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All Local, All The Time
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It's a busy time for alumni behind the planning of the Niwot High School 50-Year anniversary celebration. While still in the planning stages, there is a tentative schedule of events (posted below). A group of alumni created a page on Facebook dedicated to planning events leading up to the Sept. 9 celebration. The Facebook group is keeping the history alive, posting newspaper clippings and articles from the first years of the school. People commenting are making connections after many years and t...
This fall will look a little different for Niwot senior Ben Classen. After spending the past two years playing football, the Niwot High incoming senior has decided to shift his complete focus to track and field. Classen believes his best chance of securing an athletic scholarship will come through track, a sport that he excelled in last spring. His decision also factored in the elimination of any potential for injury he could have suffered playing football. Last season, Classen was named...
Niwot Youth Sports (NYS) is hosting a series of events to raise money for the Monarch Improvement Project. NYS, which was originally formed in 1972 as Gunbarrel Lefthand Valley Boys Baseball, Inc, is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing exceptional recreational and competitive sports experiences for kids ages 4 to 18 in the Niwot-Gunbarrel area. These programs, which include baseball, softball, basketball, flag football & soccer, provide children with the opportunity to participate i...
The Niwot Community Association (NCA) held its monthly board meeting on July 6th in the Mountain View Fire Rescue Niwot station conference room. There were two guests from Niwot Youth Sports (NYS), a local non-profit that has launched a new project to make improvements to the Hangge Fields at Monarch Park. There will be several improvements to the fields, but most importantly, a new building to replace the shipping containers and port-a-potties that are currently on site. Fundraising...
The Niwot High School football field is getting a facelift, and more. Work has been underway for a month on replacing the sod on the field with artificial turf, with plans to host the NHS Homecoming football game at the school this fall. Along with the turf replacement, a permanent fence is also being installed around the perimeter of the field. Some members of the community are not happy about the fence, which school officials claim is necessary to prevent vandalism to the field and to prevent...
The Fourth of July Parade in Niwot is always a joyous and lighthearted celebration of the birth of our nation. This year, slight changes to the lineup area (now on Meadowdale Drive) suggest an even better and more organized approach to the parade, which starts at 11 a.m. and will head west on Niwot road, then northwest on 2nd Avenue, ending at Murray Street. Parade Grand Marshal Sheriff Joe Pelle and his wife, Stephanie, will host an exciting lineup this year, starting with the Honor Guard, Boy...
Becoming a state championship-caliber track and field athlete is a calculated process. Even as the so-called "offseason" commences during the summer, Niwot's top talent remains focused on maximizing their abilities. Cougar head coach Maurice Henriques, fresh off leading Niwot's girls team to another state title, stays working with his athletes through his club program, REAL Training. The club includes athletes from across the state and in June alone, REAL has competed in two prominent meets:...
Niwot High graduated senior Easten Leatherwood has just a few more weeks before he leaves for Durango to begin his college football career at Fort Lewis College. A 3A North Central 3 League All-Conference honorable mention last fall for Niwot football, he committed to the Division II Skyhawks in February and created a homecoming of sorts. Both of his parents attended Fort Lewis and Leatherwood grew up in Durango before moving to Longmont shortly after completing fourth grade. He said Fort Lewis...
A Niwot Youth Sports week-long baseball camp was a casualty of Covid-19 for the past two years, but with restrictions lifted, the popular camp returned, as did former camp director Bob Bote. For years, dating back to the early 1980s, Bote conducted a baseball camp for players 5 to 13, using high school players as camp coaches. Bote, who served as the Niwot High School head coach from 1979 through 2006, won five state Class 4A state titles during his tenure, and his summer camps, often sponsored...
For the first time in its 50-year history, Niwot High School will be able to host a varsity football game at the school this fall. "We should have it ready by the end of August," Athletic Director Joe Brown said. The grass turf on what has until now been used solely as a practice field by the NHS varsity has been removed, and work has begun on installation of new artificial turf. Last summer, lights were installed at the field, and the artificial turf will allow the school to host football and s...
