Cambridge Swimmers Already Making Big Splash

Posted: Nov 18, 2013

Georgia Tech Bound from First Meet

The Bears took to the pool in their first official meet of the season, Saturday Nov. 16th against the powerhouse Alpharetta High School and equally strong South Forsyth High School on Saturday. A very different team took to the pool on Saturday than the team that made their first appearance last year. This new team is much more focused, much more competitive, and are putting up a fight to secure their spots at the State Meet at Georgia Tech from Day 1.

From the first race of the meet, you could tell the Cambridge boys' team wanted that state cut. The Medley Relay A team, starting off on backstroke with Jake Todd (sophomore), breaststroke with Jason Yang (freshman), butterfly with Erek Humm (sophomore) and freestyle with Austin Daniel (freshman), placed third overall and was shy of the state cut time by a little over two-seconds. With a time of 1:54.9, the Bears are off to a strong start and anticipate making that state cut at the next meet. The Medley Relay was the one relay the boys' team did not qualify to swim at the State Meet last year and it is definitely one they are most after this season. Redemption is the key for the boys' squad this year.

Starting off the meet for the girls' team was also a new and improved Medley Relay squad. Lauren Holliday (junior) started the team off on backstroke to put the girls into third place from the first leg, to pass it off to Maggie McGinty (senior) with breastroke to maintain position, followed by Katura Durden (freshman) with butterfly and lastly with Sydney Swenton (sophomore) with freestyle. The team pushed hard and made it to the wall with a solid state-cut time of 2:03.95. Sydney Swenton had brought them down to the homestretch to try to out-touch the South Forsyth girl's team, but couldn't make up the distance and was beaten by less than a second. The girls' Medley Relay made it to the State Meet last year with time just slightly faster than their time on Saturday, so there's no telling how much faster they will go from here with more training on speed and relay starts. The girls' team just keeps getting better and better.

The meet continued with excitement in the boys' 200-freestyle race. Jake Todd (sophomore) quickly recovered from the Medley Relay to enter the pool in the very next race, determined to make the state cut. With a fast pace set by the leader from Alpharetta High School, Todd chased him down the entire race, finishing in second place with a time of 1:57.76, just two-and-a-half seconds off the state cut. Todd's day was far from over and far from disappointing. Todd went on to enter the pool in the 500-freestyle, a race he picked up last year when Coach Hall needed someone to step up to distance and he was more than willing to try. After racing it for less than a season last year, Todd made a State Meet cut at the North Georgia Regions near the end of the season. With a year of racing experience under his belt, he entered the pool determined to put himself at state from the start. With another second-place finish, Todd qualified for state with a time of 5:19.59. Todd had teammate, Erek Humm (sophomore), finish just behind him in third place with a personal best finish.

In the 500-freestyle, we had a couple surprising finishes for the girls' team. Earning a third-place finish, Sydney Swenton (sophomore) attempted the race for the first time in her high school career and earned valuable points for the team. Coming in with a time of 6:24.58, she's excited to work on the race again and set a new school record that Lauren Holliday set last year at North Georgia Regions. Along with Swenton were solid performances by Alex Newcomer (sophomore) and Simona Cofrancesco (freshman), earning the team points for their fifth and sixth place finishes.

Sydney Anderson (sophomore), experienced 200-freestyler, led a new group of girls with her to tackle the race. Nicole Detjen (freshman) and Anna Salvadori (sophomore) took on the challenge of the race that haunts many swimmers. While some say it's a spring, others say it's distance. The length is just short enough to require speed work, while also requiring work in endurance. Coach Hall is excited to work with this group of girls to push them and see what they'll do. All three have a lot of potential in this race.

Another area of strength the new Cambridge squad has is variety in stroke strength. Last year, the team was very freestyle-heavy, but with the new group of swimmers joining the team, there is more opportunity for points with diversity of talent. Maggie McGinty (senior), captain and state-meet breaststroker, is going to be leading a new group of girls that are extremely talented in each of their disciplines. In the 200-Individual Medley (IM), the swimmer is required to swim 50-yards of each stroke. Along with McGinty, Katie Durden (freshman), Simona Cofrancesco (freshman), Darby Goodyear (freshman) and Angela Ho (junior) attempted the extremely challenging race. There is a lot of potential for these girls to really carry the team in this race with the potential for points.

The most coveted race of the meet is always the 50-freestyle. The fastest, most technically challenging race, since there is so little time and any technical mistake like a streamline, a turn, or a finishing reach can mean the different between winning and loosing. The team has a new group of swimmers that are attempting the challenging, but the team is really zooming in on a new talent to the team, Alex Mahler (junior). With some race work and some fine-tuning of strategy, Mahler should be stronghold for this team in sprint-freestyle. Along with him will be returner Noah Sannes (junior) who was an alternate at State Meet last year, and new swimmer Matt Hogan (freshman), who made an impressive showing at the meet in breaking a minute also in his 100-freestyle and helping push him relay team up multiple places with his performance. Other 50-freestyle challengers include Sebastian Lara (junior), Nick Mirchandani (freshman), Austin Thistleton (sophomore), Connor Fleming (freshman), David Le (junior) and Nicky Northen (sophomore).

The competition among the girls in this race are no exception. Lauren Holliday led the girls' in this event, placing sixth overall out of 32 girls with a time of 28.31. Also making competitive showings at the race was Angela Ho (junior), Ella McIlvain (freshman), Melissa Mandato (freshman), Emily Powers (sophomore), Colleen McCreanor (freshman), Raeghan Bulman (freshman), Catherine Kania (freshman), and Ketki Kaitkar (sophomore).

