All Local, All The Time
All Local, All The Time
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In two separate split-decision votes at their Jan. 9 meeting, Boulder County Commissioners approved sweeping changes to the Boulder County Land Use Code and Boulder County Licensing Ordinance 2023-02 regarding regulation of Short-Term and Vacation Rentals in unincorporated Boulder County. The complexity of the issues and passion of public opinion were once again on full display at the Jan. 9 meeting which lasted eight hours, including nearly four hours of public testimony both in favor of and opposed to the proposed changes. On the two votes,...
As expected, Colorado's girls dominated the 2023 Nike Cross Nationals (NXN) Saturday, Dec. 2, in Portland, Oregon, but no one was more dominant than Niwot's Addison Ritzenhein who now adds the title of National Champion to her growing list of credentials. Ritzenhein, just a sophomore, came into the 18th Nike national race expected to be one of the top five or six finishers in the race, but splashed through the mud and deep standing water on Portland's Glendoveer Golf Course to outpace in-state...
The top two high school cross country teams from each of the nine Nike regional qualifying meets in November secured automatic berths into this weekend's Nike Cross Nationals (NXN). That left just four at-large invitations available for high school boys teams from across the United States to compete in the national championships on Saturday, Dec. 2, in Portland, Oregon. When the Niwot boys cross country team finished fourth in its Southwest Regional meet on Nov. 18 in Arizona, it looked like a...
NIWOT GIRLS WIN REGIONALS, GOING TO NATIONALS When the top teams in the country gather in Portland, Oregon on Saturday, Dec. 2, for the Nike Cross Country National Championships, all eyes will be on the two girls teams representing the Southwest Region – Niwot High School and Air Academy High School. Colorado's 4A State Champion Cougars and 5A champion Kadets squared off Saturday, Nov. 18, for the first time this season at the four-state Nike regional qualifying meet at the Coyote Run Golf C...
In the gymnastics world, just a fraction of a point can make the difference between ultimate success and shattered dreams. After the 4A state championships last weekend, the Niwot Cougars felt the disappointment of their sport's reality. As Niwot Coach Marisa Purcell predicted prior to Friday night's team competition at Thornton High School, the girls from Palmer Ridge High School would spring to their first state championship while just tenths of a point would separate the runners-up. After...
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...
For the sixth time in six years, the Niwot High School girls cross country team reigns supreme in Colorado. And, not to be outdone, after a disappointing two-year hiatus, the Cougar boys team reclaimed its state title at this past weekend's 4A Colorado State Cross Country Championships. Taking advantage of their outstanding individual leaders and incredible team depth, the Cougars wrapped up their near perfect season with two runaway victories on the Norris Penrose Event Center course in...
Mission accomplished. In a complete team effort, the Niwot High School girls gymnastics squad met this past week’s goal of winning their regional meet, which propels the Cougars into the 4A state championship meet Friday and Saturday, Nov. 3 and 4, at Thornton High School. The Cougars scored 176.15 points to edge out Roosevelt’s 173.30 points behind all-around champion Maeve Flentie and individual apparatus winners Heidi Herbert (bars), Kylee Schlepp (vault) and Lilly O’Neill (beam). Juniors Flentie and Claire Vardas combined with O’Nei...
The Boulder County Planning Commission voted unanimously Wednesday, Oct. 18, to advance a plan for revising the county’s land use code related to the regulation of Short-Term and Vacation Rentals. The commissioners agreed on recommending several changes to the County Planning and Permitting (CPP) staff’s draft proposal. It will now fall on to the County Commissioners to put the final touches on any revisions to the code. CPP staff will incorporate the planning commission’s recommendations into its draft plan and present the results to the C...
The Niwot High School girls gymnastics team has been looking for a lift to propel it into the 4A regional and state championship meets. The boost came this past week as the Cougars notched their highest team score of the season, a 178.1 tally, in the final Front Range League meet of the season at Mountain Range High School. "I think we're sitting really well. We obviously had a great League meet," Coach Marisa Purcell said. "But we started off a little rough on the beam. So, it definitely took...
All the hard work . . . all the long hours . . . all the miles of traveling . . . all of it is behind the Niwot Cougars’ cross country teams. Now, there’s nothing left for the runners to do but lace up their shoes and run for their ultimate goal . . . a 4A state championship trophy. Seven boys and seven girls from Niwot will don the green and silver and represent one of the country’s (not county’s) elite programs Saturday as they attempt to cap a nearly perfect 2023 racing season at the 4A State Championship Meet at Norris Penrose Event Center...
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...