The Niwot High boys track team entered the state Class 4A meet as the defending state champion, and came close to a repeat, finishing in a tie for second with Cheyenne Mountain at 60 points each, just behind Longmont with 76. The Cougars were led by senior Zane Bergen, who won the 800m (1:52.07) by more than two seconds, and took second in the 1600m and fourth in the 3200m (9:08.60). Bergen, who will run for Stanford next year, was also a part of the winning 4 x 400 relay team. “He’s a great kid,” Head Coach Maurice Henriques said. “He definit...
Niwot track and field coach Maurice Henriques celebrated a third straight Class 4A state championship with his girls, which for the first time included his daughter, freshman Eliana Henriques, who ran the first leg (100m) of the winning sprint medley relay(1:48.80). The Cougars scored a dominating 170 points. Mullen, which finished second, scored 61. Senior Eva Klingbeil led the way with victories in the 1600m (4:49.66) and 3200m (10:29.62), and also ran the anchor leg on the winning 4 X 800 relay. “She had great times,” Henriques said. “He...
Graduation ceremonies for the Niwot High School Class of 2022 will be held at Niwot High on the football field, Saturday, May 28, at 10 a.m. Students and faculty will be seated on the field, with spectators gathered on the hillside. Seniors, who have had a high school career like none before them due to the pandemic, were honored with a car parade from the high school down Niwot Road and through the historic downtown business district on May 19....
Tony Engel is the new coach in charge of the Niwot High School girls volleyball program, but he is not new to the team. Engel was introduced to parents and players by NHS athletic director Joe Brown on March 2, but many in attendance were already familiar with the former assistant coach, who moved into the head coaching position after six-year veteran Daisha Agho resigned last fall to take an administrative position at Berthoud High School. Engel noted that the program had made much progress...
With seven seniors, new head coach Ken Rosales has a strong core to build upon in his first season in charge of the storied NHS baseball program, which has five 4A state championships to its credit, though none more recent than 2005. Rosales, a school resource officer at Niwot High, has worked with the Boulder County Sheriff's Department for 21 years, and was head baseball coach at Lyons High School for eight years, where his teams made the state tournament four times. He first got into...
In his nearly two decades coaching high school track and field - the past 11 of which having come at Niwot - Maurice Henriques, or as he's affectionately known as Coach Mo, has accrued a good deal of wisdom. Some of that insight, and perhaps more importantly to Henriques, life insight, will now be shared with the world as he was featured in a recently published book, "30 Days with America's High School Coaches." Author Martin A. Davis Jr. interviewed many of the country's top high school...
The 2022 edition of the Gary Daum Classic at Niwot High School began with the traditional welcome by NHS Wrestling Coach Bobby Matthews, who introduced Garin Daum, son of the late long-time Niwot wrestling coach for whom the wrestling tournament is named. Matthews gave a history of Coach Daum's teaching and coaching career, noting that in addition to serving as Niwot High wrestling coach, he also coached softball and football while teaching special education students at Niwot. Matthews first...
Niwot football's historic 2021 season will be remembered for many reasons, not least the dominating performance of senior Bryce Nemec, a difference-maker on both sides of the ball. Appearing in all 10 games, Nemec's bruising play as an offensive guard cleared the way for a record-setting performance by Cougar rushers, and, as a defensive lineman, helped make Niwot's defense a force to be reckoned with for the first time in many seasons. All of that added up to a 4-6 record in 2021, the Cougars'...
Like it or not, 2022 is just around the corner, and if your plans for the new year involve bettering the world, there's no better place to start than your own community. The Left Hand Valley is home to dozens of non-profit organizations that are making a difference, and they need engaged volunteers to help them do it. No experience is necessary; there's a position for you. By volunteering, not only are you helping your community, you'll also reap the benefits from connecting with others, learnin...
With a 4-6 record, Niwot football had one its most successful season since 2008 and in turn, its top players received some impressive individual hardware. On the CHSAA All-State lists, offensive/defensive lineman Bryce Nemec's stellar senior campaign earned him a spot on the second team while junior quarterback/defensive back Ben Classen was an honorable mention. Playing in all 10 games, Nemec recorded 59 total tackles, including nine tackles for a loss. It didn't take long for Head Coach Nik...
