All Local, All The Time
All Local, All The Time
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When Trevor Smith took up rock climbing in 2016, he hardly dreamed he’d be on his sport’s biggest stage just two years later. But that’s just where the Niwot junior found himself on Sept. 14 when he took second place at the 2018 IFSC Paraclimbing World Championships in Innsbruck, Austria. “It was otherworldly to me,” Smith said of winning the silver medal at the international event. “I’d been training for seven months at that point, and all of the work leading up to that moment all paid off.... Full story
Niwot head golf coach Ed Weaver wouldn’t say he was disappointed in his team’s performance at the Class 4A Region 3 tournament on Sept. 19, but it wasn’t the outcome he expected either. Bedeviled by unpredictable greens and a treacherous back nine at Loveland’s Olde Course, the Cougars finished in fourth place overall, and missed qualifying as a team for the Class 4A championship tournament for the first time since 2015. “The reality is, as a player, unless you’re trying to win the tournament,...
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... Full story
Even though it took a few turns of the crank to get the defense started, the Niwot volleyball team easily dispatched Silver Creek 25-22, 25-13, 25-17, in an early season rivalry match on Sept. 11. Seniors Emma Falk and Zoe Gonzales combined for 14 kills and 13 digs in the 2018 home opener, which started rather inauspiciously for the Cougars. “They were pretty hyped for the game, and I think the anxiety of their first home match and who we were playing got to them for the first 10 points or s... Full story
Battling unseasonable heat and a very hilly course, the Niwot boys and girls cross country teams both took first place at the RE-1J District cross country meet at Sunset golf course on Sept. 12. Four of the Niwot girls (Samrawit Dishon, Maggie Smith, Taylor James, and Joelle McDonald), finished among the top five, holding hands as they crossed the finish line. The boys top finishers were Caleb Bishop (3rd), Luke Robinson (5th), and Jack Kenkel (6th). Cougar freshman Zane Bergen was also among...
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...
Niwot picked up their first Homecoming win in more than a decade, thanks to a dramatic last-second fumble recovery in the end zone by junior linebacker Julian Molina.... Full story
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...
Niwot’s short-handed back line surrendered just one goal to Air Academy’s attack on Sept. 8, but sometimes it takes more than a strong defense to keep the ball out of the back of the net. A pair of miscues in their own penalty box doomed the Cougars in an otherwise impressive performance against the defending Class 4A state champions, proving that even minor mistakes against top programs can be costly, according to head coach Stephen Dimit. “We had a couple of unfortunate misplays of the ball,...
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...
On Sept. 8, the machine-like Niwot boys tennis team dispatched Dawson School in short order, winning all seven matches. The top two singles players, sophomore Neil Wilcox and senior Riley Black, extended their unbeaten streak to seven games each, while senior Riley Mulshine picked up his another win at No. 3 singles. The Cougars are now winners of seven in a row, and are heading into the second half of their schedule. Up next for the Cougars are a pair of Northern League matches against...
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....
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...
Niwot Head Coach Jeremy Lanter didn’t necessarily like the numbers he saw on the scoreboard after his team’s home opener against Greeley Central on Aug. 30, but he did like the numbers he saw on the field during the game. Despite a two-touchdown loss, the Cougars improved in virtually every offensive and defensive category between weeks one and two, a trend the coach expects to continue. “They’re working so hard on every aspect of the game,” Lanter said after the Cougars’ 20-6 loss to the Wild...
Fresh off their head-turning performances at the season-opening Vista Nation 2-Mile on Aug. 24, Niwot’s top distance runners stepped aside for their underclass teammates at the Centaurus Warriors Invite on Sept. 1. For Cougars head coach Kelly Christensen, it was an exciting glimpse into the future of his program, as well as a way to solidify his 2018 varsity lineup. “They’re all ready, physically,” he said of the runners still competing for the remaining spots on the varsity roster. “It’s t...
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... Full story
During this first two seasons with the Niwot golf team, Sam Hoover was content to let his older brother Jack absorb the spotlight. In 2018, however, the younger Hoover is emerging from that shadow little by little. Not only is he playing the best golf of his career, he has also cultivated a rival he doesn’t share a last name with. As Niwot’s number three golfer, Sam has scored among the top-five in three of six events this season, including a fourth-place finish at the third annual Resurrection...