The other incredibly competitive sprint-freestyle race of the meet is the 100-freestyle. The boys' team really took control of the pool in this coveted race. Austin Daniel (freshman) took first place overall with a time of 54.16, just a little over two-seconds off the state cut time. He was followed up with a third-place finish by freshman Ethan Nalwasky with a time of 56.58. Other notable finishes include Noah Sannes (junior), Matt Hogan (freshman), Sean McGinty (freshman), Alex Mahler (junior), Adam Montes (freshman), Tony Guerra (freshman), and Nicky Northen (sophomore). The girls' team had a couple notable finishes in the 100-freestyle as well. Those would include Emma Gustafson (freshman) finishing with a 1:05.86. Right behind here were finishes by Ella McIlvain (freshman), Taylor Holliday (freshman), Julia Dinardo (freshman), Sydney Anderson (sophomore), Amanda Seibert (junior), and Sarah Moore (sophomore).

Along with the diversity of talent the girls' squad will display this year, the boys' team is honing in on their stroke work as well. Erek Humm (sophomore) played an important role in freestyle in last year's state meet appearance, but the team needs his work in butterfly to really move up in the standings. Humm did not disappoint. After his performance in the Medley Relay, Humm swam the 100-butterfly, earning a fourth place finish and a time of 1:02.70. An incredibly solid performance that will propel him this season in perfecting his technique and earning the team vital points. Other butterfly talent the boys' team has this season are freshmen Jason Yang (placing sixth overall) and Connor Fleming (placing eighth overall). Butterfly might also turn out to be a strength for the girls' team with Olivia Mahler (freshman) placing fifth with an incredible performance, as well as Katie Durden (freshman), Emily Powers (sophomore) and Anna Salvadori (sophomore).

Another stroke that the team is showing strength in is backstroke. The boys' team clinched some important points in the race with Ethan Nalwasky (freshman) taking a second-place finish with a time of 1:04.86, Sean McGinty (freshman) earning at fifth-place finish, and Tony Guerra (freshman) taking the sixth-place finish. The girls' team had solid performances by Lauren Holliday (junior) taking a seventh-place finish with a time of 1:12.28, a personal best time, Emma Gustafson (freshman), Darby Goodyear (freshman), Nicole Detjen (freshman), Julia Dinardo (freshman), Taylor Holliday (freshman), Amanda Seibert (junior), Olivia Mahler (freshman), and Colleen McCreanor (freshman). If the team can get a few more girls in the top places of this race, they will earn valuable points to make them a more competitive force as a whole.

A strength that the girls' team had last year was in breaststroke. Maggie McGinty (senior) led the way last year and this year appears to be no exception. With the only girls' breaststroke state cut of the day, McGinty will indeed go to state once again in her coveted race with a time of 1:12.78. Coach Hall thinks she can go even faster and make it to State Meet finals in her last year of high school competitive swimming. Sydney Swenton (sophomore) followed her up with a solid swim putting her in fifth place overall with a two-second improvement over last year. Alex Newcomer (sophomore) was a strong freestyler for the team last year and wanted to try to diversify her race schedule with breaststroke and she came in with a great performance, earning her eighth place overall. Sarah Moore (sophomore), Melissa Mandato (freshman), and Ayana Dudley (sophomore) also contributed to the Cambridge presence in the pool for breaststroke. The men had some work to do from last year, but they looked like they put in their time because the performances were much stronger than last year. Jason Yang (freshman) took third-place overall with a time of 1:14.29, followed in fourth-place by Kyle Daniel (sophomore). Sebastian Lara (junior) and Nick Mirchandani (freshman) also had notable performances.

The last race of the day brought vital points for the Bears with a second-place finish by the girls' and the boys' 400-freestyle relay teams. The boys' team brought the same group of boys from the Medley Relay back together for another run at a state cut. The team, made up of Jake Todd (sophomore), Ethan Nalwasky (freshman), Erek Humm (sophomore) and Austin Daniel (freshman), each went sub-57-second 100-freestyle legs. Nalwasky put the team out in second place with a leg of 56.68, with Humm following up and maintaining the pace with a time of 56.95. Todd, urging his team on with the first two legs, jumps in to contribute a time of 55.26. The Bears were right in the race and had a good distance on the team behind them, but were not going to be able to catch the team in front of them. The question was if they were going to make the state cut time. With the last leg of the race, Daniel enters the pool and swims an incredible time of 52.95 to get the team to make a final time of 3:41.87. They had made the state cut by a solid three seconds. The squad from last year had just barely squeezed into the state meet with a time just under the cut, but this year's squad is comfortably qualifying with time to spare. With more experience together, there is no telling how fast this group will go at Georgia Tech in February. This powerhouse group of boys will be the ones to watch.

The girls' team, with an equally important second-place finish, was just off the state cut time they wanted. The team, made up of Maggie McGinty (senior), Lauren Holliday (junior), Darby Goodyear (freshman), and Katura Durden (freshman) will need to shave off about seven-seconds off their total time to make state. Coach Hall thinks this is definitely within their reach and not at all impossible. The pool makes a big difference and some of the pools the team will compete in this year will provide the environment for some really fast swims later on. Coach Hall is confident that the girls' team will join the boys at state meet this year in this race, as well as the other relays.

It's very exciting to see how far the team has come in the last year. With each new freshman class the program welcomes, the team will get stronger and stronger. The team will be more competitive not only with more numbers and more opportunities to enter swimmers in the races to earn points, but also the amount of talent and diversity of skill the team will gain is going to make the difference in the most competitive meets. This is certainly the team to watch.

Final Scoring (combined team score)