Go ahead and take some time off. You’ve earned it. But don’t expect the rest of your team to stop running while you do -- they won’t. With several of their top runners, including Addison Ritzenhein and Rocco Culpepper, taking well-deserved breaks after impressive individual and team efforts the previous week at the Desert Twilight Festival in Arizona, the Niwot boys and girls cross country teams traveled to the Western Slope on Thursday, Oct. 5, and continued their dominance with team victories at the Warrior Lincoln Park Classic in Grand...
After one day of the 2023 4A Boys State Golf Tournament, Niwot's Emmett Shell was flying high on the leaderboard. The senior overcame some challenging weather and the difficulty of The Bridges Golf & Country Club in Montrose to notch a 1-over par 72, just two shots off the lead. If not for a missed, three-foot par putt on his 13th hole of the day and an out of bounds drive on his closing hole, Shell may have found himself in truly rarified air. "Emmett may have had the best day of his high...
As Niwot High School golf Coach Ed Weaver prepared his two 4A state tournament qualifiers, Emmett Shell and Drew Stapp, to step into the limelight for their biggest event of the season on Oct. 2 and 3 in Montrose, he was also gazing optimistically into the future following his underclassmen’s dominant showing at last week’s Niwot JV (Junior Varsity) Invitational. The Cougars were stingy hosts at the Twin Peaks Golf Course, grabbing the top two team finishes and five of the top six individual rounds in the event, which featured 128 golfers on 34...
The Niwot High School cross country team showed Friday evening, Sept. 29, that Colorado isn’t the only state where the Cougars’ dominance will be felt in 2023. Coach Kelly Christiansen led his team into the Arizona desert, and the Cougars ran away with both the boys’ and girls’ coveted Sweepstakes titles in the Desert Twilight Cross Country Festival in Mesa, AZ. The event, one of the premier invitationals in the country, included 248 teams and nearly 6,000 athletes from five states. Thirty-one different races were held during the evening...
The complexity of the issues and passion of public opinion, both pros and cons, regarding regulation of Short-Term and Vacation Rentals were on full display Wednesday, Sept. 20, at the Boulder County Planning Commission hearing. After three hours of staff presentation, commissioners’ questioning and public comment, the Commission opted for more time and more information before advancing its recommendations for changes to the current regulations, if any, to the Boulder County Commissioners. The five members of the Planning Commission who p...
Don't blame the Niwot High School Cougars for wanting more from their performance in last week's 4A Region 3 golf tournament at Greeley's Boomerang Links Golf Course. But compared with their results from a year ago, the Cougars can take pride in qualifying two players for next week's 4A State Tournament. Coming off a disappointing showing a year ago at the regional event, senior Emmett Shell earned his way back into the state competition after his one-year hiatus. Shell cruised to a two-over...
In any sport, a bye week can be a curse or a blessing. If momentum is running high, a bye can be a buzz killer. But on the other hand, a week without competition can be a blessing when long weeks of practice and competition have taken a physical and mental toll. For the Niwot High School gymnastics team, this week's bye may be the blessing Coach Marisa Purcell and her team need. After hosting their final home meet of the season on Wednesday evening, Sept. 20, in an event that saw their top...
Not much went right for the Niwot Cougars a year ago at the Region 4 golf tournament. This time around, Coach Ed Weaver is hoping things take a different turn Thursday, Sept. 21 at Boomerang Links Golf Course in Greeley. The Cougars enter this year’s tournament ranked third in the region behind Windsor High School and Longs Peak League nemesis Riverdale Ridge High School and are looking to qualify a full contingent of golfers to the 4A state tournament on Oct. 2-3. But to ensure that, the Cougars will most likely need to find a way to do s...
GIRLS XC Look out Colorado, Niwot’s Addison Ritzenhein is a runaway freight train with no slowing down in sight. The sophomore picked up speed on the final downhill stretch and steamed through the finish line Saturday at the St. Vrain Cross Country Invitational, leaving all competitors far behind while crushing the girls’ course record along the way. In her second race of the season, Ritzenhein picked up her second victory, this time by a whopping 30 seconds over teammate and second-place finisher Olivia Alessandrini, who added the silver med...
Coming off a sweep of the top five places in the all-around competition at a three-team meet this past week in Thornton, the Niwot High School girls gymnastics team appears ready to test the deeper waters of 4A state competition -- especially considering that two of their top gymnasts were less than 100% and did not finish among that top tier. Once again behind the stellar performance of junior Maeve Flentie, the Cougars continued their meet-to-meet improvement, finishing with 175.40 points, their highest team total in their three early season...
Following the presentation of the Short-Term and Vacation Rental Two-Year Review in January, the Boulder County Commissioners directed the Community Planning & Permitting (CPP) staff to draft recommended changes to the Land Use Code and Licensing Ordinance associated with Short-Term Rentals (STRs) in unincorporated Boulder County. Those recommendations will be presented to the Planning Commission on Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2023. Public comments will be invited during the commission’s hearing which will be held at the Downtown Boulder County C...
