The winter season in Aspen is more often that not going to evoke images of skiers hitting the slopes, attacking the powder with gusto.
It isn’t much different at Aspen High School – after all, the school’s mascot represents the town’s favorite pastime. But headed into this weekend, there is a buzz surrounding a different athletic endeavor for the Skiers, one that involves water instead of snow and takes place indoors.
But there is a good reason for that excitement as Aspen heads over the mountains to the Front Range for the Class 3A state swimming and diving championships at Veterans Memorial Aquatic Center in Thornton. The top-ranked Skiers are competing in a new classification and are led by a Harvard-bound senior in Kennidy Quist who works just as hard in the water as she does out of it.
“I am a very competitive swimmer, so I always like to race whomever and see how I can do,” said Quist, who as a junior was the runner-up in the 4A 50- and 100-yard freestyle events and earned All-American times in both. “I just love pushing myself to be the best I can. I’d love to compete at 4A or even 5A, but I’m excited for this new state. It’s something new to try, and records can be set.
“I think it will be just a difference experience. It will be fun, not only for me, but the other swimmers on the team.”
Both the 5A and 3A classifications will compete at the VMAC, while the 4A state meet will be held at EPIC in Fort Collins. Preliminary rounds for 5A take place Thursday, with finals running Friday afternoon. Fairview is the defending 5A champion but will have its hands full with top-ranked Fossil Ridge and No. 3 Arapahoe.
Prelims for 3A swimmers will run Friday morning and diving prelims will go Saturday morning. The finals will get underway Saturday afternoon.
Prelims for 4A swimmers are Friday afternoon and divers go Saturday morning. The 4A finals begin Saturday afternoon. Valor Christian is the defending 4A champion, with Cheyenne Mountain and Heritage currently ranked ahead of the Eagles.
Aspen finished eighth at the 4A state meet last winter. The only teams to finish ahead of the Skiers and also make the drop to 3A are Manitou Springs (fourth in 4A) and St. Mary’s Academy (sixth).
Aspen has never had an individual or team champion in swimming.
(Submitted photo)
“Swimming in the mountains is not a very exciting sport,” Quist said. “At Aspen you hear a lot about skiing. I think bringing some notice to the swim program would be great, not only for me, but for the other athletes.”
A year ago Quist was poised to make a run at a title in both sprint events, but came up just short in both the 50 and 100 to Valor Christian’s Brooke Stenstrom, who is currently swimming for Stanford.
Stenstrom set a 4A state record in the 50 with a time of 23.22 seconds, with Quist coming in just behind at 23.45. The 100 was just as competitive, with Stenstrom edging out Quist by .36 seconds.
“Last year I was seeded first going into state but did not perform as well as I would’ve liked to,” she said. “The 100 free was especially frustrating for me. The time I posted the week before would have won.
“Brooke is obviously an amazing swimmer and person. I was happy for her, but a little frustrated with myself.”
Aspen coach Kathleen Callahan believes that Quist’s discipline in practice will pay dividends at state.
“It was a very exciting and close race for her,” Aspen coach Kathleen Callahan told MaxPreps earlier this season. “She didn’t win, so her goal will be to win. She doesn’t give up.”
Discipline is maybe the best word to describe Quist, who committed to Harvard in September. Her weekly schedule at Aspen would seem to defy the limits of time, as Quist is currently taking nine classes as part of the Ivy Diploma program. She has eight practices a week, which comes out to about 20 hours. She also competed in the Junior National Championships in December.
Then there is her volunteer work. Through the Ivy Diploma program, she works with girls in middle school to help prepare them for high school. She also works with students at an elementary school, in addition to helping out within the community at outside events and volunteering at an animal shelter.
It leaves little to no time for Quist to be a typical teenager, but she believes it will get her ready for the rigors of being a student-athlete at Harvard.
“I think Kennidy was born and physically meant to be a swimmer. But in addition to that, this kid has one of the best work ethics I’ve ever seen,” Callahan said. “She brings it hard to very practice. She works as hard in the pool as she does at academics – she’s super, super focused.”
Aspen has only 11 swimmers in its girls program, but Quist is hopeful that the state contingent can take the Skiers to new heights. Sophomore Davy Brown owns the top-seeded time in the 200 individual medley and 100 backstroke headed into state.
“I think we will perform surprisingly well at state,” Quist said. “Even though we’re small, we do train hard and have a lot of talent on the team. I’m hoping that we will place even higher than we have in the past.”
We have reached what coaches like to call the “fourth quarter” of the season with most of our big schools facing five games or fewer on the schedule.
ThunderRidge didn’t falter at all, as we discussed in our midweek report, and the other six teams in our 5A top-6 can likely argue they can beat anyone on a given day. Pueblo West and Valor Christian are making more statements late in the week that they both want that 4A title rematch.
Let’s take a look!
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A Look Back
Thursday, Feb. 2
(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
Dan Mohrmann has you covered on Pine Creek’s unique defense not being quite enough to stop No. 7 Doherty.
