Dalton, GA – On Friday and Saturday, the Cambridge Bears went up against 17 teams for the championship title. For the first time, the Bears had to swim in the preliminary and finals set up, so they had to swim their events in a preliminary round in order to qualify and return to swim at finals later in the evening. While the set up allows for swimmers a second shot at improving their times, it is also extremely exhausting and strenuous, since swimmers have to potentially swim each of their events twice instead of just once. For the relays and the 500-freestyle, teams had to place in the top six overall to move on to finals. For the rest of the individual events, swimmers had to place in the top 12 to be invited back for finals. The top six would swim in the A-finals round, and places seven through 12 would swim in the B-finals round (consolation heat).
PRELIMINARY ROUND
Preliminary rounds started on Friday evening with the 500-freestyle. Jake Todd, Lauren Holliday, and Alex Newcomer represented Cambridge in the early round. Jake Todd and Lauren Holliday placed in the top six among the boys and girls, which qualified them to move on to the finals round the next evening. Lauren Holliday swam a season best time by dropping six seconds to swim a 6:18.89, placing fifth overall. Jake Todd placed fourth in the preliminary round.
The next morning, the rest of the team traveled to Dalton High School to continue to positive momentum set by their teammates the night before. After two weeks of tapering in practice and additional rest, the Bears came ready to swim. While the boys' A-medley relay team (Erek Humm, Kyle Daniel, Hawk Hammer, Bryce Jewell) did not earn an opportunity to move on to the finals round, many of them swam season best splits for the event and are looking forward to their next shot to drop time next weekend. The girls' A-medley relay team (Lauren Holliday, Maggie McGinty, Angela Ho, Sydney Swenton), an already state-qualified relay team, placed fourth overall and were invited back to swim in the evening's finals event. The girls' B-medley relay team (Emily Dwane, Tori Bentley, Ashley Dale Henslee, Sydney Anderson) swam season best splits and qualified to return as alternates in the evening's finals event.
The good times continued to roll for the Cambridge girls. Sydney Anderson swam a season best time in her 200-freestyle (2:31.96) and earned a spot in the top 12 that are invited back to compete in finals. Maggie McGinty and Angela Ho were also invited back after their preliminary performances in the 200 individual medley event. Maggie McGinty was seeded seventh going into finals and Angela Ho was seeded 12th.
The boys started to pick up momentum during the 50-yard freestyle event. The Cambridge boys have truly begun to shine in the sprint events, and they proved it yet again with their performances in prelims. Kevin Knapp swam an amazing 27.44 in his first attempt at racing that event, winning his heat. Following Knapp, Jeremy Sokol dropped an entire second in his event to swim a 27.97. Bryce Jewell also made significant improvements to swim a 25.83. Hawk Hammer, after missing the state cut last weekend by a fraction of a second, was able to make the state cut in prelims with a 23.48. The time also qualified him to return in finals with the third top seeded time.
The girls' 50-freestyle was equally exciting. Ashley Dale Henslee placed first in her heat with a 28.63, followed by Tori Bentley in second place with a 28.67 and Emily Dwane with a 30.52. Henslee and Bentley were invited back for the finals round by placing 11th and 12th overall. Amanda Seibert also swam the 50-freestyle with a season best time of 30.94. Sydney Swenton swam in the last heat of the event, and was invited back as an alternate for the evening's finals round.
Preliminaries continued with the 100-butterfly event. Erek Humm was invited back as an alternate in the evening's finals event with a time of 1:09.70. The meet moved on to the 100-freestyle event. Sebastian Lara swam a season best time of 1:03.23, to win his heat. Excitement was building for the Bears as improvements and best times continued to show. Jeremy Sokol dropped a second off his best time to swim a 1:03.54. Noah Sannes dropped a second off his best time to swim a 1:00.36. Bruce Jewell dropped an amazing two seconds to break through the 1:00 barrier to swim a 58.49. Hawk Hammer also swam a season best time by dropping a second to swim a 53.51 and earn a spot in finals. The girls' followed up with some great times from Emily Dwane, winning her heat with a 1:10.96. Carlee Bentley also won her heat with a 1:13.43. Sarah Moore and Ayana Dudley swam against each other in one of the following heats and both produced season best times. Moore swam a 1:12.96 (a three-second improvement) and Dudley came out with a 1:12.60 (a two-second improvement). Sophia LaMarca dropped three seconds to swim a 1:09.75 and Sydney Anderson dropped a second to swim a 1:09.97. Ashley Dale Henslee dropped a second to swim a 1:02.04 and earn a spot in finals, being seeded in seventh place.
