Niwot cross country cruises in Class 4A Region 3 championships

The final hurdle the Niwot High School cross country team had to clear before the state meet came in the form of the Class 4A Region 3 championships on Thursday, Oct. 20 at the North Area Athletic Complex in Arvada.

In need of a top-four regionals team finish to qualify for State, both the Cougar girls and boys took first place with relative ease. Niwot was led by a first-place freshman on each side — Rocco Culpepper for the boys (16 minutes, 7 seconds) and Addison Ritzenhein for the girls (18 minutes, 41 seconds) — and 13 total Cougars placed in the top 10.

Head coach Kelly Christensen was once again impressed by his leading girls, including second-place junior Olivia Alessandrini and third-place Lex Bullen.

“Addy (Ritzenhein) has been consistent with being one of those top three girls, top four girls on our team,” Christensen said. “Lex and Olivia, they've been putting in a lot of work and running tired. Finally, their bodies (have) adapted and they've shown they're ready to make a jump, so it's exciting.”

Freshman Anna Prok placed fourth and sophomore Bella Nelson took fifth, while senior Madison Shults and junior Mia Prok, both of whom are still overcoming illnesses, finished sixth and seventh, respectively. Christensen will only take his top-seven finishers on both sides to the state championships in Colorado Springs on Oct. 29, but he can make substitutions for health reasons.

Behind Culpepper on the boys’ side were seniors Frederick Ambrose (fourth) and Carlos Kipkorir Cheruiyot (fifth), and sophomores Christoper Wood (sixth) and William Lennert (ninth). Wood, whose legs are still adjusting to running as opposed to his primary activity of mountain biking, had the most encouraging performance, according to Christensen. “It's really exciting to see where he's at, and I think he's just going to keep on improving.”

For both his teams, Christensen hopes to make the days leading up to the highly-anticipated state meet as normal as possible.

“The message is, honestly, just to go get it,” Christensen said. “We try not to hype anything up [for] this week. We've learned over time through failing that the bigger you make it, the bigger they make it in their head and the more chance for error and anxiety. We don't do the whole state T-shirts or the state team dinner, it's business as normal, and let's just go do what we always do.”

There will be some differences, however, in how Christensen would like to see his two squads race at State. With the girls having more depth up top, they may be running a more aggressive race compared to the boys.

“We have to be very smart with the guys,” Christensen said. “The girls, we can swing for the fences and it's going to be fine and take those risks. Guys, we can't take the big risks. We have to run within our limits and run a smart race so that we have it the last mile to go.”

The Norris Penrose Events Center in Colorado Springs will host the 2A-5A State Cross Country Championships on Friday, Oct. 29. The 4A girls run at 1:00 p.m. and the 4A boys start at 2:20 p.m.