Vista PEAK dropped from this week’s 4A poll but got a 20-point win over Thornton on the road with junior Te’Rae Johnson scoring 16.
Steven Goss scored 19 and “Mr. Do it all” for Montbello (FNE) had 17 in the Warriors close 55-50 home win over DPL rival Denver South!
Monarch seems to be improving each week and a 25-9 third quarter advantage helped them pull away from Greeley West winning by 15.
Friday, Feb. 3
(Jack Eberhard/JacksActionShots.com)
It took overtime for Legend to top league for Regis Jesuit and Jack Eberhard has your action shots.
Silver Creek got 22 points from Trent Dykema in the 34 point win over Greeley Central for the No. 10 ranked 4A squad.
4A No. 6 Northridge earned a fourth quarter comeback win outscoring Mountain View 13-10 in final stage!
Corey Seng at it again scoring 24 points in No. 1 ThunderRidge’s 21 point win over Highlands Ranch.
Rangeview maintained dominance of EMAC league behind Matt Johnson Jr’s 21 points in blowout over A Central!
No. 1 in 4A Pueblo West was only up 3 at halftime but pulled away from Pueblo County in second half 73-57.
Junior Daylen Kountz getting more and more comfortable as an Angel scoring 27 points in Denver East’s win at DPL foe Lincoln.
Thirteen players in the scoring column led by Cameron Miller’s 17 in No. 6 Holy Family’s blowout of Berthoud.
No. 4 Sand Creek is having some issues and will drop again this week after being upset this time by Discovery Canyon 61-43.
Tyson Gilbert and Sam Masten score 17 each for No. 6 Rock Canyon as they pull off the win vs. young Chaparral.
Two of our state’s top point guards got it on Saturday in Grandview’s LeChaun Duhart and Cherokee Trail’s Jaizec Lottie. However, it was big man Gage Prim who controlled this game for the Wolves with a 26-point, 12-rebound double-double! Grandview is on a nice run and no one will want to see their guard/big man tandem late in the season. Don’t forget about the Cougars either who’s lead point guard Lottie is averaging 20 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists despite missing four games due to injury. “Our team has to keep working,” said Lottie in our Ball Fever chat this week. Our Fever Crew has talked with top recruiters who believe Lottie would have 10-15 Division I offers if he were on the east or west coast. We have no doubt the right opportunity will come for the lead point guard! Lottie finished our chat just as you would expect from a commanding PG: “Some games we play better than others, and at this point we need to play consistent and strong in order to make a run.” We covered Lottie’s 32-point game in win last week and he’s poised to get his team back on track late in the season.
Top 3 action on Saturday night? Dennis Pleuss has Jalen Sanders 16 points leading to Valor’s big win over D’Evelyn.
Garrett Martin scored 18 and Standley Lake was up at the half but not enough to hold off No. 6 Golden’s comeback 55-48!
High academic senior Ikenna Ozor stung my Arap Warriors on Saturday with 16 points in the 5th ranked Raptors 25-point home win.
To end this week’s coverage No. 1 Pueblo West led from beginning to end in 70-56 win over Falcon.
[divider]
The Look Ahead
(Josh Watt/CHSAANow.com)
Monday, Feb. 6
Montbello (FNE) looking for the road win at Lincoln after taking down D South!
More solid DPL action as Thomas Jefferson travels over to GW.
Tuesday, Feb. 7
Holy Family looking for win 16 at Windsor.
Northridge visits Centaurus.
Boulder and Fossil Ridge say hello!
Vista PEAK hosts Gateway in A-Town.
No. 1 ThunderRidge will get tested at Chap!
Thompson Valley and Silver Creek.
CO Springs athletes from Doherty come on down to Denver East!
Legend travels to Rock Canyon. Great crowds here!
Wednesday, Feb. 8
Tough task in Wheatridge’s trip to Valor.
Is it possible to quietly be 18-1 Chatfield? Headed to Ralston Valley.
A-Town Pride: Overland and Cherokee Trail!
Sand Creek trying to recover vs. Falcon.
“Centennial Tough” Grandview/Eaglecrest is HUGE.
Thursday, Feb. 9
Longmont vs. Silver Creek!
Niwot & Thompson Valley always a banger.
Montbello (FNE) headed over to DPL foe TJ!
Rangeview looking to dominate EMAC vs. Hinkley.
Friday, Feb. 10
Windsor and Mead battle!
Holy Family vs. Erie.
Parker, stand up! Chap at Legend time!!
Eaglecrest goes to Cherry Creek. Never easy.
Chatfield charges into Bear Creek.
Valor tested at Evergreen!
Records out the window in Mountain Vista and ThunderRidge.
Rock Canyon invades Highlands Ranch.
Saturday. Feb. 11
Arap vs Smoky Hill in Centennial.
Denver South gets a shot at East in DPL!
Cherokee Trail at Rangeview will be rockin!
Niwot at Silver Creek.
Overland tries to cool off Grandview.
