Saturday in rainy Portland, Ore., the state of Colorado reigned supreme.
Niwot became the first boys team from Colorado to win Nike Cross Nationals, and the Mountain Vista girls claimed a team title of their own.
Junior Hunter Robbie (15 minutes and 52.70 seconds) and senior Keegan Geldean (15:57.80) went sub-16 minutes and Niwot placed four runners inside the top 35 to claim arguably the sport’s most prestigious high school national title.
Robbie finished 21st in the field, Geldean 27th, and they were followed in by teammates Quinn Sullivan (16:00.90), Gabriel Marshall (16:04.70), Gavin Engtrakul (16:24.30), Rocco Culpepper (16:31.40) and Ryder Keaton (16:39.90).
Senior Keeghan Edwards, who’s committed to run for the Florida Gators, paced Mountain Vista with a fourth-place finish (17:15.2) in the girls race — just ahead of last year’s NXN champion, junior Addy Ritzenhein of Niwot, in fifth (17:15.3).
Senior Juliet Frum finished 27th (17:53.9) for Mountain Vista, followed by junior Claire Guiberson (17:57.5) in 32nd and Peyton Adams in 48th (18:24.6). Brenna Jorde (18:58.6), Zoe Brandt (19:04.5) and Gabriela Boeckman (19:39.8) also ran for Vista.
The teams’ historic wins came in the 21st year of NXN, which started in 2004. Niwot’s total score of 70 was 26 points better than second-place American Fork (Utah) and 36 fewer than third-place Herriman (UT). Herriman was the reigning champ and had beaten Niwot at the Nike Southwest Regional on Nov. 23.
Niwot Boys Cross Country Team is the National Champions! @lefthandvc @BoCoPreps @NiwotHS @goSVVSD @NiwotBoosters #StVrainStorm pic.twitter.com/fWhVPrAmF1
— Niwot Athletics (@niwotathletics) December 7, 2024
“After finishing fifth (at nationals) last year, the boys’ goal was to come back and podium, and maybe win if we had a good day,” Niwot coach Kelly Christensen said. “At the Southwest Regional in Arizona, we were very close to Herriman and Herriman won nationals last year. And I think it was at that point the boys realized we can run better, and we won’t have to run a ton better to beat them.”
Niwot’s place atop the podium came a little more than a month since it won the Class 5A boys’ cross country title in Colorado Springs. In both championships, it was the Cougars’ depth that carried them through. In each of their last three meets, in fact — the state meet, regionals and NXN — a different runner led the way for them.
“It makes the group special knowing that on any day any one of them could be our No. 1,” Christensen said.
On the girls side, Mountain Vista’s point total of 75 points put it 32 ahead of second-place finisher Lone Peak out of Utah (107) and 48 points clear of Clovis, Calif., in third (123). The national title followed up a Class 5A championship performance at the state meet for the Golden Eagles in November.
Ritzenhein’s time of 17:15.30 was less than two seconds off second place. Everyone, however, was well behind Timpview’s Jane Hedengren, the Utah runner who won in 16:32.70.
In regards to Ritzenhein’s performance, Christensen said she wanted to do better. He even blamed himself for not making sure she was warm enough at the start of the race. The weather in Portland that day was cold and wet.
But Ritzenhein shook it off quickly, her coach added.
“She’s such an incredible human,” Christensen said. “She carries herself like a professional athlete. She’s kind and humble and just wants to be a kid and teammate.”
The Denver Post contributed to this story.
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