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Aspen swimmer Davy Brown announces commitment to Colorado Mesa in GJ

Aspen High School senior Davy Brown recently committed to swim for Division II Colorado Mesa University in Grand Junction.
Austin Colbert/The Aspen Times

Davy Brown has spent plenty of time swimming in the Grand Junction pools — a frequent competition spot for both the Aspen Swim Club and the Aspen High School girls swim team — so she wasn’t particularly keen on going to college there.

Then she took a recent visit to take a closer look at Colorado Mesa University, and everything changed.

“It’s so exciting. I’m thrilled to announce my commitment to swim and study at CMU,” Brown said Tuesday. “I didn’t see myself there at first, because I swim there all the time. Then when I went there, I fell in love with the campus and I fell in love with the people. They were my tribe.”



Brown, an AHS senior, is set to continue her swimming career in Grand Junction where she will swim for the Mavericks and coach Geoff Hanson.

Wednesday, Nov. 14 is the first day of the national signing period for non-football sports in NCAA Division II, and Brown is one of four AHS students set to take part in a signing-day ceremony Wednesday inside the school’s gymnasium. Also being recognized will be AHS golfers Jack Hughes, Dawson Holmes and Colter Zwieg.




“They got the best pool in the state. They got some really good academic programs and they are a perennial top-20 DII team,” Aspen Swim Club coach Gordon Gerson said of CMU. “And they have much loftier aspirations than that. They got some very solid swimmers there. It will be a good place for Davy to go and have a chance at making DII national championships.”

The women’s swim team at Mesa finished the season No. 12 in Division II last year, and was ranked No. 8 in the nation as of the Oct. 18 coaches’ poll. Brown has seen plenty of success in the pool, as well, having been a key part of the Skiers’ 3A state championship team in 2017 when she was a sophomore.

Brown won the individual state title in the 100-yard backstroke that winter.

“I’ve kind of plateaued, obviously, a little bit. I haven’t been succeeding as much as I would love to be in the pool. I had some things going on that I had to mentally take care of,” Brown said of her past year or so.

“I hope to excel. I will never be satisfied with as far as I may go, but I will always be striving to show my real potential, because I know I have potential. I know I’ve had some things get in the way of actually peaking. So hopefully I will peak there, and with Geoff’s help, hopefully it will all fall into place.”

While CMU doesn’t offer an exact pre-med track, Brown hopes to focus on nursing and biology while an undergraduate to set herself up for medical school in the future. Until then, she has one more season of swimming with the Skiers, who start their season Dec. 7 in Glenwood Springs.

“I’m going to be co-captain,” Brown said of the upcoming AHS season. “I’m very excited about that — me and Taylor Pattillo. Hopefully we lead the girls to another state championship. Not going to jinx it.”

Aspen Swim Club’s short-course preseason comes to an end

Since opening its short-course season Oct. 13 and 14 at the Aspen Recreation Center, the Speedos have competed twice more in Montrose (Nov. 2 to 4) and Glenwood Springs (Nov. 10 and 11).

The Aspen Swim Club took second in the Montrose Fall Open, falling just shy of the host team. It’s a win that has always eluded the Speedos, mainly because of their smaller numbers. At the Sopris Deep Freeze, Aspen held off the host team for its second win of the season, after its home meet.

Gerson called it the end of the club’s preseason slate, with bigger meets now on deck. Next up is the Las Vegas Invitational the final week of November and into December.

The meet in Glenwood was particularly promising for the young team, which had more time drops than expected considering their rigorous early-season training schedule.

“When you are improving and you are not even rested, that’s a very good sign,” Gerson said. “We most assuredly did not rest for this meet. It’s got to be a very promising sign for how things will go in Las Vegas.”

Aspen swimmers with at least a single win in either of the recent meets include Gavin Boggs, Gunner Boggs, Lillie Boggs, Davy Brown, Max Calliham, Shea Card, Andrew Gieszl, Lillian Huggard, Bennett Jones, William Jones, Laila Khan-Farooqi, Maya Khan-Farooqi, Emily Kinney, Sara Michelin, Cole Petersen, Kayla Tehrani and Penelope White.

acolbert@aspentimes.com

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