NIWOT — The Niwot High School girls track and field team is less than a week removed from winning its third straight Class 4A state championship. So it was not surprising at Thursday’s signing ceremony when the Cougars sent three female runners to the Division-I ranks.
Senior distance runner Christa Boettiger, who is bound for Oklahoma University, and twin sisters Rachel Sharpe and Lauren Sharpe, both signing with the University of Colorado, highlighted the Cougars’ national letter of intent signing day.
“I really liked Oklahoma a lot when I visited,” Boettiger said. “I’d never been to Oklahoma but the school surprised me. The team, the coaches and everyone was really nice and I felt like I fit in well.”
Boettiger, who placed 17th in both the 1,600 (5:29.61) and 3,200 (11:58.22) at this year’s state meet, was also considering Cal-Poly, Colorado State and Kansas. She expects to run distance events, possibly the steeplechase, as well as cross country at Oklahoma.
Teammates Lauren and Rachel Sharpe share Boettiger’s interest in expanding their track horizons to include a new and more dynamic event. In the Sharpe sisters’ case, that new event would be the heptathlon.
“We weren’t sure whether we were going to be able to run in college and we hadn’t decided what we wanted to do yet,” Lauren Sharpe said. “But last summer we did a heptathlon at the Great Southwest with coach Mo (Maurice Henriques) and we got to meet the coach and the team. We then kind of realized that since track was so great in high school, we wanted to continue it in college.
“They don’t have the heptathlon in high school in Colorado but we’ve done all of the different events at one time or another. So, it should be an interesting change of pace because you get to do a little bit of everything.”
Both Lauren and Rachel Sharpe ran on the Niwot 800-meter relay team that set a 4A state meet record of 1:41.13 this year. Lauren Sharpe placed 11th in the high jump and Rachel Sharpe placed fifth in the 400.
In a less conventional sport, Niwot’s Collin Hudson signed on Thursday to compete in BMX racing for Colorado Mesa University. A second-year junior elite rider who races up on the elite classification national team, and who has possible Olympic aspirations, Hudson’s signing with Colorado Mesa was the next logical step for him.
“I’ve been living at the training center on and off since I was like 14,” Hudson said. “I’m actually going back out there next Wednesday. The facilities at Colorado Mesa are incredible and they’re actually opening up a world-class BMX race track. I’ll have access to the track all the time and it’s kind of close to home.”
Gabby Casey will join Hudson at Colorado Mesa, but she will compete for the track and field team.
Also signing on Thursday, Jennifer Townsend will play volleyball at Augustana College in Illinois, Billy Hoffmann will play men’s soccer at Western Nebraska Community College, Angel Perez will play men’s soccer at Otero Community College and Carter Pentz will play men’s tennis at Linfield College.
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