Thus far, Tiffany Maple’s senior year is going just about as well as she had hoped.
The Northglenn senior, after taking a one-year break away from the pool, has returned to the Norse and picked up where she left off. Maple has already qualified for the Class 5A state diving competition, and in her own words, is hoping to end her final year of high school with a bang.
“That was the best – it felt so good,” Maple said of reaching the qualifying mark. “My first meet I qualified and I was really nervous I wouldn’t do it again. Then (last) Wednesday I did it, so it was just the best feeling in the world.”
The senior was one of the standouts for the Northglenn/Thornton co-op Friday afternoon in a Front Range League dual with Mountain Range at Northglenn High School. Maple won the 1-meter diving event with a score of 184.10, but the Mustangs still came away with the 96-90 dual victory.
Megan Dauman and Alissa Johnson each won two events for Mountain Range. Dauman dominated the 100-yard butterfly and 100 backstroke, and Johnson owned the 200 individual medley and 100 breaststroke. Jordan Cleppe won a pair of events for Northglenn/Thornton, taking the 50 and 100 freestyle.
Maple is the only individual on either side that has qualified for state, though the Mustangs are close in a few events. Maple finished 23rd as a sophomore, but admitted to needing a break as a junior. She added that she regrets the decision now, but only wants to look ahead.
“It was fun but it was really scary because I was younger,” Maple said of her first state competition. “I had to watch all the older, really good girls dive. I did pretty well, but I got to know what competition really was and I feel like I’m more prepared for it.”
It certainly wasn’t apparent that three rival schools were competing Friday afternoon, but swimming doesn’t necessarily bring the contention that other sports can. All five schools in the Adams 12 District practice at Northglenn, and all the divers are coached together.
“It’s a lot of fun because we are kind of like family with the five high schools that are around here,” Johnson said. “We’re really good friends with everybody so it’s a fun meet to be at.”
Northglenn and Thornton are in the second year of competing as a combined program. The 24 team members – 16 from the Norse and eight from Thornton – is the highest number that coach Andrew Brand has had in his four years with the team.
“We’re getting to where we want to be, but it’s tough in the area to draw,” Brand said. “We don’t have any year-round swimmers … so it’s hard when you don’t have that.”
The numbers are fairly consistent in the district: Mountain Range and Horizon each have 26 team members, and the sport figures to get more of a boost when the new district pool opens up -slated for August – across from Horizon High School. Northglenn/Thornton should find itself in a better situation as well next winter when the team is moved to the Skyline League.
“It’s just a different world, and expectations are different too,” Brand said. “We’re in a league right now where it’s tough to go up against a Fort Collins or a Monarch or a Fairview where it’s almost impossible to compete against them. I think next year is the year where … we can look at competing to win league. I think the future is bright.”
Mountain Range coach Jeff Johnson will stay in the Front Range and look to continue developing in the 5A ranks. The team didn’t qualify anyone for state in its first year at the highest classification, but the coach sees better times ahead.
“We have some young guns coming up to now,” Johnson said. “I’m looking forward to the new recruits coming in the years to come to really kind of give us that kind of strong base that Mountain Range is hopefully going to be known for.”
His swimmers echo those sentiments. It isn’t always easy competing against programs that draw 100-plus athletes, but rather than be intimidated, the Mustangs are using their underdog status as motivation.
“We take it as a challenge,” Alissa Johnson said. “We kind of use it to push ourselves to get better times and we love doing that.”