Loveland senior swimmer Lexi Musslewhite had high expectations for her senior year, and she backed them up in the season’s first few weeks, posting some of the fastest times in the state before the holiday break in December.
While her quest to top her fifth-place finish in the 200-yard individual medley and sixth place in the 100 backstroke from the 2025 Class 4A state meet was slowed by a midseason illness, she was able to work her way back and still finished in the top 10 in two events in the final state meet of her high school career.
She was seventh in both the 100 freestyle and 100 backstroke, still not at 100% recovered, and is this year’s Reporter-Herald girls swimmer of the year for a second year in a row.
Musslewhite’s season started with a bang. At the REX Memorial-Coaches Invitational in Thornton on Dec. 20, she swam the 200 IM in 2 minutes, 11.97 seconds. Even though she didn’t swim the event at the state meet, her time in that race held up as the fifth-fastest in 4A all season, including times put up at the state meet.
She also swam the 100 backstroke in 58.86 seconds at the REX Memorial, a time that ended up being the seventh-fastest in the state following the state meet.
“I feel like I got off to a great start,” Musslewhite said. “I was really in the training mode. I was excited to be there. I had such a good mindset with everything. Coaches went great. That was definitely a highlight of my season. I swam my best time in my 100 back, which is my favorite event. I definitely had a lot of excitement, but my season went a little down.”
In January, she began to feel the symptoms of mononucleosis. She had pain in her collar bone and her back shoulder. Her spleen swelled, as did her eyes. She began to feel sluggish and couldn’t even get out of bed, she said.
But being the competitor she is, she tried to put it all behind her and continue to compete. Looking back on it, she knows that wasn’t the best thing to do.
“I originally didn’t think it was something crazy,” she said. “I was choosing to ignore it so I could get back in the water. My parents ended up making me go to the ER to get it checked out. If I’m being honest, I wasn’t being very responsible about it. I was definitely trying to ignore it and do what I wanted. In the end, you can’t ignore your health. You have to give into it. I’m happy I did because it probably would have ended a lot worse for me if I didn’t.”
She began the slow process of easing her way back to competition shape. She consumed electrolytes and got IV infusions. She was told she wasn’t allowed in the water for at least three weeks.
With her last state meet creeping closer, she got back in sooner than that.
“I ended up going against the doctor’s orders because state was coming up and it was important to me,” she said. “It was my senior year. I’ve been looking forward to it for so long. I feel like when I came back, the only thing I could do was have a positive attitude. I could have just thrown in the towel. That’s not who I am.”
She worked her way back with the assistance of her coach, Martin Jasken. At the team’s senior night, she was only able to swim the 50 freestyle. Eventually she was swimming the backstroke again and dropped the rigorous 200 IM for the 100 freestyle.
At the state meet Feb. 13, she finished seventh in both events while also contributing on relays. She anchored the Red Wolves’ 400 freestyle relay to a fifth-place finish. It was an emotional end to her time competing as a member of the Red Wolves team. Since the state meet, she has still been competing with the Loveland Swim Club.
Her achievements at the state meet were a testament to her character and talent her coach has seen from her since she was a freshman.
“I think it was a testament to just her being pretty resilient and also putting perspective on things,” Jasken said. “A younger swimmer, oftentimes, is just going to work at it and say, ‘You know, there’s no chance that I can go ahead and go the best times in some premier events,’ just because of the nature of the illness and the timing of it. They would have gone into a spiral and not been able to recover from it.
“We talked about options and what would probably be the best way for her to come back and final as well as score for her team. She was on board for that and embraced it wholeheartedly, and I think just showed a lot of maturity, and that’s why she is able to walk out of the season feeling good about that.”
Although still competing with the club, Musslewhite is looking ahead to both fully recovering and swimming in college. Shortly after the state meet, she signed to continue her swimming career at CSU-Pueblo and is very excited about that opportunity.
Best of the rest
Parker Clark, Mountain View: The Mountain Lions sophomore was 10th in the 200-yard individual medley at the 4A state meet in 2:18.86 and fifth in the consolation final of the 100 breaststroke in 1:11.10.
Gracie Greer, Loveland: The Red Wolves sophomore finished 10th at the 4A state meet in the 50 freestyle, touching the wall in 25.95. She was also third in the consolation final of the 100 freestyle in 55.70.
Ella Gervais, Loveland: The Red Wolves junior finished fifth in the consolation final of the 50 freestyle at the 4A state meet in 25.78. She also was fifth in the consolation final of the 100 butterfly in 1:03.15.
Kelsey Lapp, Mountain View: The Mountain Lions senior finished her high school career with a pair of top 10 finishes at the 4A state meet. She was eighth in the 100 backstroke in 59.87 and ninth in the 100 freestyle in 55.37.
Brooklyn Miller, Loveland: The Red Wolves senior won the consolation final of the 100 butterfly at the 4A state meet in 1:02.27.
Hadley Rogers, Loveland: The Red Wolves freshman finished fifth in the consolation final of the 500 freestyle in 5:31.11 at the 4A state meet. She was also second in the consolation final of the 100 backstroke in 1:01.60.
Brooklyn Wright, Mountain View: The Mountain Lions senior was sixth in the consolation final of the 100 butterfly at the 4A state meet in 1:03.51.
Lainey Wadlington, Loveland: The Red Wolves senior was sixth at the 4A state meet in the consolation final of the 500 freestyle in 5:31.26.
Jordan Ruder, Loveland: The Red Wolves freshman finished seventh in the consolation final of the 100 butterfly at the 4A state meet with a time of 1:03.56.
Kate Irby, Loveland: The Red Wolves junior finished 10th in the consolation final of the 500 freestyle at the 4A state meet in 5:37.00.
Harper Pecosky, Mountain View: The Mountain Lions senior finished 10th in the consolation final of the 100 backstroke at the 4A state meet in 1:05.02.
Tessa Bottke, Thompson Valley: The Eagles senior finished seventh in the consolation final of the 50 freestyle at the 3A state meet in 26.69 and eighth in the consolation final of the 100 freestyle in 58.66.
