Rocco Culpepper (Cruz’s brother) is NUMBER ONE on the niwot XC team

16:05 for top guy (15:48 equivalent at sea level)

Is Niwot done?

I’d say this year niwot won’t have as good of a chance to make NXN as Herriman, Cherokee trail, Valor Christian, mountain view and American fork.

all of these teams are better than them. Mountain vista beat niwot and they will struggle to qualify too.

BUT…is niwot done forever?

no. In 2 years they will be competing for a national title along with valor Christian and Coronado. Maybe mountain vista and some out of state schools too.

valor Christian will be the most likely to win NXN in 2024 out of all of the Colorado schools because they will probably go to NXN next year (or maybe even this year) so they will have experience at a national stage unlike Niwot and Coronado

Currently, Colorado's boys pecking order seems to be:

Valor and Cherokee Trail, take your pick.

decent but not insurmountable gap

Niwot and Mountain Vista, take your pick.

small gap

Fairview, Cheyenne Mountain, Fort Collins and TCA, take your pick.

I really think Cherokee trail is a little better than Valor Christian.
VC lost Ty Garrett and some other seniors.
Cherokee trail varsity was pretty much all class of 2023 last year, and this year there are some juniors that freshmen that stepped up and scored. This team is more than 7-deep, so there’s lots of competition for varsity spot amongst the seniors.
Ty Garrett’s team Center Grove has been incredibly underwhelming this year. I highly doubt they will make NXN. Carmel (obviously) and Plainfield South IL seem better. I’m sure he regret transferring there at least a little bit. If he was still at Valor, they probably would have been right up there with Herriman.

Rocco Culpepper is going to run low 15 minutes at sea level

Boulder bro 😎

kid’s got game

Looks like niwot is catching up to valor and CM. One of their senior returners didn’t finish in their top 7 somehow.

mountain vista is starting to find depth and improving every week and could maybe close the gap on them too.

cheyenne Mountain is deep and seems like they could surprise people come NXR

Colorado is down this year. It’s a crap-shoot for the #1 spot in Co this year.
Herriman (duh!!!), Mountain View, Riverton and American fork would beat all of the CO teams.
Skyridge and Farmington almost beat Rocky Mountain ID so they have some potential too.

How do you get Coronado? Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight...

Coronado's group of 9th and 10th graders is better than last year's Cheyenne Mountain's group when they were 9th graders.

Seems like a legitimate assumption?

I think Coronado, Valor Christian and Niwot’s freshman/sophomore class’s 8th grade credentials were better than last year’s Cheyenne Mountain group’s 8th grade credentials. The only problem is that Coronado’s 9/10 class is only 5-deep. So if one of them is injured it’s game over.

mountain vista is always up there competing the #1 spot in Colorado. They always find depth and reload

Rocco ran 15:18 today at the Longs Peak League Meet. Pretty impressive for a young freshman at altitude!

Wow…Niwot girls missing Shults and still went 1-8.
Boys team was missing Haug.

Rocco 180 speed rating

girls team returns all scorers for next year. Wow

Not even close to done, just an off year after losing Bergen/Hendershot

They return Rocco and also 2 sophomores that scored, a 16:11 sophomore, a 16:35 sophomore, a couple of other good freshmen (one of which will be racing at RunningLane this weekend) and many other good sophomores.

Don’t be surprised if Niwot makes nxn next year

You know that Freshman Rocco Culpepper, brother of former two-time state champ Cruz Culpepper, finished 10th (16:01). Their other scoring runners were Carlos Kipkorir Cheruiyot in 15th (16:08), Jeremy Gillett 19th (16:23), Gavin Engtrakul 25th (16:33) and Frederick Ambrose in 31st (16:42). HP Ink Program

At nxr here is who scored

15:45.90
Rocco Culpepper
39th

15:47.70
Frederick Ambrose
42nd

15:52.60
Carlos Kipkorir Cheruiyot
51st

16:04.10
Gavin Engtrakul
76th

16:05.90
Christopher Wood
80th

I bolded the guys that Niwot returns

And here are the top 7 guys that Niwot returns next year

4
Niwot High School (CO)
291
1) Rocco Culpepper
15:18.90
11
2) Gavin Engtrakul
16:04.10
51
3) Christopher Wood
16:05.90
59
4) Keegan Geldean
16:11.70
66
5) William Lennert
16:32.80
104
Average Time: 16:02.68
Total Time: 1:20:13.40
1-5 Split: 1:13.90
6) Evan Kear
16:37.10
112
7) James Anthony
16:40.90
124

None of them will be seniors next year

Culpepper is the only freshman in this group

Niwot also has some more freshmen that can step up next year

I heard their number one runner was Dathan Ritzenhein's daughter.