Winter Sports Previews
BY BRUCE WARREN
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Niwot Boys Basketball

Head coach Travis Maron returns for his second season with high hopes and six seniors on the squad.  “I’m pretty excited,” he said.  “I like our seniors returning from varsity last year. They’re showing great leadership. 
Maron was referring to seniors Cody Heimann, Michael Ogez and Henry Sebesta.  Hiemann will be a two-guard/forward, while Ogez is expected to be the point guard.  Sebesta will play in the middle. 
Other seniors include Alex Janzen and Max McCaddon, who will play out on the perimeter.  “Max will also play low because of his physicality,” Maron said.  Both are up from the JV squad a year ago. “We’ll see what Alex and Max can bring.”
Senior Chris Gurule, at 6’5”, hasn’t played the last two years, and is a bit of an unknown, according to Maron.  The former Northern Conference Player of the Year in soccer as a junior doesn’t lack for athletic ability.  “He handles the ball pretty well,” Maron said.
  
Juniors Forrest Lee, a guard, Nate Merriman, a forward, and Jordan Keeler, a guard, will also be on the varsity squad.  Merriman missed last season due to injury, but the football team’s quarterback finished the season in good shape. 
Sophomore Alex Kinnison rounds out the squad at forward.  Kinneson saw a little varsity action as a freshman last season.  “We’re going to carry 10,” Maron said.  “We’ll probably swing some of them between varsity and JV.”
Doug Duffy returns as the JV coach, while Matthew Bounds moves from the freshman squad to the C team.  J.P. Lefever will coach the freshmen this season.  Lefever played football and basketball at Berthoud High School before attending Fort Lewis, where he played football before transferring to CU.  “He coached the freshman football team and I heard good things about him,” Maron said. 

Tim Bertola is also back as a varsity assistant, and NHS grad Veric Nichols is helping out after transferring to CU from Milwaukee School of Engineering.  “He brings that player perspective,” Maron said.

The Cougars have two returning student managers with Ashley Johnson and Claire Pearson.  They will be joined by Alex Prestwich and Kelsey Clark. 
“We hope to get a little bit better every day,” Maron said. “It’s all about chemistry and coming together as a team. We generated a lot of excitement in the community last year and we hope to improve on it this year.”   

Niwot Girls Basketball

Coach Clark Burton returns for his second season with a young squad after losing nine seniors to graduation.  “We worked all summer with about 25 players and attended a team camp at Mesa University,” Burton said. 
The Cougars have one returning starter in Sara Bishop, who can dominate in the post.  Senior Kimmy Trauner has a little varsity experience, and will play point guard.  She is also a National Merit Scholar Semi-Finalist.  Other varsity players have moved up from the JV squad, including senior guard Kayla Blick and sophomore forward Anna Dunnell. 

Also in the mix to start are junior forward Alicia DiScipio, junior post player Juliett Pilewski and guard/forward Jacqui Sigg.  Senior guard Katie Balsley and senior forward Jane Olsen, who sat out last season due to injury, will provide additional depth. 
Youngsters Callie Hensen, a sophomore forward, and Hannah Sirosi, a freshman forward, will also suit up for varsity. 

“We’re so inexperienced it’s hard to tell how good we’ll be,” Burton said.  “With only one varsity player with experience, it’s hard to know how they’re going to respond.  It’s a really hardworking group, and a really basketball-savvy group.” 

Burton will be assisted by veteran coach Jack Olsen who will handle the JV squad with Freda Bishop, and Craig Smith, who will serve as a varsity assistant.  Randy Haisfield is back as a program assistant.  Summer Erb will coach the C team.  Jalen Valdez, a senior who has battled injuries throughout her prep career, is serving as a student assistant coach this season.  “She knows our offense really well,” Burton said.  “We’ll work hard and hope we’ll be playing our best basketball at the end of the season.” 

The Cougar girls are sponsoring a coat drive.  Anyone donating a coat at the Dec. 2nd game will be admitted free.  Team members went door-to-door earlier this season and collected a large number of coats to donate to the Boulder County Coat Drive, which the Niwot Student Council is also supporting.  

Niwot Girls Swimming

Coach Sarah Heller welcomed 53 swimmers to the Cougar squad this winter.  “We have a very large team,” Heller said, noting that finding pool time could be a problem.  With four teams in the district and only two pools, Niwot is limited to the 4 to 5:30 p.m. time slot each weekday, alternating between Centennial Pool and the YMCA pool.  “We’re going to swim them as much as we can.  We can always use more pool time.” 

Five members of the team are divers, which is exciting for Heller.  “You need divers in order to be competitive as a team,” she said.  Niwot has a good one in returning state qualifier Ariel Mosier, a senior who placed 13th at state last year in Class 4A. “She’s a standout,” Heller said of the diver who doubles as a gymnast.

