All Local, All The Time
All Local, All The Time
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The Niwot girls golf team capped off its memorable 2018 season with a hard-fought top-10 finish at the Class 4A Championships held May 21-22 at Country Club of Colorado in Colorado Springs. Freshman Halie Ostrom led the Cougars with a +54 for the two-round tournament, which was good for 36th place overall in the 84-player field. Senior Mya Ostrom and sophomore Julia Solem both shot +66, tying for 49th-place. Niwot ended with a total score of 612 over the two days, to finish ninth out of 14 in...
Niwot IB valedictorian Kamran Elahi said he was thrilled when he learned early in the 2017-18 school year that he had earned the top rank amongst his talented cohorts. “I had an idea I was up there,” the senior said. “Obviously there’s a ton of really, really smart, really nice kids that I go to school with, so I was a little bit unsure. It was probably one of the happiest moments of my high school career to find that out.” Elahi was quick to dispel the notion that students in Niwot’s e...
Neither rain, nor cold, nor Valor Christian could dampen the spirits of junior Maggie Smith and the Niwot girls 4x400M relay team on the gloomy final day of the 2018 Class 4A State track & field meet, held May 17-19 at Jeffco Stadium. With a time of 3 minutes, 55.64 seconds, Smith, Erika Timbang, Kelia Portis, and freshman Taylor James cruised to the state title in the mile relay, beating Valor by more than 1.5 seconds, and putting a bow on a impressive weekend that saw the Niwot girls score... Full story
The Home Run Derby kicked off the Opening Weekend of Niwot Youth Sports baseball May 5. With the first clicks of the bats and the smell of fresh cut grass, the boys of summer have arrived. “We had a blast at the MLB Junior Home Run Derby last weekend,” organizer Bobby Turner said. “Niwot Youth Sports had good representation with the Cougars 13U team. Several boys had multiple home runs with the win going to Josh Lurie, a student at Altona Middle School.” “Josh has been a standout on the NYS Coug...
Led by upstart freshman Lucy Lu, the Niwot girls tennis team upended the Class 4A status quo with an impressive victory at the state tournament in Pueblo May 12. With wins in five of the seven championship brackets, and two more matches in the consolation finals, the Cougars dethroned nine-time defending champion Cheyenne Mountain to clinch the second girls tennis title in Niwot history. For head tennis coach Aimee Keronen, watching her team’s confident march to the ultimate prize during S... Full story
In nine games on their home field this season, the Niwot girls soccer team outscored opponents 34-1. Unfortunately, that single goal was enough to end this year’s Class 4A state title hopes prematurely. In a riveting back-and-forth match on May 9, the No. 9 seed Cougars fell 1-0 to No. 24 Lewis-Palmer in the first round of the state tournament. With less than three minutes to go before the end of the first half, Rangers’ junior Adrianna Cook capitalized on the Cougars’ failure to clear a corne...
Fairview golfer Kelsey Webster will be making her fourth straight bid for the Class 5A state title almost literally in her own backyard. With an impressive four-stroke win in the Central Region tournament at South Suburban GC on May 7, the senior earned a chance to vie for her sport’s top honor at the Boulder Country Club, host of this year’s state championship tournament, and a venue the Gunbarrel resident is “very, very familiar with,” according to Fairview golf coach John Zerwin. That do... Full story
At the 2018 Northern Conference championships at the Greeley Rec Center May 12, head coach Debbie Stewart and the Silver Creek boys swim team checked off two more items on their 2018 to-do list: First, win a fourth-straight conference title, and second qualify more than 20 swimmers for state. That leaves just one to go, and after their dominating performance in Greeley, Stewart is even more optimistic about a strong showing at the upcoming Class 4A State meet in Colorado Springs. “The last g...
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...
You wouldn’t know it from his win-loss record, but right-handed pitcher Caleb Martinez had an impressive 2018. In 10 appearances for Niwot, the right-hander had a total ERA of just 2.79 with 51 strikeouts, the fourth highest total in the Northern League. He really hit his stride late in the season, with back-to-back complete games for the Cougars in the last week of April, including a 4-2 win over Northern League foe Thompson Valley. “His mechanics have been solid all season,” Niwot pitch...