Golf balls were flying this past week for the Niwot High School Cougars as 16 players teed it up in four different events. The varsity team took to the links last Tuesday at Ute Creek Golf Course in the Longs Peak League’s Skyline tournament, coming up one stroke shy of nemesis Riverdale Ridge High School for the victory. The Cougars’ JV representatives at the Skyline JV event ran away with a 25-stroke victory over second-place Severance High School in that nine-hole tournament. And, across town at Twin Peaks Golf Course, two Niwot foursomes te...
The results of last Wednesday's RE-1J District Cross Country Meet may have looked like opening the floodgates, but Niwot head coach Kelly Christensen described the outcome as more of a controlled release. The Cougars, who had seen their top runners held out of competition in the first weeks of the season, were on full display on their home course and the visual effect was a green wave. Both the girls and the boys teams easily ran to victory with the girls capturing the top 13 individual places...
After finishing eighth in the Class 4A state championship a year ago, Niwot's Maeve Flentie was looking at this season as a year to solidify her position as one of the state's best gymnasts. Last Wednesday at home, Flentie took a big step forward, winning the All-Around title at the Cougar-hosted, three-team meet. The junior led her team to a team-total of 173.5 points, two points better than the Cougars' meet total of 171 in their prior competition. Roosevelt High School finished in second...
What a difference a week makes! After struggling two weeks ago at their own golf tournament, the Niwot Cougars roared back last week, finishing a close second at the Fort Morgan league event, three shots behind Riverdale Ridge High School, and then winning the Mountain View league event at the Olde Course at Loveland by three strokes over those same Ravens. The tournaments were highlighted by individual titles at both events for senior Emmett Shell. The Cougars' low average leader throughout...
Hundreds of runners and their fans were out in force Saturday, Sept. 2, for the 2023 Wyoming Cross Country Invitational at the Little America Resort Golf Course in Cheyenne. Collegiate men’s and women’s teams as well as high school varsity and junior varsity boys’ and girls’ teams from across Wyoming and Colorado were represented at the spectacle. The collegiate host, the University of Wyoming Cowboys, edged out rival Colorado State to win the men’s event. The CSU women, ranked 26th in the nation, returned the favor by winning their race over...
High school coaches know that the first event of any new season comes brimming with high expectations, high anxiety, and heightened nerves. How all that manifests for young athletes in the spotlight is part of the unknown thrill of opening night. “The first meet usually goes one of two ways,” Niwot High School gymnastics Coach Marisa Purcell explained. “When they come out, they have super high energy and they’re even more excited when you’re at home. So, either all that adrenaline is good and you go out and get a really high score or it’s like...
The beauty of golf is that it rewards a balance among strength, finesse, and mental acumen. When all aspects are clicking, the game can seem easy. But when the scales are out of balance, golf can be one of the most frustrating sports. Niwot High School golf coach Ed Weaver has spent this season coaxing his players to find that equilibrium. And he knows he hasn't finished delivering the message. "Length is our strength and length is our nemesis," Weaver explained while discussing the host...
“Go out steady . . . gradually pick up the pace . . . and sprint to a strong finish.” Sounds like a great strategy for an individual cross-country runner. It’s also the approach Niwot Coach Kelly Christensen uses to sketch out the blueprint for his team’s entire season. “We kind of travel to the beat of our own drum,” Christensen said. “We take a slower approach to our season than you might normally see. We’re a team that goes very late into June with our track athletes and a lot of the other teams don’t. While we’re still racing track in lat...
Walking away from last Tuesday’s Second Annual Resurrection Christian Invitational at RainDance National Resort & Golf Course in Windsor, the Niwot High School boys golf team had every right to feel good about its third-place finish -- highest among the Class 4A schools participating. But the Cougars also couldn’t be blamed for lamenting the one that got away. The Cougars’ three-player total of 238, which was 20 strokes ahead of the nearest 4A competitor, Mead High School, was just four strokes behind the first-place total of 234 posted by th...
Five girls 4A state championships in the past five years. Two boys state championships and two runner-up finishes in the last four. To say that the Niwot cross country program is a championship machine may be an understatement. In his eighth year as head coach, Kelly Christensen has found a formula that other coaches around the state would love to steal. Christensen says it’s not that complicated. “The right kids are coming to Niwot and the families are super supportive. They drink the Kool-Aid,” Christensen says with a smile in his voice. “It...
Early in the boys golf season, Niwot High School Coach Ed Weaver wants to see as many players as possible tee it up and feel why high school tournament play is different from the individual events most of his players experience during the rest of the golfing year. “No matter how you carve it, playing high school golf tournaments is different. It just is,” Weaver said. “The kids put more pressure on themselves, I think. Anyway, they know they’re playing for a team score, which is different from tournaments over the summer when it’s just thei...