The Niwot boys soccer team rang in the 2018 season with a rousing home win over Brighton on Aug. 21. Led by senior Jonathan Jimenez-Flores’ first career hat trick, the Cougars scored six goals against the Bulldogs, a performance the forward hoped would set a tone for the year to come. “It was a really good start to the season,” Jimenez-Flores said. “We lost a lot of seniors from last year, and it’s a really young back line, so we did pretty good for the first game.” Jimenez-Flores ended the game...
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...
For the first time in four years, there won’t be a number seven in the Niwot varsity volleyball lineup, but second-year head coach Daisha Agho said that the 2017 Class 4A Player of the Year will be with the Cougars in spirit on their quest for the 2018 postseason. “Of course Mac [Mackenzie Fidelak] is missed,” Agho wrote in an email about last year’s captain. Fidelak led the team to the Class 4A state semifinals for the first time in 20 years. “But she has left our players with the gift of h... Full story
The Niwot cross-country teams found their way back into the Class 4A top-10 in 2017, and now they’re ready to take it a step further. “Their goals are a state title and to go to Nike Nationals as a team,” third-year head coach Kelly Christensen.said. “Those are the goals they set, and that’s the work we did in preparation for that.” Both teams started charting their course to the Class 4A championship immediately after last year’s state meet. Since then, they’ve endured weeks of grueling indoor...
Niwot head boys tennis coach Miikka Keronen’s state-title-or-bust expectations for his team are nothing new, but this year they’re carrying a little more freight. Stinging after last year’s fourth-place finish at the championship tournament in Pueblo—their worst since 2008—the Cougars buckled down during the off-season and are heading into 2018 looking for redemption. “We don’t like to make excuses, we make adjustments,” Keronen said of his team’s renewed intensity. “We decided to get ever... Full story
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... Full story
There may not be a lot of familiar faces when the 2018 Niwot boys soccer team takes the field for the first time on Aug. 21, but that doesn’t have Head Coach Stephen Dimit too concerned. Though he lost half of his 2017 varsity roster to graduation, the third-year head coach replenished his stock from a “super-motivated” pool of underclassmen and seems ready to take the Cougars on another deep run in the Class 4A state tournament. “We have a collection of young players, and we’re going to start... Full story
The Niwot boys golf team captured two first place titles in the first two tournaments of the 2018 season, but head coach Ed Weaver doesn’t want anyone getting too comfortable. “I expected them to be very competitive early,” he said following the Cougars’ six-stroke win at the Spartan Invitational in Greeley on Aug. 13. “But I also know it’s a long season, and we still have to play consistently.” That said, it’s hard not to get excited about the team’s performance in the early going, even if th...
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...
Fourth-year cheerleader Kaitlin Knowlden has been through her share of ups and downs with the Niwot Cheer team, but one memory that stands out is the last year’s Class 4A state competition. “We hit our routine extremely clean,” the senior co-captain said. The Cougars finished 13th out of 31 teams, a remarkable accomplishment after nearly disbanding early in the school year. “We made everything look good and we were all really spirited. It was a really good performance and we were all really...
Head coach Ed Weaver has high expectations for the 2018 Niwot boys golf team, and he makes a convincing case for them. On paper, his projected varsity squad is almost an embarrassment of riches. He is returning all three state qualifiers from last season, and expects to pick up a talented incoming freshman. Add in a handful of rapidly improving juniors and sophomores behind them, and Weaver anticipates having enough depth to vie not just for event titles, but eventually the conference and...
Skye Messinger, University of Kansas infielder, has a couple of weeks off before heading back to school August 18th, but he’s not wasting an opportunity to work on his game. Messinger and his older brother, Connor Messinger, go down to the Niwot High School baseball field weekday mornings at 6 a.m. to get some work in before Connor heads off to his day job working for his father, Cary Messinger, at Flying Colors Painting in Niwot. “We work on ground balls and various defenses,” Skye said. “Then...
It has been a dramatic year for the Niwot cheer squad. After nearly disbanding last August, former Niwot High and University of Colorado cheerleader Alexis Bellinger assumed the helm, and led the team to an inspiring top-15 finish at the Class 4A state competition in December. A successful spring recruiting drive added a new crop of ardent freshman, and then two weeks ago, the cheerleaders dominated the competition at CSA Cheer Camp at CU-Boulder and brought home two first-place trophies for...