For a sure sign that the Niwot boys track team is having a special season, look no further than the Northern League championships, held May 4-5 at Everly Montgomery Stadium in Longmont. Behind surprisingly strong performances in the sprints and jumping events, the Cougars scored 151 team points to claim the 2018 conference title, a feat Niwot head track coach Maurice Henriques called “a great accomplishment for our program.” “Being here for eight years, we’ve never a Northern Conference meet,...
There’s a debate to be had about whether Niwot senior Mya Ostrom is a more dedicated student or a more dedicated golfer, but one thing there’s no argument about is her composure during a stress-filled round at the Class 4A Regional 4 tournament at Highland Hills GC on May 7. “That is the most pressure that I've seen in a girls tournament and she showed great poise,” Head Coach Ed Weaver said after Ostrom’s unconventional round. Thanks to a special arrangement between Weaver, the Colorado...
The Niwot girls tennis team is headed back to the Class 4A state tournament after cruising to the Region 5 title at the Longmont Rec Center tennis courts on May 4. All seven lines were straight-set winners in the championship round of the rain-shortened event, which was originally scheduled for May 2 and 3, but had to be postponed twice. When play finally opened on Friday morning, the Cougars efficiently made their way through the early rounds, winning all but a handful of games, then made...
The Niwot girls soccer team sent their eight seniors off in memorable fashion with a tight 1-0 victory over first-place Northridge to clinch at least a share of the 2018 Northern League title. In front of a packed home crowd on hand to celebrate Senior Night, the Cougars dismantled their final conference opponent with a controlled possession attack that kept the Grizzlies’ defense on its toes and the ball away from its high-scoring offense. “Individually, everybody came to play today,” Niwot hea...
Niwot ace Caleb Martinez struck out five and walked just two in a six-inning outing against cross-town rival Longmont (15-1) on April 28, but that wasn’t enough to overcome uneven defensive play and a lack of timely hitting. Failing to capitalize on the senior’s second consecutive complete game, the Cougars committed four errors and stranded six batters on their way to a 4-0 loss, their second against the league-leading Trojans in three days. Despite the losses, Niwot head coach Adam Strah sai...
Behind strong performances from seniors Benjamin Willett and Christopher Wingfield, the Silver Creek boys swim team closed out the 2018 regular season with a second-place finish at the Mountain View Invite on April 28. Silver Creek’s team consists of swimmers and divers from both Silver Creek High School and NIwot High School. Wingfield claimed individual third-place medals in the 200 free (1 minute, 53.53 seconds), and the 100 butterfly (55.18), and picked up fourth-place finishes with the 2...
Starting defensive back Lauren Cranny may be accustomed to keeping the ball away from the net, but she had no trouble overcoming that inclination against cross-town rival Longmont on April 18. Making her first high school start at midfield, the speedy sophomore scored her second and third career goals to lead Niwot to a 4-0 victory, the Cougars’ first multiple-goal game since April 5. “Lauren Cranny is just an all-around great player and athlete,” Niwot head coach Stephen Dimit said follo...
In the seven matches since their narrow 4-3 loss to defending Class 4A champion Cheyenne Mountain on March 17, the Niwot girls tennis team has been nearly untouchable. Led by a stacked singles lineup, the Cougars posted wins in 48 of 49 individual matches for six consecutive shutouts. Heading into the final week of the regular season, head coach Aimee Keronen said her team is ready for another deep run in the postseason. “They’re gelling more and more,” Keronen said at her team’s road match a...
Rarely is a snowstorm in the third week of April recalled with fondness, but Niwot head baseball coach Adam Strah was thankful for the miserable conditions that forced his team off the field for two days late last week. Stung by their 13-1 loss to Thompson Valley on April 19, the Cougars buckled down over the snowy weekend, and came out on Monday afternoon looking like a new team. “Even though we were indoors, we had two fantastic practices,” he said. “Friday and Saturday were probably some...
For recognition of her “truly extraordinary understanding of service, leadership, and duty,” the National WWII Museum has selected Niwot senior Mary Stischer as the Colorado recipient of the Billy Michal Student Leadership Award for 2018. Stischer will be recognized at the Museum’s American Spirit Awards Gala, which will be held June 7-8 in New Orleans. Stischer was nominated for the award by Niwot social studies teacher Beth Lozen, who noted the senior’s penchant for “enriching the lives of...
