All Local, All The Time
All Local, All The Time
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Track standout Taylor James didn't get a chance to win any big races for Niwot in 2020, but she still claimed a big prize at season's end. On June 25, the rising senior was named the Colorado Girls Track Athlete of the Year by Gatorade, one of the most exclusive awards in high school athletics. "She's definitely special," Cougar cross country coach Kelly Christensen said of the talented runner, who was also named ColoradoClass 4A Girls Athlete of the Year in 2019. "Gatorade is a tough award, so...
After months of waiting, Niwot will get another glimpse of normality with Niwot Youth Sports (NYS) participants returning to action. This summer will feature a resumption of the spring baseball and softball seasons, but not without an abundance of caution. Competitive baseball practices are underway and recreational baseball teams will start practicing on June 15. A renewal of the spring soccer season was also in discussion according to NYS Executive Director Patrick Longseth, but ultimately can...
It's tempting to start waging war on those early dandelions, but before you dig in, keep in mind that bees are counting on the yellow morsels. They don't have a lot of dining choices this time of year and their honey pantries are a little bare coming out of winter. "Right now it's a little tough, because everything is on the cusp of being ready to bloom," said Niwot native Dawn Server who owns Meadow Lake Honey in Niwot with her husband, Jeff. Maple trees and daffodils are other early sources...
Patrick Perry, a 2001 graduate of Niwot High School, was an important part of the 2000 NHS 4A state baseball championship team, and one of three players from that team selected in major league baseball's amateur draft. Baseball has pretty much been Perry's life ever since, and has carried him to a position as an area scout for Nevada and northern California for the Texas Rangers, evaluating players for the same draft. "I cover Reno to the Bay Area to Fresno," Perry said. Perry went to Otero JC...
When you're spreading the love to friends and family this Valentine's Day, don't forget another valuable member of your everyday life: the local community. There are a number of simple but thoughtful ways to show your appreciation for the people and organizations that help make the Left Hand Valley such a unique place to live. Replenish the books at Niwot and Gunbarrel's Little Free Libraries The Little Free Library neighborhood book exchange program got its start just over a decade ago, when a...
Spring is right around the corner, and Niwot Youth Sports is gearing up for its 51st season of fun and friendly competition on the diamond. Early-bird registration for recreational baseball is now underway at www.niwotyouthsports.org. Softball registration will open on Feb. 1. NYS Baseball is offering six divisions again this season; Bubblegum (T-ball for ages 4-5), Rookie (coach pitch/T-ball hybrid for ages 5-6), AA (coach pitch for ages 7-8), AAA (kid pitch for ages 9-10), Majors (kid pitch fo...
Keith Hemenway got a jump start on his New Year's resolution to finish his senior wrestling season strong with a trip to the podium in front of the home crowd at the eighth annual Gary Daum Classic on Jan. 4. The fourth-year wrestler won four straight matches to take fifth overall in the 160-pound class and improved to 11-6 on the season, a career best. Afterwards, he chalked up his growing success as a senior to the three grueling years as an underclassman when success was hard to come by. "As...
The Niwot softball team is headed back to the playoffs after a thrilling 2019 season that saw dramatic wins and heartbreaking losses, often in the same week. It also featured plenty of Niwot offense, as the team averaged more than 10 runs per game and recorded the highest batting average (.386) in the Northern League. Driving that offense for the Cougars was lead-off hitter Nikki Sims, who took her production to a new level during the regular season, with career-highs in average (.521), on base...
Niwot softball wrapped up its dramatic 2019 regular season with a tough extra-innings loss to Northridge on Oct. 9. The Cougars gave up three runs in the seventh inning to tie the game at 9-9, then surrendered six more in the eighth to fall 15-9. Senior catcher Reagan Wills recorded her 100th-career RBI in the losing effort, while Nikki Sims went 3-for-5 and scored three runs. Niwot finished the year with a 12-11 record and landed at 27th in the Class 4A RPI rankings, which was good for a 2019...
Senior Calista Law may not have had the most hits or RBIs in Niwot’s thrilling 19-17 win over the Northridge Grizzlies on Sept. 18, but for head coach Bobby Matthews, the fourth-year varsity infielder was the day’s most impressive performer by far. “The poor kid was so sick,” he said. “She was throwing up between innings, and she was on base all the time, so she would run from home to first base, and then have to go to the trash can. But she was great for us.” The ailing Law reached base three...
Niwot softball has hit a bit of a rough patch since going 7-4 to start the season, but head coach Bobby Matthews was sanguine after his team's messy 7-2 loss to rival Longmont on Sept. 21. With 10 games still to go in the 2019 season, he said his eager team should be able to "clean things up" heading into the final push for the post-season. "We're not as good as we could be, but we've shown glimpses of that," he said. "We've fought and battled through some games, and done some things really...
