Town partnered with school to recognize title winners from past and present
State champion high school athletes from Wellington’s past, present and future now have a public marker of their accomplishment after the recent unveiling of a new road sign near Wellington Middle/High School (WMHS).
The result of a partnership between WMHS and the Town of Wellington, the sign was unveiled during a short ceremony June 9 on the west side of N. County Road 9, just north of its intersection with County Road 62E. The sign features a maroon background with white lettering that says:
WELCOME TO WELLINGTON
“Home of the Eagles”
Then, under the banner of STATE CHAMPIONS, the sign lists the school’s state champion football teams from 1952, 1953 and 2025, as well as state champion basketball teams from 1953 and 1957.
Those attending the ceremony included Mayor Rebekka Dailey, WMHS Principal Troy Krotz, WMHS Athletic Director Hilarie Bartling, WMHS Head Football Coach Travis Peeples, WMHS Assistant Football Coach Steve Sarno, Poudre School District Board Member Dr. Andrew Spain, Town staff and members of the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office.
“We have a lot of reasons to be really proud to live here. We want to make this a place that people are proud to call home,” says Mayor Dailey. “And people really underestimate football. People really underestimate sports, because it really brings a community together.”
In addition to building civic pride and inspiring future generations of Wellington residents, the introduction of the sign also represents the latest addition to the school’s century-long legacy in Wellington.
Opening in 1926 as Wellington High School, it served families in the area until it was closed in 1964 and local students were bussed to Fort Collins. Fifty-eight years later, in 2022, the school reopened as Wellington Middle/High School, now serving sixth- through 12th-grade students in a town that has recently experienced a major population boom.
“I’m in the school, I work in the school, I get every day to see every sport, every club, everything that goes on academically in there, and we are on the right track,” says Coach Peeples. “This is an exceptional school, an exceptional community.”
The reopened institution does more than simply provide a local educational option for that increased population. It offers new generations of young Wellington residents the opportunity to don the maroon and white and compete while representing the town as a member of the Eagles, just like Wellingtonians did almost 100 years ago.
Now, Wellington has a place to honor the Eagles teams and players that reach the pinnacle of that competition. That includes champions from the school’s early days, the recent 2025 state football champions and, as Mayor Dailey noted during the ceremony, all the future champions produced by Wellington.
“I’m glad to be the first team ever to be on there in the new era,” says Coach Peeples. “There will be more.”
Anyone interested in viewing the sign can find it in Wellington near WMHS, on the northwest corner of N. County Road 9 and County Road 62E.
