Niwot track heats up before championship season

As the season starts winding toward its homestretch, Niwot track and field is hitting its stride.

At the Stutler Bowl on Friday, April 25, Niwot's boys and girls were all over the leaderboard. On the boys side, senior Weston Domich came away with a win in the long jump, hitting a mark of 22 feet, 8.75 inches, while also placing 14th in the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.69.

On the distance side, the Cougars kept rolling. Junior Rocco Culpepper led a pack of Niwot runners in the 800-meter, finishing second at 1:53.51. Senior Cole Mazurana was not far behind in fifth, followed by junior Ryder Keeton, and seniors Lincoln Brewer, Kye Toothaker, and James Anthony, who all placed in the top 20.

In the 1600-meter, sophomore Quinn Sullivan dropped a 4:14.61 to take third, and Keeton came through just behind him in fourth place. Junior Hunter Robbie and seniors Keegan Geldean and Gavin Engtrakul all landed in the top 10 as well. Geldean kept it rolling in the 3200-meter, running 9:33 to take fourth, while senior Evan Kear and sophomore Garrett Sherrard also finished strong.

In the hurdles, junior Kingston Staton continued his solid season, placing fourth in both the 110s and 300s. The boys 4x400 and 4x800 relays also took third place.

For the girls, senior Reese Kasper stayed locked in. She took second in the 100-meter hurdles in 14.20, and then turned around and won the 300-meter hurdles in 41.92. Freshman Jocelyn Peterson also grabbed a top-10 finish in the 300-meter hurdles.

Niwot's 4x200 relay team took first place with a 1:40.45, and the 4x400 squad kept the energy high, winning with a time of 3:54.42. Senior Kate Schmidthuber picked up a fifth-place finish in the 200-meter, and sophomore Sammie Holliday took fourth in the 400-meter.

The girls distance runners stayed strong too. Sophomore Elise Hagen was third in the 1600-meter and 10th in the 800-meter. Junior Anna Prok and sophomore Elsza Bergen followed closely behind in both events, while junior Avalon Beltran added a 10th-place finish in the 1600-meter.

In the field events, senior Eliana Henriques finished second in both the long jump and the triple jump, while senior Jade West won the shot put with a throw of 46 feet, 11 inches. West also took fourth in the discus, and sophomore Mahlya Blanks grabbed a top-five finish in the shot put.

While most of the team competed at the Stutler Bowl, junior Addison Ritzenhein made the trip east for one of the biggest meets in the country. Racing at the Penn Relays at the University of Pennsylvania on Friday, April 25, Ritzenhein finished second in the girls 3000-meter with a time of 9:20.16. She was seven seconds behind the winner, sophomore Blair Bartlett from The Lawrenceville School in New Jersey, but a full 11 seconds ahead of the third-place finisher.

Next up, Niwot heads to Mead High School for the conference championships on May 2 and 3. The Cougars will look to carry their momentum into the final stretch with two more weeks to go before the state championship meet.