All Local, All The Time
All Local, All The Time
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It's been a whirlwind fall for second-year drum major Cole Toothaker and the Cougar marching band, but a scary moment over the summer almost had the talented musician and natural leader watching it all from the sidelines. "I was on a rafting trip in Idaho, and I did a backflip on the beach-I have a gymnastics background and do flips a lot," he recalled. "But I landed on an incline, and put my hands down to break my fall, and ended up breaking both of my wrists, which was a little inconvenient."...
An email from Sarah Brown to the Courier read, "In May I started working at Lucky Pie in Niwot and have had the pleasure of working with Dylan, the general manager. We have a constant joke going at work about how he's the mayor of Niwot since he seems to know everyone that lives in the area. He's one of the kindest people I've ever known, let alone worked with. So, if you take suggestions for Familiar Faces, I'd love to see him in there! He really deserves all the recognition as he is a...
You don't have to look back very far to find the last Niwot football game that ended with a running clock, but it's been at least a decade since the Cougars were the team ahead by more than 40 points. That's just one of the milestones head coach Jeremy Lanter and his players are celebrating after Niwot's 52-0 drubbing of Fort Lupton in front of a raucous homecoming crowd on Sept. 13. "It feels good to be on this side of it," Lanter said after his team's dominating performance against the Blue...
Niwot generated more than 300 yards of offense against Greeley Central in week two, but football games are often won or lost over much shorter distances. Unfortunately, the Cougars had to contemplate that painful lesson on a long bus ride home after falling 17-14 to the Wildcats thanks to some untimely miscues. “Football is an interesting game in the sense that the little inches that you need are all over the field,” Niwot head coach Jeremy Lanter said after the narrow loss. “There were times wh...
Niwot running back Liam Flanagan made a splash in the Cougars’ season opener against George Washington, rushing for a career-best 210 yards and three touchdowns. And that game was no fluke. In 2018, he rushed for more than 100 yards three times, and was indisputably Niwot’s offensive leader. While Flanagan is quick to give credit for his productivity to the offensive line and his coaches, it turns out that he also has some specialized training in his background that has paid off in une...
What a difference a year makes. In 2018, the Niwot offense couldn't get much going against the George Washington Patriots and limped home after a 36-0 shutout that saw less than 150 yards combined rushing and passing. In 2019, against the same team with largely the same players, the Cougars racked up more than 300 yards and scored four rushing touchdowns in their best offensive performance of the past three years. So what changed in the last twelve months? According to just about everyone in...
After a one-year hiatus, the Niwot High School Homecoming parade returns to downtown Niwot on Thursday, Sept. 12. The parade, featuring floats, marching bands and high school royalty, will begin at 4 p.m. at the intersection of Murray Street and 2nd Avenue and proceed down 2nd Avenue to Cottonwood Square. Those streets will be closed for one hour. The Homecoming football game will be played Friday night, Sept. 13, at Everly-Montgomery Field in Longmont, but the parade is scheduled for the day...
There’s just nothing like the anticipation of opening a package, so everyone loves it when the big brown truck stops in front of their house. UPS driver Gabe Amaya is Niwot’s main guy in the brown uniform driving that brown truck. The Courier wanted more than just a friendly wave “hello” from the reliable person who makes hundreds of stops around town. So we asked Amaya some questions and learned that his ties to the town run deeper than his daily route. Left Hand Valley Courier (LHVC) Gabe Amay...
Pastor Walter “Skip” Strickland has known what his calling was since he was a high school junior in Tacoma, Wash. Strickland, the new pastor at Niwot United Methodist Church (NUMC), was very active in youth ministry and served as the conference youth president for the Conference Council of Youth Ministry for Washington and northern Idaho. It was this drive that brought him to Colorado in 1977 after he obtained a degree in urban planning from the University of Puget Sound. Strickland enr...
When head coach Jeremy Lanter took over Niwot’s football program, he began a mission to build great young men and to get students involved. Now in year three, he is doing just that. More students are coming out to play football and there is a buzz around the program. In Lanter’s mind, a successful season isn’t necessarily determined by wins and losses. These student-athletes aren’t playing for multi-million dollar contracts and Lanter’s perspective is often forgotten at the high school le...
