4A Diving: Niwot’s Izzy Fay Repeats 1st Place Finish with Clutch Dive
By Damon Cook/CHSAANow
Photo: Damon Cook
THORNTON – While Niwot’s Izzy Fay stood on the board suspended above the water on her 11th and final dive, the fate of her season hung with her.
For a second-straight season, the silver and gold medals were going to leave with the same two people. Heading into their final dives, Fay held a 7.75 point lead. That meant Windsor’s Reagan Annable had to do something special, and so she did.
As Annable slowly began her ascent from the bottom of the pool, the crowd sat in silence. By the time the crown of her head had broken the plane of the water, the board read 62.4. Her final dive was the highest-scoring dive of the day and gave her a 54.65 point lead over Fay.
“I’m thinking about how I just have to hold on,” Fay said. “It’s the last dive in my high school career, and so this meant more than just the first place finish to me.”
When Fay was finally cleared for liftoff, she soared. Fay had only exceeded 54.65 points twice all day, and while she certainly was the favorite to win, at this point nothing was guaranteed.
But never underestimate the heart of a champion. Despite the pressure, Fay was able to notch a 58.8 and grab one final gold medal to take with her into the sunset.
Fay finished with a score of 529.5, just sneaking past Annable, who finished right behind her with a score of 525.35.
Fay said she felt like that final dive had been reflective of so many different things from throughout her season. One of those things undoubtedly is the mental fortitude, something that her coach Erin Lionberger felt was one of her biggest improvements this season.
“She had immense grace today,” Lionberger said. “She kept her cool, she never once started overthinking, or overanalyzing things, which is really hard in this sport. She stayed even keeled and just focused on what she had to do and nothing else.”
That ability shone through in the biggest moment for Fay, who’s incredible season was not capped off solely by a gold medal.
Along with that first place podium finish, Fay was also recognized as CHSCA’s 4A diver of the year.
“It’s amazing,” Fay said. “I was not expecting that at all.”
Alongside Fay, Dakota Ridge’s Lauren Martell was named CHSCA’s 4A diving coach of the year.
For Fay, the ability to stand strong through the adversity of competition is what got her to the mountain top. She became the first repeat 4A champion since Maggie Buckley did so three times from 2019-21.
Not only did Fay get to pencil her name into that part of the history books, but right alongside that in permanent marker she wrote her name into the slot reserved for the first-ever 4A girls diving champion from Niwot.
“This was my last meet in my high school career,” Fay said. “I just wanted to have fun and spend it with my coaches and team that I’ve been a part of for the last four years.”