Juniors Zoe Jordan and Kylie Fischer also placed at state last year.  Jordan and Fischer will both swim the 50 Freestyle and 100 Freestyle. Several other swimmers qualified for state last season, including sophomores Kylie Pillard, Elise Cranny and Hannah Driscoll.  Pillard will swim the 50 Freestyle, 100 Freestyle and 200 Freestyle.  Cranny, who finished second at state in Cross Country last fall, will swim the 100 Breaststroke and 200 Individual Medley.  Driscoll will swim the 50 Freestyle, the 100 Freestyle and the 100 Breaststroke. 

Other returning varsity swimmers include sophomores Lauren Fitz Gibbons in the 100 Breaststroke and 100 Butterfly, Victoria Jepson in the 200 IM and 100 Butterfly, and Cate Rose in the 100 Backstroke and 500 Freestyle. 
Heller noted that several other swimmers are expected to contribute to the scoring this year.  Junior Bekah Cass will swim the 200 Freestyle and 500 Freestyle, junior Hannah Thramann will concentrate on the 50 Freestyle, and sophomore
Kristen Nordham will swim the 50 Freestyle and 100 Backstroke. 
“We have some new kiddos too,” Heller said. Senior kayla Overfield and freshmen Gabrielle Casey and Paige Hillen will add depth in diving, while freshmen Jessie Moore (100 Backstroke), Kseniya Anishchenko (100 Breaststroke) and Madison
Studebaker (100 Backstroke) will give the Cougars additional depth in the open swimming events and relays. 

Last season the Cougars finished ninth at state in Class 4A, with all three relays placing at state. “We hope to improve upon that this year,” Heller said.  Niwot Boys Soccer coach Rob Johnson is back for his second season as an assistant coach.  Susan Welsh returns as the Dive Coach for all of the St. Vrain Valley schools. 

“We lost Caroline Joyce and Kaylee Wheless from last year, but we have a lot of young girls who want to get to state,” Heller said.  “It’s exciting as a coach.  We have 10 seniors who provide a great core.  They are not necessarily our best swimmers, but they provide great leadership. We’ve got talent intertwined throughout all of the events.  It should be a fun season.”

Niwot Wrestling

Coach Scott Sanchez returns for his seventh season with state qualifier Nick Stager leading the team.  Stager, a senior, will move up from the 140 to the 145 pound weight class this year. Sophomore Marcus Cano is another returning state qualifier. “He wrestled summer freestyle and has improved a lot,” Sanchez said.  Cano will wrestle at 126 pounds.

Sophomore Joey Lambert at 138 pounds is also high on Sanchez’s list. “He’s looking pretty good.” Senior Colin Frank is back at 120 pounds.  Frank wrestled as a freshman and sophomore, but sat out last year to play lacrosse.  “He’s pretty tough,” Sanchez said.

At 106 pounds, the Cougars expect freshman Clay Robinson to wrestle varsity. “He has a lot of experience,” Sanchez said.  “He’s wrestled a lot of national tournaments and he’s a tough kid.”  Junior Christian Ramirez is back at 132 pounds.  Ramirez was a varsity wrestler last season.

Sophomore Matthew Strope will wrestle at 152 pounds.  “He didn’t wrestle last year, but he comes from a wrestling family,” Sanchez said.  Strope will compete with sophomore Morgan Schoep who wrestled varsity last year. 

Freshman Fabian Munoz wrestled at Sunset Middle School last year, and Sanchez has high hopes for him at 160 pounds.  He will compete with sophomore David Voss, who wrestled JV last year.  Voss could move to 170 pounds. Senior Juan Alcantar is out for wrestling for the first time in high school, but wrestled as a youngster.  He will compete at 160 or 170 pounds. 

Junior Sean Harrison wrestled for Niwot two years ago, but the Peak to Peaks student could not work it into his schedule last year.  He’s back this season at 182 pounds.  Senior Nate Shipley, a stalwart on the offensive line for the Cougar football team, will wrestle at 195. Shipley missed part of last season when he went to France as a cultural exchange student. 

Sophomore Brandon Slepicka wrestled varsity last year and will be back at 220 pounds.  Others on the squad of 22 include senior Ben Muniz at 132 pounds, who is wrestling for the first time, Troy Duong at 132 pounds, who wrestled at JV last year, sophomore Sebastian Tornquist at 145 pounds, who is in his first year, and freshman Nathan Garcia, a newcomer at 152 pounds. 

Sanchez is assisted by Kurt Campbell, a Spanish teacher at Niwot, and long-time assistant Mike O’Dell.  NHS grads Manny Cano, Tyson Muffly and Chad Walton are also assisting, as is Lynn Voss, a parent volunteer. 
“We’ve had a couple of injuries, but we’re expecting a better season than last year,” Sanchez said.