The track and field and cross country scene in Niwot hasn’t been the same since R.E.A.L. Training Colorado opened its doors in 2007. Led by accomplished coaches Maurice Henriques and Kelly Christensen, the facility offers top level instruction for track and field and cross country athletes. Hard work is a top priority at R.E.A.L. and the athletes take this to heart. Bringing on runners that exemplify these traits is a top priority for Henriques. The success that his runners have had is no m...
It’s not a mid-life crisis, but Niwot Youth Sports is hoping to have a little work done after turning the big 5-0 earlier this year. In the coming weeks, the non-profit organization, formerly known as Gunbarrel Lefthand Valley Recreation Association (GLVRA), plans to launch a capital campaign to fund some much-needed improvements to its largest field complex, Hangge Fields at Monarch Park, according to Executive Director Patrick Longseth. “We’re going to raise funds this year to put a build...
BASEBALL David Bote, son of long-time Niwot baseball coach Bob Bote, has solidified his position with the Chicago Cubs this season. As a rookie with the Cubs in 2018, Bote was called up from AAA Iowa and sent back five time during the season. In the midst of the call-ups and demotions, Bote had his share of dramatic moments, culminating in a nationally-televised Sunday night ninth-inning, two-out, two-strike, pinch-hit grand slam home run to dead centerfield, allowing the Cubs to snatch a 4-3...
Edward “Ed” Parks Conilogue, 80, of Niwot, Colorado passed away May 29, 2019 at Good Samaritan Hospital in Lafayette. A lifelong Niwot resident, Ed was born Aug. 31, 1938 to Evart “Toots” and Annadell Conilogue, he resided on the property until his death. Ed graduated from Longmont High School in 1956, and proudly served in the United States Army and Army Reserve until 1963. On December 9, 1962, Carol Elaine Hall and Edward were married until Carol passed in 2015. They were married for 53 years. They continued a Conilogue Family tradition of li...
Take one sunny Saturday morning in late spring, add a dash of pomp and circumstance, plus a handful of well-aged platitudes, then sprinkle liberally over 250 or so green cap and gown-clad teenagers, and you have all the makings of a perfect Niwot High commencement ceremony. Such was the scene on Saturday, May 25 as the Class of 2019 gathered together for a final time and marked the official end of their high school journeys. “I want to congratulate you seniors on a triumphant conclusion to y...
Sunshine and smiles were the order of the day at the Niwot High Class of 2019 graduation ceremony on Saturday, May 25. A good-natured throng crowded the hill above the football field to watch more than 250 seniors cross the stage and start the next chapter in their lives....
Besides the obvious deliciousness listed in the title Wine, Cheese and Chocolate Tasting, the fundraising event hosted by The Rotary Club of Niwot also hits on some other high notes – an evening of musical entertainment, the opportunity to take home fabulous auction items, while giving to the community. The venue for the ninth anniversary of the notable event is the Longmont Museum and the evening is Saturday, May 18, from 5 to 9 p.m. One hundred percent of proceeds go toward the Rotary C...
In the late 1960s, a handful of Gunbarrel and Niwot parents formed a sandlot baseball league as an alternative to leagues in Longmont and Boulder. Over the next five decades, that ragtag group blossomed into Niwot Youth Sports, which serves hundreds of the area’s budding athletes each year. On Sunday, May 5, NYS kicked-off its 50th anniversary season, and executive director Pat Longseth said it’s on track to be one of their biggest yet. “This is the largest turnout we’ve had for basebal...
Terri Ward Longtime Niwot girls basketball coach Terri Ward was formally inducted into the Colorado High School Activities Association Hall of Fame at a ceremony in Denver on April 23. Ward was selected for induction into the Hall’s 2018 class back in January, due to her decades-long advocacy on behalf of girls and women in high school athletics and involvement with Colorado Coaches of Girls Sports and Sportswomen of Colorado. She also has a coaching career spanning nearly 30-years, and r...
Donating money is wonderful, but engaging with a cause by giving your time and energy is likely to have an even greater impact – to that cause, and to you. It’s completely guaranteed that by volunteering you’ll be making the world a better place, and besides the obvious gratification of bringing about positive change for others, you’ll reap the benefits of connecting with others, which is proven to ward off depression and lower your blood pressure, and will generally make life more satisfying. Y...