Niwot High School gymnastics Coach Marisa Purcell has seen some amazing Cougar teams in her now ninth year of leading the Cougars – 4A state championships in 2015 and 2018 and, more recently, top three finishes in each of the past three state meets. So, when she says she’s excited about this year’s edition, there’s probably plenty of good reasons. The Cougars are coming off a third-place state finish a year ago with a team made up of two sophomores and three freshmen, all of whom return for another shot at adding to the Niwot gymnast...
Niwot High School Golf Coach Ed Weaver was hoping that the first tournament of the 2023 season would give him a glimpse into how his team stacked up against its Longs Peak Conference competition, especially perennial powerhouse Riverdale Ridge High School. Based on the results, Weaver has reason to be optimistic about what lies ahead for this team. At last Thursday's Pace o' Play Palooza tournament at Mariana Butte Golf Course in Loveland, the Cougars battled the Riverdale Ravens, the 2021 4A st...
Take a solid core of outstanding returning starters, sprinkle in some transfer talent and add a dash of fresh new faces, and Niwot High School softball Coach Bobby Matthews thinks he has the recipe to challenge the top teams in a very strong Longs Peak Conference this season. After finishing 9-14 and missing the regional tournament a year ago, Matthews believes this year’s team has just the right ingredients to compete with conference foes like Riverdale Ridge High School, Frederick High School, and Roosevelt High School. Riverdale, the c...
The 2022 Niwot High School boys golf season did not end the way Coach Ed Weaver, or his Cougars expected, but chalk it up to lessons learned and experience gained. Now it’s time to tee it up for a new season. The golf season started this week at a furious pace with team tryouts and qualifying rounds Monday and Tuesday, and the first league play Thursday in Loveland with a varsity event at Mariana Butte and junior varsity play at Cattail Creek. For Emmett Shell, his senior season will be an opportunity to showcase the talent that makes him o...
Did you ever dream of being the Prom Queen or Prom King? Well, only a few young people have ever been fortunate enough to live the experience. But for nearly 200 special needs students and young adults, that dream is about to come true. On Friday, Sept. 8, Rocky Mountain Christian Church (RMCC) will host its annual Shine Prom for special needs guests 14 years old or older and their families at its Niwot and Frederick campuses, and every special guest will be crowned Prom King or Prom Queen...
Niwot Community Connection (NCC) is taking the town by storm and the founders, Pat Murphy, Dawn Server, and Eve Lempriere are leading the parade . . . literally. The long-time community activists will be the Grand Marshals for this year's Fourth of July Parade, which starts rolling and marching down Niwot Road at 11 a.m. on Tuesday. But the trio's work will start well before that. "Pat (Murphy) and my dad (Don Reeb, the former Niwot Community School Director) started the pancake breakfast and...
The name is still the same. Many of the favorite menu items are still there. The vibrant colors of the décor still welcome customers. But behind the office doors of Raza Fresa Mexican Kitchen, big changes are occurring. On April 1, 2023, Rosalio Ibarra and partner Yovanny Quintana purchased the popular Niwot restaurant from the original owner, Steve Garcia, who opened the restaurant under his family’s franchise name “Ajuua!” in the early 2000s, and changed the name to Raza Fresa in April of 2018...
They were all around . . . Cardinals and Blue Jays; Astros and A's; Padres and Twins; Cubs and Mets; and plenty of Rockies. That last one probably gave it away. We're not talking about this year's Major League Baseball All-Star Game. This was the 2023 Bob Bote Baseball Camp sponsored by Niwot Youth Sports. For the second year in a row after a two-year, COVID-induced hiatus, kids ages five to 13 donned their favorite caps and jerseys and gathered at the Biff Warren Baseball Complex last week to...
Just imagine . . . you are sitting, or mostly standing, in the front row directly behind the team bench as the Denver Nuggets are seconds away from winning their first NBA championship. Can you imagine? Surely, your last name would have to be Elway or Manning or Wilson, right? Not so for Niwot High School's Jamie Williamson and her family. Last Monday night as the Nuggets were enroute to closing out their best-of-seven series with the Miami Heat, 94-89, and capturing their first NBA...
Sometimes it's not about winning the game, but how you finish. For Niwot High School graduated senior Kate Jones, her final outing as a Cougar, and her second round at last week's Colorado Girls State 4A Golf Tournament, was one to remember. After struggling through a disappointing first-round 104, Jones shaved off 16 strokes in Wednesday's second round, carding a solid 88 at the par-72 Thorncreek Golf Course in Thornton. That was her best round in three state tournament appearances and her...
