From Thursday, July 14, to Saturday, July 16, the Summit County Pickleball Association hosted its third annual Pickle in the Peaks pickleball tournament at Rainbow Park in Silverthorne. 

With pickleball on the rise within the county and across the U.S., it came as no surprise that he tournament had the largest turnout the association has ever seen.

“We had such a fantastic weekend of pickleball in Summit County — 111 teams, 17 singles and over 200 players stretching in age from 10 years old to 80 years old,” Summit County Pickleball Association secretary Julie Worthington said.

Displaying the popularity of the event, a large number of the participants traveled in order to participate in the tournament. According to Worthington, competitors traveled from Grand Junction, Buena Vista, Castle Rock, Boulder, Denver, Kansas City, Houston and Boston to play in the tournament. 

In mixed doubles, Alissa and Matthew Leightman took gold in the 3.0 division, Caitlin and Tom Hanson took gold in the 3.5 division and Stephanie McDonald and Chris Branson won the title in the 4.0 division.     

Andrea and Dan Chase; Tina Elgin and Greg Brown; and Carolyn Tilley and Joe Cavazos all took silver in their respective divisions. 

In the 3.0 men’s doubles division, Matt Jones and Colin Phippf beat out Richard Solomon and Marty Stenzler for first place. Trevor Kopp and Karl Knicely won in the 3.5 division, and Rob Fuller and Matthew Gerber won the 4.0 division. 

Summit residents Tommy Gogolen and Josh Underwood came just short of winning silver in the 4.0 men’s doubles division. 

In the women’s doubles, it was Lisa Bernard and Mindy Brown, Tina Elgin and Ree Migliozzi, and Patty Pyle and Sandy Rice who all won gold medals in their respective divisions.

A Summit based team made up of Caitlin Hanson and Mandy Underwood took second in the women’s doubles 4.0 division. 

Rounding out the doubles divisions, Hank Connolly and Jake Fahrney placed first in the junior division.

Following his success in men’s doubles, Matthew Gerber competed well in the men’s singles competition. Gerber defeated Summit’s Josh Underwood in order to get his second gold medal of the weekend. Underwood, who was introduced to the sport through his mother, racked up a second silver medal by finishing in second place. Rob Fuller followed in third place.

In the women’s singles, Summit’s Mandy Underwood placed first by defeating Deb Rea. Underwood finished the weekend with a first-place individual finish and a second-place doubles finish. 

With Rea placing second, Ree Migliozzi took home bronze in the women’s single division.