Reaching the state tournament is a goal for any team, but especially for Niwot softball head coach Bobby Matthews and his Cougars. Coming up just one game short of making state last year will only fuel the fire in 2019. With a solid core of returning starters, their goal could soon become reality. With a small graduating class from last season, the Cougars will return all but two starters. This year’s returners will also have the experience and knowledge of how to compete for a postseason s...
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...
RUNNING Maddy Jalbert (Niwot) ran the San Francisco 50mi/50K Endurance race May 18. Jalbert, who now resides in Los Angeles, elected to run the longer 50-mile course. She was the first woman in and the fourth person overall out of 47 runners. The race has 9,890 feet of elevation gain and Jalbert finished in 9 hours and 36 minutes, battling rain as well as the elevation. TRIATHLON Colin Laughery (Niwot) finished 11th in the last Boulder Ironman on June 9, posting a time of 8:53:52 as a...
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...
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...
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...
Have you been out for a walk in the morning in Niwot and then midday stopped at the Niwot Liquor Store to pick up provisions, and perhaps in the late afternoon you were on your way to meet friends on 2nd Avenue, and on each outing you chanced upon the familiar face belonging to Rob Gordon? Gordon gets around town like no one else. Why? Because Gordon walks dogs and housesits; he’s a clerk at the liquor store; he works at the Niwot Inn; he does yard work around town; and he delivers newspapers e...
It would be easier to list the team sports that Niwot power forward Bitzy Archibald hasn’t tried at some point in her life, but the senior said she’s really a “pretty big nerd” at heart. “I think people picture a jock, but I’m always reading in the locker room,” she said. Archibald is a fan of sci-fi and thrillers, and recently completed “We Know It Was You” by Maggie Thrash. “I get a lot of jokes about that from the team.” What isn’t getting any jokes is Archibald’s play on the basketball court...
August 29, 1928 – December 24, 2018 Richard Alan “Dick” Knaus, 90, passed away December 24, 2018 at Longs Peak Hospital after celebrating a traditional Christmas Eve holiday with his family. Dick was born on August 29, 1928 on the family farm near Niwot, Colorado to Dan and Lillian (Wederquist) Knaus. He devoted his life to working the family farm. He was a descendent of the Clemens Knaus family, who were one of the first settlers in the Left Hand area in 1860. Dick graduated from Longm...
Picture perfect weather at Golden’s Ulysses Park served as a beautiful backdrop for a not-so-beautiful performance by the Niwot softball team at the Class 4A Region 4 tournament on Oct. 13. Thanks to uneven defense and an uncharacteristically tepid offense, the 20th-ranked Cougars dropped two of three games on the day, bringing their first post-season run since 2015 to an earlier than hoped for end. “We got off to a slow start,” Niwot Head Coach Bobby Matthews said. “I don’t know if it was ne...
The Niwot softball team has earned a trip to the postseason for the first time since 2015, thanks in large part to newcomer Ayva McComas, who has been a powerful threat for the Cougars on both offense and defense this year. According to Niwot Head Coach Bobby Matthews, the freshman’s “team first mentality” has also proved a powerful force among her teammates. “She is a huge leader on the team and does it without saying anything,” he wrote in an email. “Not too many practices has she gone home w...
Senior Savannah Rafkin has been through her share of highs and lows with the Niwot softball program, and, this year, she is trying to use that experience to her team’s advantage. “I’ve tried to be a role model and more of a positive voice on the field,” the veteran outfielder said. “I’m the only player left on Niwot softball who knows what it’s like to be competitive and go to regionals, so I’m hoping to show the younger girls.” For Rafkin, that has meant more emphasis on camaraderie and f...
The Niwot softball team’s recent five-game winning streak came to an abrupt halt against Mountain View on Sept. 6, but the team didn’t let the 20-2 blowout loss to the defending Class 4A champs slow them down for long. The Cougars were back to their winning ways the very next day at the Berthoud Spartan Invitational, a two-day tournament featuring more than 20 teams from around the state, including local rivals Longmont and Skyline. Now the Cougars are working on a new winning streak, but head c...
After starting the 2018 with three straight losses, the Niwot softball team rattled off four wins in a row, including an 8-6 walk off over Thornton on Aug. 27....
A parade can’t organize itself. There are participants to approve, cars to be rerouted, decorations to be purchased, and the parade lineup had better not have any horses in front of a Girl Scout troop without a cleanup crew in between or it might get messy. Julie Breyer knows these things well because for the past five years she’s given a lot of thought to organizing Niwot’s Fourth of July parade. Breyer is a member of the Niwot Community Association’s (NCA) Fourth of July committee, which i...