The boys' 200-freestyle A-relay team (Noah Sannes, Hawk Hammer, Bryce Jewell, Erek Humm) swam hard and went up against the best teams in the region. They earned a spot as the alternates for the evening finals. The girls' 200-freestyle (Lauren Holliday, Maggie McGinty, Ashley Dale Henslee, Sydney Swenton) earned the third top time, which moved them on to finals in the evening.
The last few events, the Bears continued to push themselves and impress many. Three boys swam the 100-backstroke event and all swam season best times. Erek Humm swam a 1:04.09 (a second improvement), Jake Todd swam a 1:02.90 (a two second improvement), and Kevin Knapp swam a 1:09.53 (a two-second improvement. Humm and Todd earned spots to return in finals with seventh and fourth place finishes overall. Lauren Holliday followed the boys in the 100-backstroke event and swam a 1:14.53, which earned her the eighth place finish and a spot in finals. The 100-backstroke was Holliday's fourth qualifying swim for finals. She would be the only swimmer from the Cambridge team to swim that many events in finals. More than that, Holliday would have to swim the 500-freestyle, the 200-freestyle relay and the 100-backstroke back-to-back-to-back in the evening.
The last individual event of the preliminary session was the 100-breaststroke. Sebastian Lara started off the boys with a season best time of 1:26.26, a two-second improvement. The girls, who always shine in the 100-breaststroke event, did not disappoint. Going into prelims, Maggie McGinty was the top-seeded competitor, followed by her teammate, Tori Bentley, in the third-top seeded position. Sydney Swenton swam a 1:26.47, which earned her the 12th spot and a ticket to finals. Tori Bentley, swimming right next to Swenton, swam a season best time of 1:15.72, which earned her the second top finish and an obvious place in finals. Maggie McGinty held her top spot and swam a 1:15.10. There would be three Bears in the finals event.
The 400-freestyle relay teams finished off the preliminary session. Unfortunately, the boys' and the girls' teams did not qualify to move on.
Out of 20 total events, the Bears would appear in all but eight. Three of those eight, Cambridge would have an alternate team or individual ready to swim. For the size of the Cambridge squad, they had surprised everyone. Coaches and meet officials were caught off guard by the new squad on the scene and were interested to see what they would do in finals. The preliminary rounds had knocked many teams out of contention for placement, but the Bears had put themselves into a prime position. While the team was exhausted from all of the action of the morning, they were energized and feeling excited to be competing later on in the evening. Many had expectations of improving their times and making state championship times. Little did they know what the evening had in store for the Cambridge team.
FINALS ROUND
After a break and time for warm ups, to teams took positions to start the final round of competition. Only the best the meet had to offer were competing in the evening and tensions were high. Coaches lined both sides of the pool, ready to urge their teams on to potential meet victories. The stands were filled with eager parents ready to see their kids compete.
After the boys' medley relay finals event, it was the girls' turn. The Cambridge A-medley relay team had been changed up a bit. Angela Ho, who had to prepare for her individual medley event later, took a rest and allowed Tori Bentley to step in as the butterfly leg of the relay. The team was led out to the blocks and they took their place. Going into finals, the Cambridge girls were seeded fourth, with over a two-second deficit to the top three teams. No one anticipate the Bears to finish in the top positions. The girls had already qualified for state, but the excitement of the event and the potential to best their own time loaded the moment with tension. Lauren Holliday, Maggie McGinty, Tori Bentley and Sydney Swenton gathered together to say a moment of encouragement to each other before taking their places. The parents in the stands were cheering and the rest of the Cambridge squad crunched together at the end of the lane and on the side of the pool to cheer on their teammates. Coach Hall stood on the side of the pool, ready to clock their times. Holliday took her position in the pool for backstroke. The official asked them to take their positions. The stands went silent. The horn went off and the girls took off. Holliday swam a season best 50-backstroke split of 32.96 to put the girls in third going into the second leg. McGinty dove in quickly to contribute her breaststroke leg. McGinty pushed out and caught up to the top competitors. The Cambridge girls were side by side with the top team. Bentley dove in for butterfly and maintain the Cambridge position next to Blessed Trinity, the top seeded team. It was all up to the last leg of the event to decide the winner. The team and the stands were going crazy with excitement as they were witnessing the ultimate dark horse moment. It was all down to Swenton. Swenton placed herself, ready for entry, Bentley touched the wall and Swenton took off. Side by side the two girls dove in and emerged still tied. Coach Hall was urging them on, the squad was screaming down the lane, the parents were on their feed. The entire pool deck and stands were electrified. Swenton started to take the lead. She was pulling out front and suddenly the girl from Blessed Trinity practically disappeared as Swenton exploded down the pool. Through the turn, Swenton took the lead. Her teammates from the relay team were screaming at her to get to the wall. Swenton pulled an entire body length ahead of Blessed Trinity and finished into the wall. The Cambridge Bears had won the event and crushed their seed time by over six seconds. They had won it all with a time of 2:03.54. The team was jumping up and down, Coach Hall was in tears, and the entire squad had erupted in utter disbelief that the Cambridge Bears, a team that many had discredited and disregarded, had just won. "It was a moment I will always remember," said Coach Hall. "I was overwhelmed with pride and joy for these girls that had worked so hard and wanted it so badly. Victory is always sweeter when no one else thinks you can do it."