In three seasons with Niwot’s varsity baseball team, Joey DesEnfants has played every single position on the diamond, including a memorable nine-game stint at starting catcher as a freshman. Now, on the cusp of his final season, the “true utility player” is ready for yet another important role: team leader. “Having a strong veteran leader is important no matter the ages of athletes on your team,” Head Baseball Coach Adam Strah wrote in an email. “However with a young team it is extremely i...
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...
Two NYS baseball teams were crowned division champions after winning their league tournaments last month....
The Niwot U16 summer baseball team players who ended their season on July 15 with a narrow loss in their league tournament semi-finals probably might not recognize the squad that took the field back in May, according to Coach Mike Newton. “My biggest takeaway from this season is the improvement from where we started,” Newton said after the Cougars fell 6-4 to the Mead Mavericks, who were 11-3 during the regular season. “Understanding that we need to make a routine play, we need to pound the s... Full story
The Niwot U16 baseball team won two of its final three games of the regular season and closed out the summer with an appearance in the semi-finals of their league tournament against Mead....
Niwot held their annual spring signing ceremony for athletes committed to playing at the next level on Tuesday, May 22. Caleb Martinez— University of Sioux Falls (Sioux Falls, SD) There’s no question that Caleb Martinez has enough talent to succeed as a collegiate pitcher. As Niwot’s staff ace for the past two seasons, he amassed a 2.69 ERA and 81 strikeouts, putting him squarely among the ranks of the Class 4A league leaders. But it isn’t just physical skills that will make him success...
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...
Niwot forward Anna McCarthy didn’t waste any time getting her standout senior season underway. In the Cougars’ 2018 opener against Skyview back on March 8, the third-year varsity forward singlehandedly dominated the Wolverines, scoring two goals within the first ten minutes, and then adding three more to lead her team to an auspicious 6-2 victory. McCarthy went on to fulfill the promise of that fateful first game, though she didn’t quite match that level of productivity in a single game again...
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... Full story
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... Full story
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...
Recent Niwot graduate Reilly Herbst loves everything about being a hockey goalkeeper—the equipment, being pelted with pucks, and especially the pressure. “That’s the best part,” he said. “It’s the one position everyone looks at.” The 18-year old also has his sights set on a career in the NHL, so earlier this month when he was offered a roster spot by the Chicago Steel of the United States Hockey League for their 2018-19 season, he leapt at his chance to join the country’s only Tier 1 junior d...
Jeremy Lanter is looking forward to his second season as Niwot’s head football coach, and not just because he feels the Cougars will be more competitive on the field. With 20 first-time players, in addition to a healthy crop of freshman, Lanter said newcomers have breathed energy and optimism into his program, which has seen its share of struggles in recent years. “Now although the numbers have been similar, the excitement has been one of the biggest changes in the program,” he wrote in an em...
Niwot wrestler Jose Lopez came to the sport later than most of his peers, but that lack of experience hasn’t kept him from success on the mat. A surprise state-qualifier during his rookie junior season, he amassed an impressive record as a senior before a broken arm thwarted his 2018 postseason ambitions. Late last month, the heavyweight’s career took another step forward when he signed a letter of intent to wrestle collegiately at the alliterative Cloud County Community College, in Concordia, K...
Niwot High campus supervisor La’Mar West suspected something might be up when Principal Eric Rauschkolb invited him to an after school meeting with St. Vrain Superintendent Don Haddad last month, but he was absolutely “shell-shocked” when he found out that Haddad was there to present him with a Superintendent's Excellence in Education Award. “I had no idea it was coming,” he said. “I’m not one of those people who is big on awards or titles or anything, so the fact that I got it was pretty cr...
When you consider what is meant by “student-athlete,” often one side of the equation counts more heavily than the other. However, Dawson junior James Bohn truly embodies the idea of the student-athlete – demonstrating the value and challenge of balancing the two sides, and achieving the very highest echelons of each. Bohn’s primary sport is slalom kayaking (K1), and he serves as captain of Dawson School’s acclaimed Canoe/Kayak Team, which regularly sends its athletes to national and international competitions. Bohn has competed in Olympic T...
Even though their team fell short of its ultimate goal, seniors Alex Herman and Oskar Wells consider Niwot’s 18th-place finish at this year’s Class 4A state track and field championships a fitting coda to the boys’ most successful season in years. After scoring just 4 points total in their last four state appearances, this year’s squad racked up a total of 21 points at the three-day event, thanks mostly to Wells, who medaled twice, first for his fifth-place finish in the 800M and again with th... Full story