The 2017 Niwot softball season was memorable, but not for the any of the right reasons. With barely enough players to field a complete varsity lineup and just one experienced pitcher, last year’s youthful squad struggled against the powerhouse programs in the Northern League, and their dearth of veteran talent was painfully obvious at times. The Cougars finished the season with an unimpressive 6-13 record and missed the playoffs for the third straight year. Heading into 2018, head coach Bobby M...
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...
BASEBALL David Bote, son of former NHS Baseball Coach Bob Bote, earned his third promotion to the Chicago Cubs’ major league squad June 26 when Kris Bryant went on the disabled list. Bote has been back and forth between Iowa (AAA) and the Cubs this season after making his major league debut with the Cubs during an April trip to Colorado. At Iowa, Bote was hitting .268 with 12 homers and 38 RBI, both high marks on the team. He has played second base, third base, shortstop and outfield in the m...
Sponsored by Fabulous Finds The work of a few who quietly and reliably give from their hearts becomes the powerful way in which people’s lives are touched and forever changed for the better. Jim Jones is one of those people - a humble, caring man who has joyfully provided Niwot with his energy and positivity in a whole host of ways for more than 25 years. Jim and his wife Pat, both originally from Michigan, moved to Minnesota after college where Jim began his professional career as a software e...
Baseball and softball games at Hangge Fields at Monarch Park were part of the Opening Day festivities for Niwot Youth Sports on Saturday May 5. The program, which has roots back to the Left Hand Men’s Club in 1969, provides baseball and softball programs for children in the Niwot-Gunbarrel area. According to Executive Director Pat Longseth, over 300 boys and girls are signed up for the baseball program, and approximately 120 girls are playing softball. . Longseth is himself a former player in th...
TRACK & FIELD Valarie Allman (Silver Creek) is back for her senior year at Stanford after redshirting last season. Allman was far from idle, earning a silver medal at the World University Games in Taiwan, and setting the 12th-best discus mark in U.S. history. She opened the 2018 Track & Field season with a discus throw of 199.0 feet at the Stanford Invitational March 31, easily outdistancing the competition. In fact, all three of Allman’s throws would have won the meet, topping 184’5” each...
Niwot students Kynzie Clark and Reagan Wills may have argued opposite sides in The People vs. Bailey Forsythe, but both came out of last weekend’s State Mock Trial Tournament with a clear win. Based on their convincing courtroom performances during the two-day event held March 9-10 at the Weld County Justice Center in Greeley, Clark (prosecution) and Wills (defense) beat out more than 150 other participants to earn two of the competition’s 12 “Best Attorney” awards, an honor that attorne...
BASEBALL David Bote, son of former Niwot High Baseball Coach Bob Bote, is in his first major league spring training camp with the Chicago Cubs in Mesa, AZ. Bote, playing second base, opened the exhibition season in the starting lineup and collected a single in his first plate appearance. He followed with another base hit in the second game of the spring, coming in as a replacement for Javier Baez. Bote, the Cubs’ 15th-ranked prospect, is featured on a video on the Cubs’ website, talking about working with Hall-of-Famer Alan Trammell last fal...
Niwot senior Rosie Setter may not be the highest scoring player on the girls basketball team, but it would be impossible to tell the story of the team’s recent success without her. After sitting out most of her junior season after suffering a torn ACL, the power forward returned to the court for Niwot in November on a mission: make up for lost time. “I hate the saying, ‘You never know how much you love something until you let it go’, but it’s so incredibly true,” Setter said. “I realized how...
Niwot senior Nathan Hemenway is only 85 percent of the wrestler he was last year, and that’s just the way he likes it. As a junior, Hemenway wrestled in the 195-pound weight class, up 25-30 pounds from his sophomore weight of 170. After just moderate success at the heavier weight, he elected to shed the extra pounds and return to the lighter classification ahead of his fourth and final season. “I was being kind of stupid in how I was managing my weight,” he explained of the decision to retur...
Edward (Moon) Thomas Navarro of Longmont, Colorado passed away on December 31, 2017, at the Good Samaritan Medical Center in Lafayette after a long and courageous battle with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis. He was born on August 18, 1953 in Pueblo, Colorado to Adrian and Marie (Belen) Navarro, and was the third eldest child of nine. After graduating from Pueblo South High School, Edward left Pueblo to attend college and obtain his Juris Doctorate degree at the University of Colorado-Boulder. It i...
Nathan Hemenway earned the rank of Eagle Scout last month after completing 49 achievements for merit badges. Boy Scout Troop 161, sponsored by Left Hand Grange No. 9, now has 83 scouts who have attained the rank of Eagle. Scoutmaster Justin Brooks, Troop Advancement Chair Michelle Law, and Troop Treasurer Mike Horn presented the award at the Court of Honor. Hemenway began scouting as a Cub Scout in San Ramon, CA. After earning the Arrow of Light, he bridged to Boy Scout Troop 888 in San Ramon....