David Bote drove the second pitch he saw to the wall in right-center for the Chicago Cubs Saturday night at Coors Field, marking his major league debut with a double. Bote is the son of long-time Niwot High School baseball coach Bob Bote, and the younger Bote pointed with both arms to his parents and the 32 family members and friends seated on the third-base side of Coors Field. The moment was not lost on the Colorado Rockies’ television crew, who interviewed Bob and Therese Bote during a b...
Track and field coaches, student-athletes, parents, and other spectators from across Boulder paid their respects to long-time Courier photographer Edward Navarro at the 42nd annual Lonnie Nixon Boulder County Championships, held April 14 at Centaurus High School.. Navarro, a fixture at area high school and college sporting events for more than a decade, passed away on Dec. 31 from complications of pulmonary fibrosis. Navarro family members, including wife Trudy, son Edward (Lucky) and daughter...
The Niwot girls soccer team managed just two goals in three games last week, but kept its conference championship hopes alive, thanks to consecutive shutouts by keeper Allie Colvin and the defense in two Northern league games. However, the Cougars’ failure to convert on scoring opportunities caught up with them against the substantially improved Mead Mavericks, and a 1-1-1 record in three games last week threatens their top-10 Class 4A RPI ranking. Head coach Stephen Dimit was clearly frustrated... Full story
Calm winds and mild morning temperatures gave way to gusty afternoon winds at the Loveland Invite, held at the Olde Course April 11, but the Niwot girls golf team turned in another eye-opening performance that has head coach Ed Weaver reevaluating his outlook for the season. “From one to five, there was a five-stroke differential, and that’s not much” he said. “When we took a team to state my first year on the boys’ side, that was the exact same formula, interestingly enough.” The Cougars fin... Full story
Senior Mya Ostrom is making the most of her final season with the Niwot girls golf team. On April 3, she finished a career-best fourth overall at the season’s second Northern League meet, held at Ute Creek Golf Course in Longmont. In less than ideal early-spring conditions, the third-year varsity player carded a 93 (+21) to lead the Cougars to a third place finish overall on the blustery day. In three league meets so far this season, the Cougars’ number-two golfer is averaging 95 strokes per...
Week of April 12 - April 18 Thursday,April 12 Baseball vs. Mountain View, 4 p.m. Soccer vs. Centaurus, 4 p.m. Friday, April 13 Golf: Northern League #3, Greeley, 9:30 a.m. Saturday,April 14 Track: BoCo Championships, Centaurus HS, 8 a.m. Baseball @ Mountain View, 12 p.m. Soccer @ Mead, 12 p.m. Monday, April 16 Tennis vs. Longmont, 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 17 Golf: Northern League #5, Indian Peaks,12:00 p.m. Baseball @ Skyline, 4 p.m. Soccer @ Longmont, 6 p.m.... Full story
Niwot senior Mya Ostrom battled gusty winds and chilly temps to finish a career-best fourth overall at the season’s second Northern League meet, held April 3, at Ute Creek Golf Course in Longmont. The suboptimal conditions proved challenging for the entire 30-player field, especially in the early going, as balls sailed out of bounds or into hazards with alarming frequency. Every golfer but one—reigning state champ Lauren Lehigh of Loveland—was at least 10 strokes over par for the day. Ostro...
