Cougars sweep Granite Peaks Conference Track and Field Championships

The Niwot High School track and field teams swept the Granite Peaks Conference Championships this past weekend, May 2 and 3. Both the boys and girls teams took first place with dominant performances across the board. Longmont and Erie High Schools followed in second and third place, but the Cougars were clearly in a league of their own.

Friday, May 2, consisted mostly of preliminary runs, but some events held finals. On the girls side, senior Jade West continued to impress by winning the discus with a throw of 124 feet and nine inches, more than 10 feet further than the second-place throw. Senior Jiselle Sales finished fifth in discus with a throw of 108 feet, 8 inches.

The 4x800-meter relay team, consisting of juniors Avalon Beltran and Addison Ritzenhein, and sophomores Elise Hagen and Elsza Bergen, blew past the competition to take first place with a time of 9:28.89, more than 10 seconds ahead of the second-place relay.

In the 4x100-meter relay, seniors Reese Kasper, Eliana Henriques, and Kate Schmidthuber, along with sophomore Sammie Holliday, powered to first place with a 47.83-second finish, a full second ahead of the runner-up.

Henriques continued her dominance with a win in the triple jump, posting a mark of 34 feet and 11 inches, eight inches longer than the second finisher. She was not done for the day, also finishing fifth in the 400-meter dash (57.70 seconds).

Freshman Sienna Wood also had a strong performance in the triple jump, leaping 33 feet 8 inches for a fourth-place finish. Wood also competed in the high jump, clearing 4 feet, 6.5 inches, to finish 14th.

Sophomore Stella Priest and Catherine Nechvatal also got their names on the triple jump board in fifth and eighth place, respectively.

In the 1600-meter, Beltran posted a sixth-place finish in 5:12.00, and Bergen was not far behind her in seventh with a time of 5:18.09.

On the boys side, the Cougars kept the momentum going with their own first-place finishes. In the 4x800-meter relay, senior Cole Mazurana, juniors Hunter Robbie and Ryder Keeton, along with sophomore Quinn Sullivan, took first place with a dominant time of 8:00.40, an impressive 14 seconds ahead of the next team.

Robbie also took the gold medal in the 1600-meter with a time of 4:19.74, almost three seconds ahead of the second-place runner. Mazurana and junior Gabriel Marshall finished fourth and fifth in the same event.

Senior Weston Domich put together a solid performance, taking second in the long jump with a leap of 21 feet, 11 inches, and third in the 400-meter dash with a time of 49.47 seconds.

The 4x100-meter relay team of senior Emiliano Flores, sophomore Jaydan Martinez, and juniors Joshua Archuleta and Jackson Bates took second with a time of 43.45 seconds. Archuleta also added a sixth-place finish in the 400-meter dash to his meet resume.

Saturday, May 3 brought more strong performances for both teams. Kasper, already a standout from Friday, had another stellar day, winning the 100-meter hurdles in 14.31 seconds, a full second ahead of second place, and the 300-meter hurdles in 41.52 seconds, three and a half seconds ahead of the runner-up. She followed those performances up with a third-place finish in the 100-meter dash (12.37 seconds).

Henriques added another victory, winning the long jump with a leap of 17 feet, 7.5 inches, over a foot longer than second place. West dropped jaws once again with a gold medal finish in the shot put with a throw of 43 feet, 7.5 inches, almost seven feet farther than the runner-up. Sales and sophomore Mahlya Blanks also picked up top finishes in the shot put, finishing fifth and seventh, respectively.

In the 800-meter run, Ritzenhein dominated, taking first with a time of 2:13.48, just under a second ahead of second place. She also followed up with a first-place finish in the 3200-meter, crossing the line in 10:45.68.

Hagen finished third in the 3200-meter (11:35.13), and Beltran added a fifth-place finish. Junior Anna Prok finished the 800-meter in 2:17.30 for a fourth-place finish, followed by sophomores Bergen (6th, 2:20.07) and Hagen (7th, 2:20.24).

The 4x200-meter team of Priest, Schmidthuber, Holliday, and freshman Jocelyn Peterson took third with a time of 1:43.67.

Schmidthuber also posted a sixth-place finish in the 100-meter dash and a seventh-place finish in the 200-meter dash. To round out the long jump, Priest leaped 16 feet and half an inch for third place.

The 4x400-meter relay team, consisting of Bergen, seniors Simocea Esquibel and Hayden Flynn, and junior Maya Siess, came in fourth with a time of 4:07.65.

For the boys, the 4x200-meter relay team of junior Kingston Staton, Archuleta, Domich, and junior Townes Bernstein grabbed first place with a time of 1:29.23. In the 800-meter, Sullivan took second place with a time of 1:53.09, followed by junior Rocco Culpepper in third (1:54.40), senior Gavin Engtrakul in fifth (1:55.32), and Mazurana in eighth (1:57.75).

In the 4x400-meter relay, Mazurana, Sullivan, Culpepper, and Engtrakul took second with a time of 3:23.20.

In the 3200-meter, Keeton took first in 9:15.86, followed by Robbie in second and Marshall in third. Martinez grabbed second in the 300-meter hurdles, with Staton (4th) and Bernstein (7th) also finishing strong.

Domich capped off his weekend with a victory in the triple jump, leaping 43 feet 2.25 inches to take first place.

In the 200-meter dash, Archuleta finished fourth in 22.46, and Domich finished fifth in 22.69.

With so many strong performances across the board, the Cougars are heading into the St. Vrain Invitational at Longmont High School on Friday, May 9, with all the confidence they need. The state championships are just around the corner, and it is clear Niwot is ready to make a serious push for another title.