With a renewed excitement, the Bears plunged into finals with a sense that they could actually do the impossible. They had to continue the momentum that the girls had set for them.
With some vital points won from the relay, other Bears continued to contribute. Sydney Anderson contributed to the pool of points with her 200-freestyle performance. Maggie Mcginty and Angela Ho had to get themselves focused for their individual medley event. Both took to the pool and swam season best times. Ho dropped four seconds to swim a 2:47.87 and McGinty dropped a second to place first in the consolation heat with a time of 2:35.23. Both performances contributed important points for the girls.
Hawk Hammer, already having qualified for state in prelims, took to the pool in the 50-freestyle. Swimming a time of 23.60, Hammer placed third overall, maintaining his entry seed position, and earned important points for Cambridge.
Ashley Dale Henslee and Tori Bentley prepped for the 50-freestyle final. Both exploded into the pool and swam better than the morning session. Henslee dropped a couple fractions of a second to swim a 28.54 and Bentley dropped an entire second to win the consolation final with a 27.82. Her time placed her third overall out of the top twelve finals competitors. Bentley was truly on fire. Henslee was also putting forth some unbelievable performances to earn points for the Cambridge team. She continued to compete in her 100-freestyle final. Placing second in the consolation final got the girls' team on track to earn a top place in the competition.
Hawk Hammer, invited back for his 100-freestyle, placed third in the consolation heat.
The next race was the 500-freestyle. The previous evening, Jake Todd had qualified for the fourth spot in the finals with a time of 5:34.27. Todd was determined to break through his season best time of 5:27.77 and make it to the state championship cut of 5:20.00. Todd was positioned next to a swimmer that was seeded 13-seconds faster than him, but he was determined to keep up with him. Todd was focused, determined, and ready to swim. Todd exploded into the pool, going out in his first 100 in 59.56 seconds, an incredibly fast time to maintain throughout such a long race. The next 100, he slowed down a bit, but maintained position right next to the swimmer that had the time he so desperately wanted. Todd maintained his pace for the next 200 yards. The last 100, Coach Hall instructed Todd's lap-counter (Sydney Swenton) to move his counter up-and-down to indicate to Todd that he was falling behind pace and needed to bring home the speed. Todd picked up his speed, keeping close with the swimmer next to him. Todd's feet kicked harder, his stokes pulled harder and he put his head down, determined to get to the wall. Todd was on pace to break his time, but by how much no one was sure. He was coming into his last 50-yards and his pace was perfect. He was picking up speed and going forward with all he had left. The last 25-yards, everyone was on their feet, he was going to make state if he could just get to the wall. The last push got him there, Todd picked up his head, looked at the clock and there it was… a state qualifying time of 5:18.75. Coach Hall was jumping up and down, the parents in the stands were screaming, his teammates were yelling for him telling him, "I knew you could do it!" Todd put his arms up in victory and everyone in the room felt his joy. Again, the Cambridge Bears defied expectations.
Lauren Holliday was about to start her unbelievable three-in-a-row event spree. Swimming four events in a finals setting, after already a day and a half of competition, is unheard of. To top it off, one of the events was the 500-freestyle. Most would say ridiculous. Can't be done. SHOULDN'T be done. Both of those statements are true, but Holliday was determined. She had earned her place in these events and wanted to do it for her team. She knew that by swimming them, she would earn her team points, and with the team performing so well, she knew it might come down to those few points. She knew what she had to do. With only six competitors in total to swim the 500-freestyle, and going in with a fifth place seed, Holliday's only job was to get through it. Coach Hall told Holliday not to race the other girls, but just get through the race and earn the points and move on. Holliday did as she was told and her finish earned the team the points they needed.