Niwot sophomore Cruz Culpepper has finally hit his stride. After head-turning performances in two recent high profile track meets, the son of two former Olympians is generating buzz not just in local running circles, but nationally as well. On March 31, Culpepper took second in the 1600M at the Texas Relays, with a time of 4 minutes, 11.54 seconds, the fifth fastest high school time in this event so far this year. On April 7 in southern California, he took first in the boys mile race at the... Full story
Niwot opened its Northern League schedule on April 5 with a 2-1 win over the scrappy Thompson Valley Eagles, thanks to midfielder Elise Crall, who was in the right place at the right time not once but twice during the game’s first half. Down at the other end of the field, senior keeper Allie Colvin and the Niwot defense deftly weathered not only the Eagles’ physical attack, but also some controversial officiating that had a lot of Cougar fans scratching their heads as the first half came to a c... Full story
After her breakout cross country season, which included an impressive win in the regional meet, it would be easy to pigeonhole Niwot freshman Taylor James as mainly a distance runner. In her inaugural track and field season, however, the ninth-grader has shown a surprising depth of talent for both sprinting and jumping. Case in point is her performance at the exclusive Mullen Invitational, where she extended her streak of high jump wins to five with a mark of 5’6”, both a personal best and the s... Full story
With a young team, you never know when things might start coming together. After winning two out of three in Arizona to get in the win column, albeit against some weaker competition, the Niwot Cougars returned home and picked up a victory in the first of two games against Centaurus, Niwot’s first Northern League Conference win of the season. Each team scored a run in the first inning of the April 5 game at Niwot, but the Warriors added three runs in the third inning to take a 4-1 lead. Niwot picked up a run in the fifth inning, but it took a f...
The Niwot boys track team is off to its best start in years, thanks in part to distance specialist Oskar Wells. At the season’s opening meet on March 10, Wells claimed his first-ever individual title with a victory in the 800M, finishing in 1:58.61, a new personal best. Since then, the soccer-player-turned-runner has won the 800M at two more local meets, the St. Vrain RE-1J meet on March 22 (1:58.69), and the Lyons Invitational (1:59.19) on March 31. He has also raced on several of the Niwot r... Full story
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... Full story
After an 0-5 start to the season, the Niwot Cougars were looking to get well in the Arizona sunshine, and it turned out to be just what the doctor ordered. Niwot faced Toledo, OR in the first game, and scored in every inning of a 22-1 mercy-rule victory. Senior Caleb Martinez, the ace of the Cougar pitching staff, allowed only one run in five innings, giving up only four hits and two walks while striking out 13. “It was what we needed,” Coach Adam Strah said. “We are so young.” The game also marked the return to the lineup of three-y...
The Niwot girls soccer team restored some balance to the universe with a narrow 1-0 win over cross-town rival Skyline at home on March 20. Junior Sierra Kepler and Kiera Flanagan combined for the game’s lone score, a rebound goal with less than 10 minutes remaining in the first half. However, for most of the game, the players battled the elements almost as much as they battled each other, as the windy conditions sometimes made the ball’s path unpredictable. Head coach Stephen Dimit said aft...
If ever there was a good time for a loss, Niwot’s narrow 4-3 defeat at the hands of defending Class 4A state champions Cheyenne Mountain on March 17, was it, according to head coach Aimee Keronen. With four of the seven matches lasting three sets, her team not only showed it can compete with the top teams in the state, it gave the players some keen insights for beating the nine-time champs in May. “I think it was ok to lose some of those three-set matches, because our girls are hungry now...
Even on St. Patrick’s Day, it wasn’t hard to spot the green-clad Niwot athletes competing in the Windsor Invitational, as they were almost always out in front of the pack. On a sunny spring day, tailor made for running fast, both veterans and newcomers set new personal bests in many of the meet’s sprint events, helping both the boys and girls to their second top-ten finishes of the still-early season. “It’s a perfect day,” Niwot head coach Maurice Henriques said. Now in his eighth year, Henri... Full story
Niwot girls golf coach Ed Weaver wasn’t sure what to expect after a phalanx of novice golfers showed up for the first day of tryouts late last month, but he didn’t expect them to take to the sport so easily. Of the eight players on the 2018 roster, four are new to the game, but they’ve already proven to be precocious learners, a development that has Weaver enthusiastic about the future. “I have four freshmen, so that’s pretty cool,” he said. “I’m pretty excited about all of it. I’m definitely...
The Niwot girls tennis team is a serious contender for the Class 4A State title this year, and senior Julia Pentz is leading the charge. In four matches so far this season, the Cougars’ No. 3 singles player is undefeated, with a two-time state title-winner and last year’s state runner-up among her vanquished foes. “Julia is just awesome all around,” Niwot head coach Aimee Keronen said. “She’s a good team leader and she plays hard. I have all the confidence in the world in Julia.” In Niwot’s se...
