4A Diving: Niwot’s Izzy Fay Wins State Title

THORNTON – Despite placing third at last year’s Class 4A diving state championships and returning as one of the clear favorites to move up into the top spot, Niwot’s Izzy Fay was never overly sure of her ability to win it all.

Her teammates and coaches, however, never had any doubt.

At Veterans Memorial Aquatics Center on Tuesday night, Fay proved her teammates and coaches right and took home first place overall with a whopping score of 538.30.

“It means a lot. I think it’s really cool,” Fay said. “I couldn’t have done it without Erin, my coach. I honestly didn’t think I was going to win, but everyone else believed in me more than I believed in myself. So, I think it’s kind of cool that I got to see that myself.”

Fay, a junior, led from start to finish with the highest score at the end of the preliminaries, the semifinals and, of course, the finals. Her score marks the third-best individual 4A performance at a state meet, ranking behind Mullen’s Katie Russ’ meet record 555.20 from 2015 and Estes Park’s Liz Pike’s winning mark of 541.10 in 2001.

Windsor’s Reagan Annable finished runner-up with a score of 498.00. Silver Creek’s Leslie Broz, who finished runner-up as a junior last season, finished third with a score of 483.10.

With three divers in the top 10, Erin Lionberger, who coaches the St. Vrain Valley School District divers, was named CHSCA’s 4A Dive Coach of the Year, as voted on by the other coaches.

“I think we got three in the top ten, so that’s pretty good,” Lionberger said.

Also voted on by the coaches, Thomas Jefferson’s Sophia Zizzo was named CHSCA’s 4A Diver of the Year.

“It feels amazing,” Zizzo said. “I just love diving so much and I got to do it with the amazing girls at DPS (Denver Public Schools) this year and just had so much fun. It’s an honor.”

Montrose’s Violet Noel (464.30) placed fourth, and Golden’s Myranda MacMillan (448.60) placed fifth. Standley Lake’s Tess Grudle, who has won the last two 4A gymnastics all-around titles, placed sixth with a score of 448.20.

Silver Creek’s Savannah Wolf, who placed fourth as a junior last year, was seventh at 445.25. Greeley West’s Hope Kayl (433.85) was eighth, Standley Lake’s Kira White (433.15) was ninth and Mountain View’s Madeline Clark (430.50) was 10th.

The 4A swimming and diving state championships will continue with swimming prelims on Wednesday afternoon and will conclude with swimming finals on Thursday afternoon.

*this story has been updated. There was an error in the record book, and this story previously mentioned that Fay had set the state meet record. The record is held by Katie Russ of Mullen, set at 552.40 in 2015.