We are proud to introduce The Green and Black, Niwot High School's own student produced newspaper. This newspaper began as an IB CAS project in 2020, and has grown into so much more. Now with over 50 student staff members, The Green and Black is a reflection of what students at Niwot are passionate about - our voices reflect our ideas about our school, our communities, and the world that we live in. You can view all of our content, including full monthly issues, on our website thegreenandblack.c...
CROSS COUNTRY Lucca Fulkerson (Niwot), a freshman at Princeton University, helped her squad to a second-place finish at the Lehigh Invitational Sept. 3, when all five runners crossed the 6K finish line together, good for an eighth-place tie at 22:14.8. She followed with a fourth-place finish at the Harvard-Yale-Princeton meet Sept. 11, with a time of 16:28.3 for the 4800-meter race. At the Princeton Invitational she finished seventh with a time of 21:44.2 for the 6K. At the NCAA Mid-Atlantic...
At 6-foot 3-inches and 225 pounds, Niwot senior guard/tackle Brad Bair is a force to be reckoned with on the football field, as opponents across the scrimmage line from him can no doubt attest. But underneath that intimidating exterior lies a quiet workhorse who leads by example as he consistently does his job well, Niwot head coach Nikolas Blume said. "We actually give him a hard time about how nice he is, because no matter how hard you coach him, he's just so polite all the time. It's almost...
The 2021 season won't be remembered as the best in Niwot football history, but on Oct. 22 the Cougars made it the most successful in more than a decade. Behind a balanced performance in all three phases of the game, Niwot put down Mountain View 28-20 to deliver its fourth win of the season, the most since 2008. For Cougar second-year head coach Nik Blume, finally breaking the three-win curse is both a relief and another sign that the program is finally turning around. "[Niwot athletic director]...
Niwot Cougars head coach Nikolas Blume didn't mince his words after the team's 34-0 loss on the road at Thompson Valley (2-4) on Oct. 14. "I'm not sure if we ever got off the bus," he said. "We were bad, 100 percent. We were just bad." It's an assessment that's hard to refute, though there were mitigating factors, notably the absence of junior quarterback Ben Classen, a difference maker on both sides of the ball. In five games for Niwot this season, he has amassed 582 yards, which is good for 10...
It's cliche to say that a team played better than the final score indicated, but for second-year head coach Nik Blume, it's also a pretty fair characterization of Niwot's 52-27 loss to fourth-ranked Fort Morgan on Oct. 7. "You have to take your little victories, and that's a win for us, despite what the scoreboard looks like," he said afterwards. "I hate losing so much, but tonight I found a way to look at the boys and realized we never went away. That was a big positive for us-never folding and...
Junior quarterback Ben Classen was definitely the star of Niwot's 42-13 win over Skyview, but it was senior Bryce Nemec who had the most memorable moment of the game. With Niwot leading 35-6 in the 4th quarter, the hard hitting lineman heard a play call he was not expecting. "We practice once or twice a week that if we get close [to the goal line], then I would run it in," he said of his 2-yard rush for a touchdown, the first of his career. "I almost bobbled it, actually. I got a little nervous,...
Back when she was a budding high school track star, Elise Cranny never thought she would be honored as she was during this year's Niwot Homecoming celebration. The 2014 Niwot graduate and 2021 U.S. Olympian was given a hero's tribute during the annual parade and football game on Sept. 17. Before finishing 13th in the Olympic 5,000 meter race, Cranny helped Niwot win two 4A girls track titles and competed collegiately at Stanford University. She said that with no fans allowed in Tokyo, the...
Niwot community pride was on display during last weekend's homecoming events. Friday afternoon's bright sun and cool temperatures set the stage for the parade, which returned following a pandemic-induced break. Junior Olivia Lacert was watching with friends from just outside 1914 House. "I'm excited to go to a homecoming game and to have the dance this year," she said. "I love dances. Last year we didn't have a lot of school events, so this is pretty cool. The football game is later and I'm...
