Girls Swimming & Diving: Petz Prevails as 5A Diving Champ, Adding to Gymnastics Titles
By Courtney Oakes
Photo: Courtney Oakes
The Arvada West senior won her second Class 5A state all-around gymnastics championship in November and three short months and a complete mindset shift later, earned her way on the top of a different medal podium as the 5A girls diving champion.
Petz stayed consistent throughout Wednesday morning’s competition at the Veterans Memorial Aquatic Center and posted a winning total of 477.35 points, which gave her an 11-point cushion over runner-up Danika Warren of Pine Creek. It was the highest of four career state places in as many seasons for Petz, who was seventh last season, eighth in 2024 and 10th in 2023.
“There are some amazing divers here, so to come away with the win is surprising and a great way to end my senior year,” Petz said. “I was focused on having fun with my friends, honestly, since it’s the last meet for all of the seniors on my team. It was a really fun moment and amazing to share it with them.”
Two-time state champion Sydney Oveson of Fossil Ridge graduated and none of last season’s top four finishers were among the 45 qualifiers who began the competition, which opened the championship chase.
Petz repeated as 5A’s all-around state gymnastics champion in November, then did an abrupt about face in terms of mentality when she made the switch to diving.
“You spend your whole life (in gymnastics) doing everything you can to avoid your head and all of sudden, you do everything you can to land on it,” Petz said. “It takes some time to get into the groove. It’s only a three-month or so season, so after some time off, it takes a while to get back to where you left off.”
Arvada West co-coach Karen Ruby noted the training disadvantage Petz had when it came to the competition — though she made up for it with natural ability — which was loaded with talented divers whose sole focus is on the board.
“I could see Layla winning eventually this season, but the difference is that she only dives three months out of the year,” Ruby said. “She’s only been diving a few months and she’s competing against girls who dive every single day and have done that for a while. She had it in her.”
Petz did not better her top score of the season — a 498.85 earned at The Rex Abelein Invitational prior to winter break — but she rang up 52.62 on her final dive to vault to the top of the leaderboard.
“I only had one time that I wasn’t too happy with, but other than that, I had a pretty good meet,” said Petz, who became the program’s first state diving champion since Geneva Pauly in 2022.
Interestingly enough, Petz will not compete in either gymnastics or diving at the college level, despite her success.
She recently signed to compete at the University of Oregon in Acrobatics and Tumbling.
Warren sat in second place after the semifinals and finished in the same spot after the final three dives with a total of 466.80 points, which came after she missed the podium a year ago, while Greeley West junior Hope Kayl moved up from 10th in 2025 to third and Chatfield junior Lyra Moran placed fourth. Moran — who finished the season with the classification’s highest score of 511.80 points, achieved Feb. 7 at the Jeffco Championships, had a 12-point lead going into the finals, but ended up third.
Rounding out the top 10 were Northfield’s Morgan Lemmon in fifth, Denver East’s Linnea Kropp in sixth, Smoky Hill’s Lyla Bailey in seventh, Columbine’s Samantha Zakhem in eighth, Arapahoe’s Riley Gray in ninth and Arvada West’s Alyssa Alberts in 10th.
Denver East swept the classification awards, as Kropp was voted 5A Diver of the Year and Kevin Sage received 5A Dive Coach of the Year.
The 5A swim and dive championships continue with the swim finals Wednesday evening.