The Niwot track and field team lost a number of its top performers to graduation after last season, but Maurice Henriques isn’t fazed. In fact, the ninth-year head coach thinks the 2019 Cougars are poised for even more success, thanks in part to many of those departed stars. “I actually think we’re a better team this year than we were last year, as a complete team,” he said. “All of those girls are a year older, and the leadership that Mary [Gillett] and Mackenzie [Fidelak] passed down has been...
Niwot sophomore Misha Barrett loves two things: playing basketball and “making the fans happy.” As shooting guard for the Silver Creek unified basketball team, Barrett gets a chance to do both. “I love going out there and showing people what I’ve got,” Barrett said, his enthusiasm for the sport evident. Barrett is one of a handful of Niwot special needs students who play for the Raptors unified team, which competes weekly throughout the district. In their final game of the season on Feb. 27,...
On Feb. 11, Niwot High principal Eric Rauschkolb announced that the school has selected Loveland High’s Kevin Clark to replace outgoing assistant principal and athletic director Chase McBride, who is leaving for a position with the St. Vrain Valley School District at the end of the school year. “After an extensive search, we are pleased to inform you that a recommendation will be made to the Board of Education that Mr. Kevin Clark be hired as the new Assistant Principal and Athletic Dir...
Friends, family members and former players gathered during halftime of the boys basketball game against Silver Creek on Feb. 7 to recognize longtime girls coach Terri Ward for her milestone 300th win and upcoming induction into the Colorado High School Activities Association Hall of Fame. “Leadership is about making others better as a result of their presence and making sure that that impact lasts in their absence,” Assistant CHSAA Commissioner Bert Borgmann said during a formal ann...
The Boulder Evening Optimists Club is inviting local families to the Wild Game in Longmont on Feb. 3 for a morning of games and pancakes at their second annual Family Fun Day. “We’re calling it a Family Fun Day, because the whole idea is that you can come out from 9 a.m. to noon and spend time with the family on Super Bowl Sunday before all of the football activity starts,” Niwot resident and author Jim Ringel said. He is a longtime member of the service organization. “It’s a really great tim...
Calling her “one of the state’s top female sports ambassadors,” the Colorado High School Activities Association (CHSAA) announced on Jan. 8 that Niwot alum and longtime NHS coach Terri Ward is slated for induction as a member of the 30th Anniversary CHSAA Hall of Fame Class. Ward joins five other honorees in the 2018 class, and is the first Niwot coach or athlete to receive this recognition. She will be enshrined as a significant contributor, owing to both her storied coaching career and her d...
When winds are high or lights are bright or sometimes for no clear reason, Ivan Schlutz’s head “gets pretty raw,” he said of the pain and sensations that make it hard for him to plan each day. Winters are spent in his art studio where he creates award-winning bronze sculptures, an art form he was drawn to while recovering from a near-death accident in his late 20s. The studio once housed calves on his parent’s property, but was renovated into an impressive workspace with a spectacular floor-to-c...
Zach Ackerman came back for the music. Ackerman, who suffered a debilitating brain injury as a result of complications from surgery in the summer of 2017, played trumpet in the Niwot High School Band. He also played football at NHS, and was active in scouting before his injury. As a sophomore, Ackerman also joined the Niwot Community Semi-Marching Free Grange Band, playing trumpet for several community events. As a result of that experience, he joined the brass section of the Community Band as part of a brass quintet, performing Christmas...
Serving food is what Regina Sidoti has been doing for as long as she can remember. Sidoti, 45, works at two restaurants in Niwot and a third restaurant in Longmont. You also can find her working concessions at Bronco games and other sporting events. Her can-do attitude and easy, outgoing smile are emblematic of her optimistic outlook. Sidoti is a very candid, genuine person who believes we all are more alike than not. She said, “There’s a little piece of you in every person.” That’s why it’s a...
VOLLEYBALL Sarah Falk (Niwot) played 10 matches for Sacramento State this fall, seeing action in 14 sets. Falk, a redshirt freshman, playing middle blocker. Falk finished with seven kills on the season in 10 attacks, with only two errors. Mackenzie Fidelak (Niwot) was part of Stanford’s NCAA Championship team. The freshman outside hitter saw action in three early season games for the Cardinal, but was able to preserve a redshirt season. Fidelak, who wore jersey number 7, earned substantial s...