The Niwot offense got off to another slow start in its Sept. 17 matchup against league foe Riverdale Ridge, scoring just six points in three quarters, despite success moving the ball on the ground. But for the fourth quarter, junior quarterback Ben Classen had some late-game heroics up his sleeve, and four touchdowns later, the raucous homecoming crowd was rewarded with a 34-20 victory. "If you sit in the stands, you can see why Ben Classen has such a huge impact when he's playing both sides,"...
Niwot High graduate ('14) and 2020 Olympian Elise Cranny is returning to her alma mater. On Friday, Sept. 17, the decorated distance runner will be riding in Niwot High's motorized homecoming parade, which departs the school parking lot at 3:15 p.m. Later that night, Cranny is also scheduled to make an appearance during halftime of Niwot's football game at Everly-Montgomery Field. Cranny is a two-time state cross country champion, and won multiple state titles in track & field for Niwot. In...
Niwot gymnast Mia Curry admitted that winning a third straight Class 4A all-around title is in the "back of her mind," but there's another piece of hardware that she'd rather have at the end of her senior season: the 2021 team championship trophy. "Right now, my only goal is to help my team get the state win, because I think that would be the best way that I could finish my high school career," she said after Niwot's triangular meet against Fort Morgan and Lone Star on Sept. 8. "I just want to...
Niwot's Sept. 11 matchup against Eagle Valley (2-0) got off to a thrilling start for the home fans, with a foiled onside kick attempt, a long run by quarterback Ben Classen, and finally, a 1-yard touchdown run by Thomas Carnagie, all within the first minute of play. But neither the thrill nor the lead would last, as Eagle Valley scored just three plays into their first possession to tie the game. The Demons then scored a touchdown on the possession after that, and the one after that, and then...
Niwot's 26-20 win over Thornton in the final football game of the 2020 season wasn't just the team's sole victory of the year, it was also a breakout game for running back Thomas Carnagie, who ended the night with an impressive 227 yards rushing and his first career touchdown. In 2021, as a senior, Carnegie has picked up where he left off, and is now one of the Cougars' most potent offensive weapons. In two games for Niwot, he has 201 yards on 35 carries, and was a key factor in the season-openi...
Games are often won or lost in the red zone and that proved true in Niwot football's season opener at Greeley Central on Aug. 27. The Cougar defense didn't budge much all night to secure the team's first win, 21-14. With less than two minutes remaining in the game and Greeley Central down a touchdown, senior Craig Wright intercepted a Wildcat pass to put the game on ice. Wright's statement play was a fitting end to a defensive masterpiece. "Defense comes down to guts -- no guts no glory on the...
Year two of the Coach Nik Blume era will commence at 7 p.m. on Aug. 27 when the Niwot football team opens its season at Greeley Central. The Cougars struggled with a 1-6 record in 2020 but anticipate their returning core taking the next step. Niwot's two biggest losses of the offseason came with the graduation of former quarterback Ayden Bartko and two-way talent Cooper Ackerman. Their replacements? Junior Ben Classen is set to take the reins at quarterback while Ackerman's younger brother, Jack...
After narrowly missing the qualifying mark for the 2016 Team USA women's discus team, Silver Creek graduate Valerie Allman made the mark and more in Tokyo. Allman became just the third American since 1932 to win gold in the women's discus with a 69.98 meter (229.6 feet) hurl on Aug. 2. She backed up a 66.42 meter (217.9 feet) throw in the qualification round on July 30 which had then set a record for the farthest throw ever by an American woman in the Olympics, yet still short of her 70.15...
Niwot high School Head Coach Nik Blume and his staff will be hosting a youth football camp on July 24 from 9 to 11 a.m. The free camp will be held at the NHS football field and players ranging from kindergarten to eighth grade are invited to attend. Walk-up registration begins at 8 a.m. and there is no ability level requirement. Blume hopes to introduce young players to Niwot football while teaching the skills of the game through drills. Several current players will also help coach. “Parents drop kids off for a couple hours and do some skills a...
Niwot High School Boosters, Inc., is a non-profit parent organization that supports all activities at Niwot High School, from cross-country to chess club, from marching band to musicals. Although booster clubs were historically organized to support high school athletic teams, Niwot High School Boosters, Inc., has been active in supporting all student extracurricular activities. You will often see parents and students from an unrelated activity selling concessions at a football or basketball...