Get out and support these neighborhood teams, folks. Only a couple more weeks of regular season action.
Monarch (9-4-1) dropped from No. 2 to No. 4 in the poll after a loss to No. 6 Mountain Vista. The Coyotes have a chance to work their way back up in the rankings with Thursday’s game against No. 3 Cherry Creek. Creek moved up one spot after going 1-1 on the week.
Valor Christian dropped one spot to No. 7, while Mountain Vista moved up to No. 6.
Fort Collins, Resurrection Christian and Dakota Ridge stayed put in their previous rankings. The teams are No. 5, No. 8 and No.9, respectively.
Regis Jesuit remains No. 1 in the hockey rankings. (Ray Chen/ArrayPhoto.com)
Castle View slid into the rankings at No. 10 after Steamboat dropped two games last week.
The rankings, voted upon by coaches and select media members, are the official polls of the Association. During the regular season, the poll will release each Monday.
Lewis-Palmer is making the right moves at the right time when it comes to the Class 4A CHSAANow.com boys basketball rankings.
After beating Sand Creek just over a week ago, the Rangers put on another impressive showing with a 65-56 win over PPAC front-runner Vista Ridge. With everyone now paying attention, Lewis-Palmer jumps four spots to land at No. 4 this week.
Pueblo West, Valor Christian and D’Evelyn all stood their ground at No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 respectively.
Sierra also made a significant move as the Stallions are at No. 6, three spots better than last week’s poll. Mead broke into the poll this week at No. 8.
ThunderRidge remains the top team in the 5A poll and rightfully so considering the Grizzlies haven’t lost since Dec. 20 and are undefeated against Colorado teams.
Eaglecrest received two first-place votes and jumped one spot to No. 4 as a result.
Fort Collins is the lone newcomer to the poll, rounding it out at No. 4.
Resurrection Christian remains No. 1 in 3A after edging No. 4 Sterling on Friday. Colorado Springs Christian remains at No. 2 while Manitou Springs jumps one spot to No. 3.
There were no new teams in the 3A rankings.
Undefeated Highland still has a firm hold on the top spot in the 2A poll. Fowler jumped three spots from a week ago, coming in at No. 7. Haxtun joins the 2A rankings at No. 8.
Holly is still the top team in 1A. The top four teams from last week’s ranking went unchanged this week.
There were some big moves however as Rocky Mountain Lutheran made a three-spot jump to No. 5 and at No. 6, Longmont Christian is four spots better than they were last week.
Kit Carson joins the 1A poll at No. 9.
The rankings, voted upon by coaches and select media members, are the official polls of the Association. During the regular season, they are released each Monday.
The Eagles, now 11-9, are ranked No. 10 this week.
The top three teams in 4A remained the same with No. 1 Pueblo South leading the pack. No. 2 Evergreen avoided an upset against Green Mountain to stay in the hunt.
The biggest mover of the rankings goes to Heritage Christian (16-0) in 1A. The school is up three spots in this week’s poll at No. 2. The Eagles defeated No. 8 Briggsdale to leap in the rankings behind No. 1 Kit Carson.
In 5A, Ralston Valley continued its 17 game win streak to keep pace at No. 3 in the rankings.
5A’s lone shakeup comes with Fossil Ridge and Fairview. Fossil Ridge, ranked No. 10 in last week’s poll, switched spots with Fairview at No. 7.
3A added Faith Christian at No. 10, and Eaton moved up two spots to No. 8.
Paonia stayed at No. 1 in 2A with minor shakeup beneath them.
The rankings, voted upon by coaches and select media members, are the official polls of the Association. During the regular season, they are released each Monday.
Fairview girls basketball has forfeit eight games as a result of playing an ineligible player in January. Included in those games are six wins.
The player was ineligible due to not having enough Carnegie units on her schedule.
As a result, Fairview’s record has changed from 16-4 to 10-10. The scores will stand for the two games the Knights lost over that period.
“This is a case of a school discovering a problem, and stepping up to address that problem, which includes forfeiting eight games,” said CHSAA assistant commissioner Bert Borgmann, who oversees basketball. “From the beginning, they knew it was the right thing to do, and it reflects well on the school and community for the steps they’ve taken.
“The key is that they have addressed the problem and ensured that it’s not likely to happen again.”
Added CHSAA commissioner Paul Angelico: “Their quick reaction to this is another example of a school demonstrating the ethics of high school sports, and what’s important.”
The games the Knights have forfeit are the following:
Jan. 6 vs. Poudre, a 51-24 win (forfeits win)
Jan. 7 at Regis Jesuit, a 69-52 loss (score stands)
Jan. 10 at Mountain Range, a 75-33 win (forfeits win)
Jan. 13 vs. Horizon, a 64-57 loss (score stands)
Jan. 17 at Monarch, a 49-47 win (forfeits win)
Jan. 20 at Broomfield, a 63-51 win (forfeits win)
Jan. 24 at Fort Collins, a 62-54 win (forfeits win)
