4A Girls Track and Field: Niwot Runs Away With Fifth-Straight State Title

LAKEWOOD – The Niwot girls track and field program still shows no signs of loosening its stranglehold over Colorado’s Class 4A.

On Saturday at Jefferson County Stadium, the Cougars amassed 158 team points to claim their fifth straight 4A team title. The next closest team, Windsor, had 60 points.

“It’s awesome how every year the kids, they show up and they work hard,” Niwot head coach Maurice Henriques said. “We’ve got great coaches, great community, great administration. We’ve got the best AD, Joe Brown. And (principal) Eric Rauschkolb. They support everything and we just love them. We just love our kids and they work hard. It’s kind of surprising – we won the first one in 2013, and it’s 2024, and we got another one.

“I’m humbled by how much the kids and the coaches work.”

Niwot’s Reese Kasper won the 300 hurdles with a time of 42.23 seconds. Also for Niwot, sophomore Addison Ritzhenhein ran 4:47.07 to win the 1,600 and Cougars junior Jade West won the discus with a mark of 137 feet, 9 inches.

The Cougars – Eliana Henriques, Simocea Esquibel, Julia Rudolph and Reese Kasper – capped off the meet with a winning time of 3:52.50 in the 1,600-meter relay.

Pueblo West was third in the team competition with 57 points.

There were a number of other exceptional individual performances on Saturday as well.

In the 4A girls 100 hurdles, Pueblo East freshman Reagan Falletta took home the gold with a time of 14.42 seconds.

Golden freshman Abigail Trapp placed first in the 4A girls 100-meter dash with a time of 12.22 seconds. Later in the day, she took first in the 400 with a time of 55.05 seconds and added a third title with a 24.88-second win in the 200.

Pueblo West – Hayden Golden, Nikechi Onyejekwe, Jamie Suazo and Kiera Kirkpatrick – ran 48.02 seconds to win the 400-meter relay.

In the pole vault, Roosevelt’s Taegan Olson cleared 12 feet, 6 inches to win gold.