The Niwot football team didn’t win many games in 2018, but it was, by many measures, the most successful season in years. Thanks to dynamic individual performances and strong team chemistry, the Cougars were competitive in most of their games, and showed clear and consistent improvement on both sides of the ball. To be sure, a number of factors contributed to the memorable season, but for head coach Jeremy Lanter, the play and positive leadership of senior DaeMonte Terry are two of the most i...
VOLLEYBALL Sarah Falk (Niwot) has played eight matches for Sacramento State this fall. Falk, a redshirt freshman, is a middle blocker. After seeing action in only three of the first 18 games, she has played in five of the last eight games. Falk has five kills on the season in 10 attacks, with only one error. Mackenzie Fidelak (Niwot) played her first collegiate match for Stanford University in a 3-0 victory over West Virginia Sept. 1. Fidelak, who is listed as an outside hitter/opposite on the r...
There wasn’t much to celebrate after Niwot’s 42-0 home loss to Fort Morgan on Oct. 25, but head coach Jeremy Lanter doesn’t think there’s reason to despair, either. “We had the worst second quarter we’ve had in football,” Lanter said after the squad gave up three touchdowns to the fourth-ranked Mustangs. “But the kids came out in the third quarter and they didn’t give up, and they kept working, and they started playing for each other, and that certainly makes the old guy proud.” The Cougars moun...
The three-win Niwot football team fell back to earth a bit after a 47-17 thumping by the previously winless Thompson Valley Eagles at Everly-Montgomery field on Oct. 4. The Cougar offense moved the ball well against the Eagles, but a penchant for miscues and turnovers reared its ugly head once again, dooming the Cougars to their first loss since Aug. 30. “They’re certainly better than an 0-5 team,” Niwot Head Coach Jeremy Lanter said after his team’s first loss in the new Class 3A North Valley...
The football team managers may be highly visible during games as they sprint to and from the sideline with water, but the majority of their work is invisible to most fans. Uniforms, gear and game balls don’t just load themselves onto the bus, after all. For Niwot senior Hailie Johnson, however, being a team manager isn’t just about logistics. It’s about focusing on the details, so the players and coaches can focus on football. “A lot of people think that we just get water for the guys, but there...
High spirits and friendly crowds marked Niwot’s inaugural Homecoming Carnival, held in the concourse outside Everly-Montgomery Field immediately prior to the Cougars football game on Sept. 14. During halftime, the 2018 Homecoming courts were announced. This year, each teacher nominated up to ten students for the court, and that list was then narrowed down to 10-12 candidates per grade. Voting then went to the student body, and the top-three vote getters in each class were selected as H...
A downtown Niwot parade was not the only tradition that Niwot High did away with for Homecoming 2018. Thanks to a Julian Molina fumble recovery in the end zone with just seconds to go, the Cougars clinched their first homecoming victory in more than a decade. “Eric [Ruiz] blew through and hit the quarterback, and as soon as he hit the quarterback, the ball came out, and I just jumped on it,” the junior linebacker said after the Cougars’ comeback win in front of a rambunctious crowd at Everl...
In an effort include a broader cross-section of the community, Niwot High will be hosting a carnival at Everly-Montgomery Field ahead of this year’s football game, instead of the traditional Homecoming parade through Old Town Niwot. “It’s going to give all of our feeder schools a chance to participate and get excited about becoming Niwot Cougars,” Principal Eric Rauschkolb said of the upcoming event, which is being modeled after similar events at other district schools. Niwot’s official...
When Niwot head football coach Jeremy Lanter came to him last month looking for a strong leg to shore up the Cougar special teams, head soccer coach Stephen Dimit didn’t have to think very hard about who to recommend. “I immediately thought of Josh,” he said, referring to defender Josh Palomares, a first-year varsity player for the Cougar soccer team. “He can just blast the soccer ball, and I thought, well a football is just shaped a little differently, so let’s see what happens.” Dimit’s int...
