), Justice (15th - 5:15.98), Sarah Perkins (16th - 5:17.72) and Madine (17th - 5:22.90) also ran the event, giving Niwot eight of the top 18 runners.

In the 3200 meter run, Ritzenhein posted a winning time of 10:28.54, more than 12 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher. The state meet record in the event is still held by Niwot's Elise Cranny, who posted a time of 10:17.48 in 2014. Mia Prok took fourth (10:51.99), Perkins finished fifth (11:01.19), and Alessandrini placed sixth (11:12.88) to complete the Cougar scoring in the event. Also entered in the 3200 meter run for Niwot were Hagen (13th - 11:39.54), Scarlett Parks (15th - 11:51.19), and Avalon Beltran (DNS). Once again, the Cougars had seven of the top 18 runners.

In the hurdles, Kasper had the top time in the 100 meter hurdles (14.71) but took second in the finals (14.53) in spite of posting a faster time. Kasper came back to win the 300 meter hurdles with a time of 42.23, slightly better than her leading time of 42.27 in the prelims. Teammate Ashlenn Baca moved up two places in the finals, coming in seventh overall with a time of 46.94, exactly the same time she posted in the prelims. Viola Alessandrini also competed in the event (16th - 48.86).

Winning three relay titles is impressive, but the Cougars also came close to winning a fourth relay title. The 4x100 meter relay, with Holliday, Schmidthuber, Rudolph and Esquibel, took second place at 49.02, one second behind the winners. In each of the championship sprint relays, the Cougars finished first in the prelims before taking the title with a slightly better time. In the sprint medley relay, Niwot finished seventh (1:50.91) behind Baca, Zoey Zabel, Schmidthuber and Holliday, running slightly slower than their fifth-best prelim time of 1:50.46.

In field events, Henriques scored with a third-place finish in the long jump (17'7.5"), and Stella Priest was 16th in the triple jump (32'7.25").

West's third straight Class 4A title in the shot put (43'4") was more than four feet longer than the second-place finisher. Each of West's five throws measured over 40 feet, with one foul in six attempts. This year, West added to her field event titles with a winning throw of 137'9" in the discus. Her best effort came on her first throw, which was over nine feet farther than the second-place finisher. West's teammate, Chloe Mitchell, added to the Cougar team score, finishing eighth in the discus with a throw of 116'11".