AURORA | City divers got their respective teams off to a flying start at the Class 5A girls state swim meet with their performance Tuesday evening at the Veterans’ Memorial Aquatic Complex.
With a combined five divers that placed in the top 14 on the board, Regis Jesuit and Grandview hold the top two spots in the 5A team standings going into the remainder of the meet, which continues with swim prelims on Thursday and finals on Friday.
Regis Jesuit junior Sarah Mann and Grandview sophomore Addison Campbell were separated by less than four points at The REX Invitational in December on the same boards at VMAC (with Campbell coming out on top) and they were even closer in state competition, with Mann gaining the edge by just 0.55 of a point.
With a score of 439.10 points, Mann finished a city-best third place among 20 finalists, as the Continental “A” League champion came in only behind champion Morgan Manley of Denver East and runner-up Elle Gray, who scored 467.85 and 448.20, respectively. Manley led the competition through prelims, semifinals and finals, while Mann was in second place after the semifinals (nine points in front of Gray) coming into the finals.
Mann scored 35.95 points higher than in 2022, when she placed ninth.
Juniors Kathryn Jewell (428.75) and Maya Kriz (424.10) finished back-to-back in sixth and seventh for coach Nick Frasersmith’s Regis Jesuit team, which netted 53 points from the strong showing. It was the second straight season that the Raiders had three divers finish in the top 10.
Jewell had an outstanding performance in preliminaries in which she was second (less than seven points behind Manley), then sat seventh after prelims and moved back up a spot to sixth. Kriz earned points for Regis Jesuit for a second straight season, but garnered 16 this time as opposed to three last season, when she finished 18th. She was fifth at prelims and semifinals, then saw Columbine’s Samantha Zakhem and Jewell move ahead in finals.
A fraction of a point behind Mann came Campbell, who sat 11th after prelims, then climbed up to fourth with an outstanding semifinal round and stayed there in the final standings. Campbell finished
The Wolves had three qualifiers and two of them scored as junior Hailey-Cate Bull captured 14th with a final score of 392.75 points. Bull made the cut after the prelims by less than a point, then moved up from 22nd to 14th after prelims and came in less than two points out of 13th.
Courtney Oakes is Sentinel Colorado Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
2023 CLASS 5A GIRLS STATE SWIM MEET (DIVING)
Feb. 7 at VMAC
1-meter diving: A Final — 1. Morgan Manley (Denver East), 467.85 points; 2. Elle Gray (Fort Collins), 448.20; 3. SARAH MANN (REGIS JESUIT), 439.10; 4. ADDISON CAMPBELL (GRANDVIEW), 438.55; 5. Samantha Zakhem (Columbine), 429.65; 6. KATHRYN JEWELL (REGIS JESUIT), 428.75; 7. MAYA KRIZ (REGIS JESUIT), 424.10; 8. Haley Like (Horizon), 417.90; 9. Delaney Price (Cherry Creek), 409.55; 10. Layla Petz (Arvada West), 406.50; 11. Emma Lence (Chatfield), 405.65; 12. Caroline Younge (Fairview), 403.05; 13. Olivia Ice (Legend), 394.30; 14. HAILEY-CATE BULL (GRANDVIEW), 392.75; 15. Madina Schebler (Valor Christian), 366.95; 16. Jennifer Masten (Arvada West), 365.15; 17. Claire Coddington (Rock Canyon), 363.65; 18. Anna Porter (Rock Canyon), 363.40; 19. Amber Mitchell (Arapahoe), 362.80; 20. Aspen Hackbarth (Cherry Creek), 359.75. Other Aurora scores (in prelims): 28. Tanvi Jitta (Grandview), 170.65; 38. Jasmine Munn (Regis Jesuit), 151.65