Led by junior running back Liam Flanagan, the Niwot Cougars beat Fort Lupton 26-13 on Friday night for their first win in nearly two years. “I’m just really happy for our kids,” Lanter said after his first career victory as a head coach. “We made mistakes, and they overcame adversity, which is what they do best. They’re such good kids, and I’m really happy that they got to experience this. They’ve been working for it very hard.” Flanagan rushed for three touchdowns against the Bluedevils, the mo...
If the Niwot football season opener didn’t quite go the way he had hoped, offensive coordinator Stan Matsunaka was unruffled after the 36-0 loss to George Washington on Friday night at All-City Stadium. Though the youthful team struggled to execute on both sides of the ball during the contest, it is evident that the Niwot football program made significant strides during the offseason. “I think the whole atmosphere this year is a lot different,” Matsunaka said. He served as head coach for the g...
There haven’t been a lot of successes for the Niwot football program over the past decade, but second-year head coach Jeremy Lanter thinks that may finally be changing. Thanks to a renewed emphasis on character and team chemistry, Lanter said his players have made adjustments on and off the field that will turn their hard work into Friday night wins. “They want what hasn’t been done here in 12 years,” he said. “They want to accomplish something for themselves. I think that’s part of the reason...
On July 27-28, students from Niwot High kicked off the fabrication phase of ‘Cougars Creating Classrooms,’ a building project spearheaded by the Mwebaza Foundation to transform used shipping containers into instructional space for the Mwebaza Infant Primary School in Kyengera, Uganda. Over the two days, representatives from the football, girls tennis, golf, cross country, and track teams, as well as the IB program, Robotics Club, and Boy Scout Troop 161, unpacked materials for the project and...
The Niwot Touchdown club welcomed former University of Colorado head football coach Gary Barnett to its fifth annual Cougar Classic golf tournament, held Aug. 3 at Twin Peaks Golf Course in Longmont. More than 75 players turned out for this year’s 18-hole scramble, making it the Club’s largest event in its five-year history. “We had a lot of support from a lot of different places and a lot of different people,” Niwot head football coach Jeremy Lanter said. “It was incredible to see that many...
Former University of Colorado Head Football Coach Gary Barnett will be the guest of honor at the fifth annual Cougar Classic golf tournament, hosted by the Niwot Touchdown Club. Barnett, a friend of the Niwot football program and former Niwot resident now living in Gunbarrel, reached out to second-year head coach Jeremy Lanter late last year to offer advice for overcoming a winless season. In 1996, Barnett co-authored High Hopes: Taking the Purple to Pasadena, a memoir of his third season as...
FOOTBALL Mitch Webster (Silver Creek) will be a junior linebacker for Augustana University this fall. Webster saw action in four games last season. Paul “Tiny” Koehler, former long-time football coach at Niwot High, has officially retired from coaching at Fort Lewis College. Koehler, who coached running backs at Fort Lewis for the past several seasons, returned to assist with spring camp after the 2017 season. He was back in Niwot last week for the NHS Class of 1988 reunion, and noted that he...
Former CU Head Football Coach Gary Barnett to compete in fundraising event Former University of Colorado head football coach Gary Barnett knows a thing or two about struggling football programs. In 1995, he coached perennial Big 10 basement-dweller Northwestern to its first appearance in the Rose Bowl since 1949, a feat still recognized as one of the more dramatic turnarounds in college football history. So when Barnett called Jeremy Lanter out of the blue last December to offer his advice and m...
Faced with growing alarm among parents about concussions and injuries, Niwot football coach Jeremy Lanter decided to be proactive. “I’ve sat in 20 different homes for 20 different meetings with parents, and one of the biggest concerns is the safety piece,” he said. “Addressing that with them and listening to their concerns, and finding out what we can do, is a step in the right direction.” To that end, Lanter has embarked on a two-pronged approach to player safety ahead of the 2018 season, one o...
There won’t be as many familiar faces on next year’s Niwot football team, and that’s a good thing, according to second-year head coach Jeremy Lanter. This spring, he welcomed 20 first-time players to training camp, in addition to a “decent sized freshman class.” For Lanter, all the “new blood” in the program has helped to create an atmosphere of excitement and optimism for the upcoming season. “Our newcomers have done such a phenomenal job for us,” Lanter said. “The players that are coming rig...
