On Saturday, Dec. 21, the Summit swim and dive team traveled to Thornton to compete in its final meet before the new year — The REX Coaches Invite.

Taking place at Veterans Memorial Aquatics Center, four Summit athletes swam in the highly competitive sporting event in hopes of qualifying for the 4A state swim and dive meet at the conclusion of the season. After spending the last few weeks navigating the shift from 3A to 4A, Summit managed to secure several state qualifiers at the meet in Thornton.

Summit secured a state qualifying mark in its first event of the meet in the 200-yard medley relay. With senior Izzy Rowe swimming the backstroke to begin the relay, Summit completed the first 50-yards of the pool in a time of 32.14 seconds. Shortly after Rowe touched the side of the pool, junior Izzy Rolfe started her breaststroke leg. Rolfe completed the swim in a time of 36.50 seconds, allowing senior Aila Harmala to plunge into the pool for the butterfly. Harmala dug deep over the 50-yard relay leg, completing her portion of the race in a time of 32.42 seconds. Senior Olivia Lyman brought the relay home for the Tigers on the freestyle portion of the event. Lyman recorded a time of 26.30 seconds to complete the race in a total time of 2:07.36. The mark was enough for the team to place 52nd overall and secure the qualifying mark for the 4A state swim and dive meet.

Shortly after lending her fitness to the 200-yard medley, Lyman returned to the pool for the 50-yard freestyle. After spending most of the fall recovering from a broken bone, Lyman finished the race in 26.34 seconds, claiming a state-qualifying time and placing 67th overall.

Lyman then swam in her second individual event of the meet, the 100-yard freestyle. With two events already in her arms and legs, Lyman pushed past fatigue, finishing the first half of the race in 27.83 seconds before closing in 31.30 seconds. With a final time of 59.13 seconds, Lyman took 66th out of 76 swimmers from numerous high schools throughout the state.

Rowe was the next Summit athlete to take to the pool in an individual event. Competing in the 100-yard backstroke, Rowe recorded lap splits within two seconds of one another, finishing the race in 1:06.69. The time was enough for Rowe to take 71st overall.

The quartet of Summit swimmers then raced in the final event of the swim and dive meet, the 400-yard freestyle relay. With the freestyle stroke being one of Summit’s strongest, the four swimmers placed highly against 48 other relay teams. Rolfe led off the relay with a split of 1:01.91 before Harmala completed her leg in 1:04.94. Rowe and Lyman completed the final two legs, recording times of 1:00.91 and 59.65 seconds, respectively. With a time of 4:07.41, Summit placed 32nd overall and successfully qualified for state in the event.

Summit will now enter the holiday break before preparing for a heavy slate of meets after the new year. The Tigers are scheduled to return to the pool on Jan. 4 for a meet in Gunnison.

The last time the Tigers were in Gunnison on Dec. 14, Summit took 3rd overall among seven teams. Summit will look to match or improve upon that finish in its second visit to Gunnison after the new year.