State swimming and diving begins Thursday in Thornton for 4A competitors. While 4A and 3A will swim at the Veterans Memorial Aquatic Center this week, 5A will compete Tuesday and Wednesday.

Multiple area athletes have earned the top spot in their respective events or will battle for the crown at state.

Wrestlers will also vie for a slot at next week’s state competition during regionals, which begin Friday and wrap Saturday. Below is a preview of this week’s swimming and diving finale and events taking place in the Pikes Peak region.

State swimming and diving

4A, Thursday-Friday; 3A, Friday-Saturday; 5A, Tuesday-Wednesday in Thornton

Various area athletes will head to the VMAC in Thornton to compete for a title or, in the case of Cheyenne Mountain and Discovery Canyon, defend their team championship.

The Red-Tailed Hawks are the defending 4A state champs and will seek their fifth overall crown on the girls’ side. Discovery Canyon won the school’s first title last season and will compete for back-to-back 3A championships.

Discovery Canyon enters the state tournament ranked third while Cheyenne Mountain is the highest-ranked area 4A team at fifth and Pine Creek ranks eighth in 5A.

In 3A, Thunder swimmer Alaia Sloan is seeded first in the 100-yard butterfly at 56.09 seconds and owns the fastest time in the 100 backstroke at 57.35. In the 200 freestyle relay, the Thunder rank second at 1:42.97, just behind Kent Denver, which enters at 1:39.49.

For 4A, Lewis-Palmer’s Grace Perry earned a top seed in the 100 butterfly at 54.73, which is more than five seconds ahead of Frederick’s Brynn Murray, who is seeded second at 59.96.

Cheyenne Mountain’s Hailey Birkby owns a top seed and is second in another race. Birkby’s 24.16 in the 50 freestyle earned her the No. 1 seed and she’s second in the 100 backstroke at 57.90, which is .20 shy of Grand Junction’s Taylor Moses.

Rampart’s Mya Bland ranks third in the 500 freestyle in 5:11.77 and the junior is third in the 200 free at 1:54.08.

In 5A, Pine Creek’s Bria Jones holds a slot in the top five of the 100 breaststroke and is the lone sophomore in the top eight. Jones ranks fourth at 1:04.42.

Regional boys and girls wrestling

Various locations, all day Friday and Saturday

Just one successful weekend stands between the Pikes Peak region’s top wrestlers and Ball Arena in Denver for next week’s state tournament. A bevy of teams and wrestlers will battle for a spot at the three-day tournament.

Air Academy and Mesa Ridge’s boys have stout competition at the 4A region 1 regional at Thompson Valley in Loveland. The tournament features 4A’s No. 1 team and the defending state champions, Pueblo East, along with Pueblo South, Pueblo Central, Pueblo West and Pueblo County.

The 4A region 4 tournament occurs at Falcon and features the most area schools with 10 of 13 teams from the Pikes Peak region.

Falcon, Cañon City and Widefield will compete for the region’s title and are fifth, eighth and 10th, respectively, in Tim Yount’s recent On the Mat rankings. In 5A, Pine Creek will contend for the region 3 crown at Legacy High School this weekend.

On the girls’ side, Widefield and Pine Creek will battle for their respective regional titles. Widefield heads to Lewis-Palmer for the 5A region 2 tournament. The bracket includes hosts Lewis-Palmer, Doherty, Falcon and Palmer.

At Poudre for the 5A region 1 tournament, Pine Creek will be joined by Coronado as teams compete to snag the region’s crown and send a plethora of athletes to next week’s state tournament.

Fountain-Fort Carson will host the 5A region 4 girls regional, which features 14 teams including Cheyenne Mountain, Discovery Canyon, Harrison, Palmer Ridge and Vista Ridge.   

Girls basketball

Palmer Ridge at Air Academy, 5:30 p.m. Thursday

When these teams met two weeks ago, the Bears handed the Kadets their first Pikes Peak Athletic Conference loss since Jan. 26, 2024, when Lutheran defeated Air Academy.

The Kadets look to avenge their most recent loss with their fourth consecutive victory. During the Kadets’ three-game winning streak, Kinley Asp has enjoyed the best scoring stretch of her career, averaging 36.6 points.

She scored a career-high 49 against Coronado and nailed seven 3-pointers. But the Bears remain ferocious on defense.

The Bears held Air Academy to 43 in their previous matchup, which is the Kadets’ second-lowest output of the season. Palmer Ridge holds its opponents under 38 per game and only five of the Bears’ opponents have reached 40 points.