Holliday jumped out of the pool and immediately ran over to the holding area where her relay teammates (McGinty, Henslee, and Swenton) were waiting to be led out onto the pool deck for their 200-freestyle finals event. The girls went in with the third-top time, but with the excitement and stress of a day-and-a-half of competition, they dropped back a spot to take fourth. The team intends to shave off the necessary 0.15 seconds to qualify to compete at state championships. Coach Hall believes that with a reduced competition load and a shorter day they should be able to make that time next weekend.
Erek Humm and Jake Todd prepped themselves for the 100-backstroke event. Todd, after exhausting himself in the 500-freestyle, was still hoping for a top performance. His earlier swim had qualified him for the top finals group. Humm was looking for a season best time and he got it. In the consolation heat, Humm took first with a season best time of 1:03.66. Todd took to the pool, still exhausted from his previous event, and took fifth overall. Due to earning his state championship position in the 500-freestyle, Todd will take a week off of swimming that event and focus his efforts next week on earning a state championship position in his 100-backstroke, which Coach Hall believes, he will definitely be able to do. Coach Hall is hoping that his teammate, Humm, will join him.
In Holliday's last event of the evening, she took to the pool in the 100-backstroke. After an exhausting two-days of competition, she had little energy left to swim at the level she wanted herself to, but her sacrifice was felt by the team. Everyone knew, when she finished that last race, that she had given all of herself at this meet for her team. While she could have scratched an event to reduce her load, she chose not to for her team. As a captain, she has truly displayed the meaning of sacrifice and dedication.
The last event that the Bears would appear in was the 100-breaststroke event. Cambridge would have an amazing three swimmers in the last event and their finishes were vital for the girls' team score. Swenton would compete in the consolation heat and Bentley and McGinty would be side-by-side in the finals heat. Swenton started off the team by jumping three places to swim a season best time of 1:23.81, a three-second improvement from the morning session, and place third in her heat. McGinty and Bentley were led in for the last individual event of the evening. Even after a long day of competition, everyone was still on their feet and excited for the event to come. McGinty and Bentley entered the pool and were side-by-side for the first half of the race. The Bears were certainly standing out as top competitors. McGinty, suddenly, exploded forward and took off. She turned into the last 50-yards of the race out in front by herself. She pushed forward into the last length and came in the wall with a season best time of 1:12.56, putting herself into an even better position going into state championships in February. Bentley, after an exhausting day of competition, finished in third with a most impressive day of competition. Coach Hall is confident that next week, Bentley will join her teammate and qualify for state championships.
Without a team competing in the last event, the Bears stood to the side and waited for the meet to finish and the points to be calculated. The boys' team, due to their size, was not going to be a top finisher on their own, even with the impressive swims they had put forward throughout the day. The girls' team had a chance of a trophy finish. Throughout the meet, the girls' team had fluctuated from being as low as seventh place, but as high as second place. It was just a point of who came out in the end with the points they needed. The entire squad stood by nervously as the points were being tallied. Finally, the announcer got on the microphone to announce the top finishes. The boys' team finished ninth overall, which is incredibly due to the fact that there were only five swims among them in finals from only three of the boys on the team.
The girls stood around anxiously. The places were read. The girls had not placed in the top three positions. When the points were calculated, the Cambridge girls missed out on a third-place trophy by a mere eight points to Dalton High School. While disappointing that a trophy was not brought home for the girls, there was a sense of possibility as the girls reflected on what they had done and realized what they will do in the future. With a small squad, they had surpassed all expectations and performed at a level that was right up there with programs that have long-standing histories of top performances. The combined team score brought the Cambridge Bears to seventh overall, outscored for sixth place by one point.
Coach Hall commented: "This meet was the highlight of the season. Not only did we have swimmers swimming better than they ever have before, but we had such a sense of spirit and team. It's something truly special to see when you have an individual or relay team competing and pushing each other on at the blocks while the rest of the team is standing at the end of the lane to show their support and cheer for their teammates. They all share in each other's successes and that's the true mark of a team. I am beyond proud of each of them and am excited for what the future holds for this team."
