10 Niwot High School students to compete at Nike Outdoor Nationals

From June 12 to June 15, 10 local Niwot High School students will compete in various track and field events at the Nike Outdoor Nationals Tournament held at Hayward Field on the University of Oregon campus. They are attending the tournament as part of REAL Training, a local club team consisting of students from Centaurus High School, Legacy High School, Montrose High School, Niwot High School, and Riverdale Ridge High School. The 10 Niwot students will join seven students from the other high schools, who will compete together in the club relay races.

Confirmed female participants from Niwot include junior Eliana Henriques in the EE 400m, 200m and long jump, junior Reese Kasper in the EE 200m, 400m, 100m hurdles, and the championship 400m hurdles, junior Jade West in championship shot and championship discus, and sophomore Anna Prok in the EE mile. Prok is also on the waitlist for the EE 800m. Henriques and Kasper are also competing as part of the 4x100 club relay squad and the 4x400 club relay.

Confirmed male participants from Niwot include junior James Anthony in the EE 800m, junior Lincoln Brewer in the championship 800 m, junior Evan Kear in the EE mile, junior Cole Mazurana in the EE mile, sophomore Ryder Keeton in the EE mile and the 5K, and freshman Quinn Sullivan in the championship 800m. Sullivan is also on the waitlist for the EE mile.

Female participants from other schools include Montrose senior Sarah McGarry in the EE 200m, EE 400m, EE long jump, and the championship 400m hurdles, Legacy junior Annalina Torres in the championship 400m and the EE 200m, and Legacy junior Gabi Shepston in the championship 400m and the EE 800m. All three will also be competing with Henriques and Kasper in the club relay races.

Male participants from other schools include Centaurus senior Jacoby Ennis in the championship 800m and the EE 400m, Montrose senior Trevor Hill in the championship shot put, Riverdale Ridge junior Grayson Mommens in the championship 400m hurdles and EE 100m hurdles. Hill is also waitlisted for championship discus and Montrose senior Alonzo Leiba is waitlisted for the EE 100m.

This national tournament is following the recent State Championships on May 18, where the Niwot High School track and field team dominated the scoring, with the girls team winning the Class 4A state championship, and the boys team finishing in a tie for second place. This included state champions for girls 4x200 relay with runners Henriques, Kasper, Kate Schmidthuber, and Simocea Esquibel; state champions for girls 4x400 relay with runners Henriques, Kasper, Esquibel, and Julia Rudolph; state champions for girls 4x800 with runners Mia Prok, Anna Prok, Olivia Alessandrini, and Ritzenhein; and state champions and state meet record holders for boys 4x800 with runners Rocco Culpepper, Sullivan, Gavin Engtrakul, and Mazurana.

In the individual categories, Niwot's state champions will compete with West in shot and discus, Kasper in the 300m hurdles, Ritzenhein in the 1600m and 3200m, and Culpepper in the 800m and 1600m.

Coach Maurice Henriques is very proud of how hard his students have worked. He said, "I was happy with how both the girls and boys finished. It has been a big team effort by everybody and we will continue to keep after it this summer."