COLORADO STATE MEET

Niwot Boys And Girls Sweep Class 5A Team Titles; Oliver Horton Smashes Course Record

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

Niwot High's No. 1-ranked boys and No. 5 girls raced to state championship titles in the Class 5A Colorado state finals on Saturday at Norris Penrose Event Center. 

Addison Ritzenhein won her third consecutive state cross country title and dominated the girls race. She didn't quite reach her course record set last year but she won by 31 seconds and crossed the finish line in 17:08.5. 

Niwot's girls had their hands full with No. 11 Heritage and the Cougars' margin was just four points, 103 to 107. It was Niwot's seventh cross country title and first at Class 5A. 

Heritage had three runners, Caroline Fender (8th), Emry Schwalm (12th) and Scout DeStefano (13th) ahead of Niwot's second, Elise Hagen (22nd). 

The Niwot boys, reigning Nike Cross Nationals champions, scored 28 points with a 3-4-6-7-10 combination for the scoring five. That total surpassed the 44 that Niwot put up in the same race last year. 

Senior Rocco Culpepper, making progress the past few weeks after returning from an injury, was the team's seventh man and finished 37th overall (32nd in team scoring). 

Up front, Mountain Vista junior Benjamin Adams won the 5A race in 15:03.3 and overtook Niwot's Hunter Robbie to reach the tape first. Adams was second last year. 

Robbie, Quinn Sullivan (third), Jude Ritzenhein (sixth), Ryder Keeton (seventh) and Gabriel Marshall (10th) completed the scoring for the Niwot boys, who will attempt to qualify for NXN again on Nov. 22 at the NXR Southwest in Arizona.  

In Class 4A, the headline-maker was Oliver Horton, who led the Coronado boys to the team title while piercing the 15-minute barrier for the first time on the state meet course. Horton ran an astonishing 14:48.4 to break the course record by 13 seconds. 

Horton beat Eagle's Dylan Blair, the runner-up by 35 seconds. 

The Tinmath girls repeated their 4A crown with 107 points and held off Battle Mountain (122). 

Raegan McCrae ran 18:05.9 for the individual win. 

In Class 3A, The Classical Academy swept the team titles. The boys edged Salida 110-113 and the girls put five scorers in the top 11. 

Delaney Reuter of Eaton ran 17:41.8 to win her second straight individual title. 

TEAM CHAMPIONS

Class 5A - Niwot boys 28 points, Niwot girls 103 points 

Class 4A - Coronado boys 53 points, Timnath girls 107 points

Class 3A - The Classical Academy boys 110 points, The Classical Academy girls 24 points

Class 2A - Golden View Classical Academy boys 30 points, Ridgway girls 38 points