It is with great sadness that we report the heartbreaking news that Ed Navarro, longtime sports photographer for the Courier, passed away Dec. 31 after a battle with pulmonary fibrosis. Though his death will be felt deeply by his wife Trudy, a retired teacher, and his two children, Ed “Lucky” Navarro and Emily Marcellus, his friends and the many lives he touched will also experience a great loss. I knew Ed as a lawyer in Longmont for many years before he took up photography. I recall seeing him...
It is with great sadness that we report the heartbreaking news that Ed Navarro, longtime sports photographer for the Courier, passed away Dec. 31 after a battle with pulmonary fibrosis. Though his death will be felt deeply by his wife Trudy, a retired teacher, and his two children, Ed “Lucky” Navarro and Emily Marcellus, his friends and the many lives he touched will also experience a great loss. I knew Ed as a lawyer in Longmont for many years before he took up photography. I recall seeing him taking photographs along the fence at a Niwot Hig...
Mackenzie Fidelak - Stanford For as long as she can remember, Niwot volleyball standout Mackenzie Fidelak has had Stanford University at the top of her college wish list, but not necessarily for obvious reasons. To be sure, Stanford is home to one of the most successful collegiate volleyball programs in the country. Winners of seven NCAA national championship matches —and runners-up in another eight—the Cardinal are a perennial top-ten team that has never finished a season with a losing record....
Jaila Johnson and Reagan Wills combined for six hits, five RBI, and two stolen bases last Saturday to lead Niwot to a 12-7 win over Ft. Lupton. Senior Aleris Law also had a pair of hits, while her younger sister Calista Law knocked in a pair of runs in the Cougars’ fifth win of the season. Junior Savannah Rafkin batted in two runs with her first triple of the year, tying Johnson for team lead in RBI with 22. She is now hitting .542 on the year, second behind Johnson (.640). Nikki Sims e...
As an avid student of psychology, Niwot senior Aleris Law knows a little bit about how the human mind works. So when asked about her newfound success at the plate for the Cougar softball team this year, she had a ready explanation. “I think I’m just a lot more relaxed. The past couple of years, there have been a lot of really heavy hitters on our team and all of these people going off to play softball in college,” she explained, citing former Niwot pitcher Grace Ladd, now in her freshman year at...
Niwot couldn’t overcome Lewis Palmer on the court three weeks ago, but even a loss to the 4A defending champions has its advantages. When CHSAA unveiled its initial 2017 Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) rankings for the fall sports last week, the Cougars found themselves alone at the top of the list, if just for a few days. The RPI, which ranks teams based on win/loss record and strength of schedule, determines post-season seeding for volleyball, football, softball and soccer. For Niwot head c...
For Niwot senior Jaila Johnson, last Tuesday was memorable for at least two reasons: it was her 17th birthday and she threw her first career no-hitter. Johnson faced just 10 batters in the Cougars’ rule-shortened 20-0 win over the Centaurus Warriors, striking out the last two batters she faced. At the plate, she extended her hitting streak to six games, going three-for-four with two doubles and three RBI. She now leads the Cougars with 29 hits and 20 RBI, and her team-best .644 average also l...
The Niwot softball team hit a tough stretch in their schedule, and now find themselves upside down in the win/loss column. After a 17-1 blowout loss to conference powerhouse Mountain View at home on Aug. 29, the Cougars dropped four straight games at the Erie Festival of Champions on Sep. 1 & 2. With another quick succession of tough conference opponents on tap next week (Silver Creek, Longmont, Northridge), it could be awhile before the Cougars can climb out of this hole. 8/29 — Mountain V...
In three seasons with Niwot softball, there isn’t a position that senior Jaila Johnson hasn’t played. Though a native of the infield, she has taken her turns in the outfield, done a stint as relief pitcher, and was even pressed into starting catcher duty as a sophomore. After this week, the Western Nebraska-bound senior can add one more position to her resume: starting pitcher. Johnson was a bit rusty in her return trip to the mound in the Cougars’ season opener on Aug. 22, but was able to ge...
Niwot head softball coach Bobby Matthews didn’t use the term “rebuilding,” but after losing seven varsity players to graduation or transfer, the seventh-year head coach knows his team faces an uphill battle in the loaded Northern League this season. “We’re very young, and we’re very inexperienced,” he admitted. With just two seniors, two juniors and only 14 players total, Matthews will be looking to an exciting but still unproven sophomore class in the fight for post-season tournament sl...
FOOTBALL Alex Oelsner (Niwot) is a freshman slotback at Northwestern this fall. Oelsner, who played tight end and linebacker primarily in high school, was second team All-State as a senior. Trey Fleming (Silver Creek) is a senior wide receiver for Black Hills State this fall. Fleming caught 18 passes last year for 289 yards and one touchdown. He has also served as a kicker for Black Hills State, making six of 11 attempts last year, including one from 43 yards out. Former long-time Niwot High...