After a school year filled with upended routines, unprecedented challenges, and, above all, uncertainty, 270 students from Niwot High came together on May 29 to mark the end of their high school journeys. For IB programme valedictorian Carter Kruse, graduation was also a chance to reflect on the positives that emerged during the pandemic year, and the importance of connectivity beyond Webex and Zoom. "Without question, our senior year was a memorable one," the future Dartmouth student said...
It was another record-setting weekend for the Niwot girls track team, as they competed in back-to-back meets at Roosevelt and Longmont on May 21 and 22. Along the way, the Cougars posted a slew of personal bests, three top Class 4A marks, and one of the fastest 800-meter times in state history. Now heading into the second half of the 2021 season, longtime Niwot track coach Maurice Henriques has just one goal for his team. "It's just to keep working hard and stay healthy," he said following the...
The Jon Hill era is set to begin for the Niwot girls basketball team with the program finding its new head coach. Niwot Athletic Director Joe Brown announced the move on May 5 following the retirement of longtime head coach and Colorado High School Athletics Association Hall of Famer, Terri Ward. Although Ward has stepped away from coaching, she will remain around the program in a mentorship role. Hill said he looks forward to bringing a fresh energy to the program while having Ward's wisdom...
The past year has been challenging for prospective college athletes, particularly those who missed their junior seasons of competition in the spring of 2020. But for 15 Niwot High athletes, the arduous journey through the virtual recruiting process came to a satisfying end at the school's Letter of Intent signing ceremony on May 3. "This is probably the hardest year in the history of college athletics to have an opportunity to play at the collegiate level," Niwot High athletics and activities...
April is National Volunteer month, a moment when the US acknowledges and honors the impressive impact volunteers make by giving their time and energy. We can all make the world a better place by volunteering in big and small ways, and while pitching in, you're also bringing health and happiness to yourself. Here's a list of nearby organizations where volunteers make a huge difference. Note: For the past year, we've been told to stay socially distant during the pandemic, but many organizations...
BASEBALL Ford Ladd (Niwot) finished his collegiate career as a pitcher at New York University and has joined the coaching staff at Georgia Gwinnett College as Coordinator of Research & Development. In his final game at NYU, Ladd played first base and went 1-4 at the plate, scoring a run and driving in two runs in an 11-0 victory over John Jay College March 9, 2020. A day earlier, he went 1-3 as a DH in both games of a doubleheader sweep of Stockton University with a run and an RBI in the second...
It would have been understandable if Josh Armas had skipped the 2021 Niwot wrestling season. After all, Boulder County COVID-19 rules chased away all but his most intrepid teammates, leaving him as one of eight on the team and the lone representative from the senior class. He was also facing a demanding class schedule, all AP and IB classes, and he could have used the extra time for homework. But Armas has never been one to take the easy way out, and abandoning the team and sport he loves never...
In April 2020, the St. Vrain Valley School Board authorized an architect design contract for an eight-lane swimming pool to be added onto Silver Creek High School. Nearly a year later, construction is set to begin in February and is expected to be completed in the fall. "People are excited about it," said Silver Creek Athletic Director Patrick DeCamillis. "I think it's a win for the community for sure, not just Silver Creek, but the St. Vrain community and Longmont in general." Up next on the ag...
Looking over the long list of Elizabeth Duncan's high school achievements, a few words leap to mind: varied, wide-ranging, unconventional, and, finally, impressive. From stints on the cheer and track teams, to honor choir and color guard, there's no question that the senior has trod a unique path through Niwot High, and shows every sign of continuing on it after graduation. Duncan's story originates about 25 miles east of Niwot, in Brighton, where the senior lives with her parents and younger si...
Wrestlers in St. Vrain and Boulder Public Valley Schools will likely miss out on the chance to compete during the 2020-21 school year, after Boulder County Public Health declined a request from the Colorado High School Activities Association to approve the sport for Season B, scheduled to begin on Jan. 18. In a message to wrestling families dated Jan. 5, Niwot High assistant principal and athletics director Joe Brown wrote: "Over the past several weeks, we have continued to work closely with...
