LITTLETON | There was a cap on the number of points the Regis Jesuit girls swim team could count from the 1-meter diving competition at the Continental “A” League Championships, but the Raiders used all of them to help them to a fifth-place finish.
The diving competition took place at Grandview High School — separate from the swim finals, which were contested at Heritage High School — and coach Nick Frasersmith’s Raiders had seven divers finish in the top 13 of the standings.
Senior Sarah Mann edged senior teammate Maya Kriz by 7.4 points for the league championship as the duo combined to earn 50 points, while juniors Jasmine Munn and Bailey Engle earned 23 more as they finished ninth and 10th, respectively. That maxed out the points for Regis Jesuit, which finished with 285 to put it fifth among 10 scoring teams.
Full team scores and results from the 2024 Continental “A” League Championships, here
Mann repeated as league champion, but it was much closer this time than in 23, when she finished 24.2 points ahead of graduated teammate Kathryn Jewell. Mann — who was third at last season’s Class 5A state meet — improved her score drastically with a season-high score of 449.40 points.
Right behind her was Kriz, who scored 442, which was just a bit off her season-best score of 453.50 earned on her way to winning The REX Coaches Invitational on Dec. 16. Munn’s season-best score of 333.30 put her ninth, while Engle came up short of her season best of 333.85 (achieved at The REX meet) with a 321.30 that put her 10th.
Freshmen Ainsley Rippey and Emily Gott and sophomore Simone Lore finished within 1.7 points of each other in 11th, 12th and 13th places, but did not account in the point total as Regis Jesuit had reached the maximum allowed.
In the swimming portion of the competition, Regis Jesuit — which typically holds out its top level swimmers to open up more chances for state qualifiers — placed sixth in the 200 yard freestyle and 400 yard freestyle relays for its highest places.
Individually, sophomore Kate Deboer and junior Samantha Smith tied for the best finish as they placed eighth in the 500 yard freestyle and 100 yard backstroke, respectively. Deboer swam 5:42.47 in the B final to come up just a bit shy of the 5:39.53 she swam in a meet against Highlands Ranch, while Smith’s swam a season best in prelims and then bettered that in the B final with a time of 1:02.26.
Senior Rachel Cooper, sophomore Samantha Hahn and freshmen Marz Nystrom also earned spots in B finals for the Raiders.
Sophomore Audrey Hanna swam on both sixth-place freestyle relay teams, while she was joined by sophomore Addisen Solay and freshmen Kennedy Ranson and Erica Mitsuoka on the 200 freestyle relay and by seniors Ashley Bricca and Autumn Cooper and junior Emelia Hudson on the 400 freestyle relay.
Regis Jesuit will ready for competition at the Class 5A girls state swim meet, which is scheduled for Feb. 7-9 at the Veterans’ Memorial Aquatic Center.
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@aurorasentinel.com. Twitter/X: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
2024 CONTINENTAL “A” LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP GIRLS SWIM MEET
Feb. 2-3 at Heritage High School
Team scores: 1. Heritage 733 points; 2. Rock Canyon 529; 3. Legend 459; 4. ThunderRidge 290; 5. REGIS JESUIT 285; 6. Mountain Vista 234; 7. Highlands Ranch 203; 8. Chaparral 186; 9. Douglas County 110; 10. Ponderosa 23