The Niwot girls soccer team passed an early season test in the March 15 home opener with a 2-0 win over the Standley Lake Gators. A long Kenzie Pasma free kick into the Standley Lake box bounced in front of sophomore Natalia Storz who chipped it past the Gator keeper to break a scoreless tie in the 68th minute. Six minutes later, senior Anna McCarthy netted her sixth goal of the year to seal the victory. On the other side of the ball, senior keeper Allie Colvin and the Niwot defense staved off...
Niwot head baseball coach Adam Strah had strangely mixed feelings after his team’s loss in the season debut on March 8. Though unhappy to come out on the short end of the 3-1 contest, Strah said he was heartened by his youthful squad’s performance against the older, battle-tested Grizzlies. “It was very encouraging,” Strah said. “It’s two sides of the same coin. We hate to lose. We’re not getting on the bus happy because we lost. However, if you look at some of the young kids who were in there...
Senior Anna McCarthy and the Niwot girls soccer team kicked off the season in dramatic fashion with a 6-2 rout of the Skyview Wolverines on March 8. The speedy McCarthy scored two goals in the first ten minutes on her way to a career-high five goals on the night, more than exceeding the already-high expectations of coach Stephen Dimit. “I didn’t expect five, but I did expect the first two because she was just ready to do those,” Dimit said. “And I was really proud of the way she stepped up in t...
Niwot girls tennis coach Aimee Keronen admitted she’s feeling some pressure this season. Armed with a talent-laden lineup that includes a nationally-ranked freshman and eight returning State qualifiers, the Cougars may finally have the depth to challenge perennial powerhouses Cheyenne Mountain and Kent Denver for the Class 4A State title in May. The key, she said, will be to keep the youthful team working well together all season long. “The team on paper is capable of winning it all this yea... Full story
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...
The graduation of standouts Kailee Stobbe and Maddie Barkow left two giant holes in the Niwot girls soccer team lineup, but head coach Steve Dimit isn’t panicking. With 13 varsity players returning this year and a group of very promising underclassmen joining them, Dimit believes the Cougars have all the tools they need to defend the Northern League title and make another deep run in the postseason. “We have a good, young crew,” Dimit said. “Everybody came back with something new, and I was rea...
Although there weren’t any Cougar wrestlers at this year’s Class 4A State tournament, a talented Niwot student had the crowd buzzing before the championship finals nevertheless. On the final night of the three-day tournament, Niwot junior and home crowd favorite Ellie Brown brought members of the overflow Pepsi Center crowd to their feet with her uniquely beautiful rendition of the national anthem. “Ellie is such a gifted singer, and she has done such an amazing job for us here at Niwot, I tho...
Niwot junior Caleb Churchill doesn’t remember a time when gymnastics wasn’t an important part of his life. As the son of a long-time gymnastics coach, Churchill has been in training ever since he could stand on his own. “When I learned to walk, my mom started doing classes for me,” Churchill said. “I started learning the basics then, and when I was in kindergarten, I started competing.” His mom, Kenzie, is the head coach at Cats Gymnastics in Boulder. Now in his tenth competitive season, the... Full story
While waiting on the back side of Ski Cooper to take her final run in the girls slalom race at the 2018 CHSAA Alpine Skiing Championships on Feb. 23, Niwot freshman Emily Creek wasn’t sure what to think. Though she was racing on one of her favorite courses and held the lead by nearly a full second, the ninth-grader was afraid she would lose her competitive edge if she allowed herself to relax even a little bit. As she waited for 14 other competitors to take their runs before her, Creek decided t... Full story
The Niwot girls basketball team still had a tiny bit of control over their playoff destiny going into the season finale with Northridge on Feb. 14. After 50-42 loss to league-leading Centaurus two nights before, the Cougars actually gained ground in the RPI standings, and a win over the Grizzlies would only help boost it further. Depending on how the teams above them performed in the final days of the regular season, Niwot could still cling to hopes of sneaking into the 48th and final berth....
Niwot sophomore Abbie Shaw wasn’t going to let a little thing like pneumonia stand between her and the podium at the Class 4A State Swim Championships this year. Diagnosed with the “walking” iteration of the illness in January, Shaw stuck to a rigorous training schedule during her recovery, determined to top her eighth-place finish in the 100 backstroke at State a year ago. “We knew she could sit pretty well in terms of a top-four finish, but you have to be on your ‘A’ game, and going into...
