Niwot secures 2026 Class 5A cross country state title

Niwot High School captured the 2026 Class 5A state championship in boys cross country on October 31. The team finished the race at the Norris Penrose Event Center in Colorado Springs with a score of 60 points. This total separated them from the second-place Arapahoe High School, which finished with 143 points. The championship marks the top result for the program in this classification.

Fort Collins High School placed third with a score of 156 points. Heritage High School followed in fourth with 157 points, while Mountain Vista High School finished fifth with 158 points. Legend High School took sixth place at 169 points. Erie High School completed the top seven teams with a score of 172 points.

Abdinasir Hassan of Northfield High School won the individual title with a time of 14 minutes and 56.5 seconds. He finished ahead of Jude Ritzenhein of Niwot, who clocked 15:11.4. Will Johns from Fort Collins placed third in 15:12.5. Lucas Santos of Valor Christian ran 15:15.8 for fourth place. Liam Folk of Heritage High School finished fifth in 15:32.7.

Aurora area athletes posted varied results in the 200 runner field. Luis Duarte of Regis Jesuit High School finished 32nd with a time of 16 minutes and 24.7 seconds. Brandon Pearcy of Vista PEAK Prep placed 44th at 16:43.7. Jack Iannucci of Regis Jesuit High School ran 16:47.0 for 53rd place.

Cherokee Trail High School had four finishers in the top 110. Jaxon Weber placed 80th in 17:08.6. Kenneth English finished 84th at 17:10.9. Tanner Larsen ran 17:16.9 for 93rd place. Benjamin Zuber placed 105th with a time of 17:26.7.

Regis Jesuit High School fielded eight runners in the top 150. Grant Bax finished 98th at 17:20.3. Gus Blauwet placed 99th at 17:20.8. Sean Morris ran 17:29.9 for 108th place. Cooper McCloskey finished 134th at 18:07.8. Lance Hodgkin completed the race in 152nd place with a time of 27:04.4.