YOUR AD HERE »

Summit swim and dive team grows closer to peak form at first meets since holiday break

The Summit High School girls swim and dive team started 2025 competing at meets in Thornton and Grand Junction. At both meets, the Tigers managed to place highly, building confidence in the team's fitness level.
John Hanson/Summit Daily News archive

After a lengthy holiday break, the Summit swim and dive team returned to the pool on Jan. 11 for its first competition of the new year. 

With several meets already under the team’s belt this season, the Tigers traveled to the Mustang Invite at Veterans Memorial Aquatic Center in Thornton ready to continue to post impressive results.

The massively competitive meet was spearheaded by the girls 200-yard medley relay. Senior Izzy Rowe led off the event for the Tigers, clocking a time of 32.22 seconds before junior Izzy Rolfe took off for the second leg of the relay. 



Rolfe recorded a time of 36.48 seconds while senior Aila Harmala split a time of 32.38 seconds. It was senior Olivia Lyman who brought the relay team home, clocking a time of 26.23 seconds. With a total time of 2:07.31, Summit took 23rd out of 78, 200-yard medley relay teams.

Soon after lending her talents to the relay team, Harmala was back in the pool for the 200-yard freestyle where she managed to place 48th overall among the 106-athlete field. Harmala recorded a time of 2:19.22 with junior Logan Ellison recording a time of 2:31.85 for 73rd overall. 



As if the meet were not stacked with talent already, the 50-yard freestyle race included 340 swimmers from across the state of Colorado. Nine Tigers squared off against the massive field, with Lyman and Rolfe finishing within the top 40.

Showing her expertise in her prime event, Lyman took 26th overall with a time of 26.15 seconds. Not far behind Lyman was Rolfe, who took 37th overall in a time of 26.57 seconds. Junior Andy Milata finished right outside of the top 120 swimmers, taking 125th in 29.81 seconds. 

Sophomore Sophie Mazur took 137th (30.24), junior Lydia Peterson finished in 155th (31.01), freshman Wren Tofig took 164th (31.24) and sophomore Lydia Kurth finished in 276th (35.82).

Following the onslaught of 50-yard freestyle races was the 1-meter dive. Five Summit divers competed in the 52-athlete competition. Sophomore Alena Riberdy had the highest finish among the Tigers, taking 30th overall with a score of 131.20. 

Riberdy was followed by sophomore Hailey Eisemann in 33rd (129.45) and sophomore Norah Kuffner in 38th (121.20). Senior Adison Micciulli and sophomore Emmie Brunner rounded out the results for the Tigers in the 1-meter dive, taking 42nd (117.20) and 45th (113.80), respectively.

Lyman then secured her second individual top-30 finish of the meet in the 100-yard freestyle. Splitting 50-yard times of 27.38 seconds and 30.64 seconds, Lyman took 22nd overall with a total time of 58.02 seconds.

Like the 50-yard freestyle race, Rolfe once again closely followed Lyman, taking 25th overall in 58.22 seconds. 

In the longest event in the pool — the 500-yard freestyle race — Harmala put together a strong and consistent performance. Recording a time of 6:13.70, Harmala placed 32nd overall.

Summit concluded the meet with Rowe taking 29th in the 100-yard backstroke and a relay team taking 22nd in the 400-yard freestyle relay. With a total of 14 points, Summit took 24th overall out of the 26 teams that scored points at the meet.

A week later on Saturday, Jan. 18, Summit traveled west on the Interstate 70 corridor to the Grand Junction High School Invite. 

Facing far fewer competitors than the meet in Thornton, the Tigers put two relays within the top 15 in the 200-medley relay with one team taking fourth overall (2:06.78) and the other taking 15th (2:29.95). 

Summit continued to put swimmers within the top 15 in the 200-yard freestyle race. Harmala took 10th (2:19.79) while Ellison finished in 12th (2:33.58).

It was Lyman who got the team’s first win of the meet, winning the 50-yard freestyle race in a time of 26.14 seconds. Rolfe followed in third (26.52) and dual winter-sport athlete junior Teagan Barth took 18th (29.09).

Riberdy once again led the team in the 1-meter dive, taking third overall with a score of 277.65.

Barth returned to the pool shortly after the 50-yard freestyle for her prime event  — the 100-yard butterfly. Barth took seventh in the race in a time of 1:12.94.

After getting the team’s first individual win of the meet, Lyman claimed the team’s second in the 100-yard freestyle. Recording a time of 57.65 seconds, Lyman took first overall while Rolfe took third in 59 seconds. Sneaking within the top 20, Ellison took 16th in a time of 1:08.59.

Summit continued to rack up points towards its final score in the latter half of the meet. Harmala finished in 10th in the 500-yard freestyle (6:21.08), a 200-yard freestyle relay team finished in third (1:52.64), Rowe claimed third in the 100-yard backstroke (1:06.61) and Adah Wiese finished in ninth in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:26.66). 

With a total of 279 points, Summit took third overall at the meet. Grand Junction won the meet with 359 points and Glenwood Springs finished in second with 347 points.

The Tigers will travel to Aspen High School on Friday, Jan. 24, before hosting a home meet at Summit High School on Saturday, Jan. 25. the meet is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m.


Support Local Journalism

Support Local Journalism

As a Summit Daily News reader, you make our work possible.

Summit Daily is embarking on a multiyear project to digitize its archives going back to 1989 and make them available to the public in partnership with the Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection. The full project is expected to cost about $165,000. All donations made in 2023 will go directly toward this project.

Every contribution, no matter the size, will make a difference.