Colony running standout earns chance to compete at the college level

Ella Hopkins has been running with the Knights throughout her prep career. She ran with the bears during offseason training. And now, the Colony High School cross-country and track standout will run with the Mountain Lions as a collegiate athlete.

Hopkins signed her National Letter of Intent to attend the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs and compete for the Division II Mountain Lions cross-country running and track and field programs.

“I’m super excited,” Hopkins said during a ceremony last week at Colony High School. “I visited and loved the school, the community, the team.”

Hopkins is a heavily decorated athlete in both cross-country and track, and has logged more than her fair share of miles along local tracks, roads and trails during her time at Colony High. But she also had to get creative when it came to training. Hopkins spends her summers in Egegik in southwest Alaska, working as part of her family’s commercial fishing business. During her time off from fishing, she finds time and a way to train.

“Where we are at, on our side of the river, there are no roads. The only place to train is on the flat beach, and it’s rocky. There are so many bears there,” she said.

But despite the bears and the terrain, Hopkins found a way.

“I really want to keep my mileage up during the summer while I’m fishing. This summer my sister had to drive with me on the (four-wheeler),” Hopkins said.

The tough miles on the rocky beaches have helped Hopkins continue her prep success and earn the chance to compete at the collegiate level.

“Definitely a challenge,” she said. “It definitely has helped me overcome different challenges and setbacks.”

Hopkins capped her prep cross-country running career with a third-place finish in the Division I girls state championship race and a runner-up finish in the Region III meet. In her four years, Hopkins earned a region title as a junior and was a three-time runner up. She also posted a top-10 finish in all four years at state, placing third, seventh, 10th and sixth.

Hopkins will enter her senior season of track as the three-time Region III champion in the 800 meters, and the two-time defending region champ in the 1,600 and 3,200 races. She has also placed eight times in state in track, including runner-up in the 1,600 as a freshman and 800 as a sophomore. She was third in the 800 and 1,600 last year.

Hopkins is also a member of the Colony girls basketball team, which finished second in the 4A state tournament last year and is among the top 4A girls team again this year.

Hopkins is part of a big sports family at Colony High. Her dad, Todd, is the longtime head coach of the Knights wrestling team. Her brothers — Caleb, Levi and Jared — all wrestled at Division I Campbell University. Her sister Emma ran and played basketball for the Knights.

Hopkins has been running competitively since middle school.

“I just stuck with it and learned to love it,” Hopkins said. “There’s so much it taught me about. All of the amazing people I’ve met, the drive to work hard, the camaraderie.”

Hopkins will have the chance to compete throughout the year with the Mountain Lions cross-country and track programs. She said there is no defined role for her yet.

“We’ll see where they need me,” Hopkins said.

Hopkins will also study education, with the goal of becoming a teacher.

UCCS competes in the NCAA Division II Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.

Contact Frontiersman managing editor Jeremiah Bartz at editor@frontiersman.com.