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Cambridge Varsity Swimming Brings Home 1st Place Finish at Campbell HS Invitational

Cambridge Varsity Swimming Brings Home 1st Place Finish at Campbell HS Invitational

On Saturday November 23rd, the Bears competed in a six-team invitational at the Cobb Aquatics Center and took home not only the combined score first place finish, but also the boys' and girls' team separately took home first place finishes. The Bears, after a week of hard workouts in the pool and in the weight room, came on the deck with a new attitude. Embodying the logo on the back of their shirts, this team is out to set into motion a new legacy.

Even with a number of swimmers missing and Ethan Nalwasky out with a broken hand, the team had high expectations for their performance. One of the goals for this boys' team is the medley relay and the boys took to the pool wanting the cut like nothing else. With the same group as last week, Jake Todd, Jason Yang, Erek Humm and Austin Daniel took to the pool to improve their time to make the 1:51.00 state cut time. Coming just short, but improving their time, the team came in second place to Kell High School with a time of 1:54.39. The Bears' B-Relay and C-Relay also helped set the boys' team off to a solid state by all being in scoring position. The B-Relay (Sean McGinty, Kyle Daniel, Matt Hogan, Alex Mahler) earned a fourth place finish as well as the C-Relay (Tony Guerra, Sebastian Lara, Adam Montes, Noah Sannes) earned a sixth place finish, all contributing points to the boys' overall team score.
 
The girls' medley relay teams came out with a fighting spirit. The girls' A-Relay (Nicole Detjen, Maggie McGinty, Angela Ho, Ashley Dale Henslee) took off in the fastest heat and was in a battle with Mount Paran the entire race to take second place. The teams went back and forth in each leg of the race and it came down to Ashley Dale Henslee in freestyle. The two girls fought down to the touch and Henslee out-touched Mount Paran, beating them by a few hundredths of a second. However, news came of a disqualification in a start and the team's hard-fought finish was disqualified. The B-Relay (Darby Goodyear, Alex Newcomer, Emily Powers, Sarah Moore) and C-Relay (Colleen McCreanor, Ayana Dudley, Olivia Mahler, Sophia LaMarca) teams backed up their teammates with important point-earning fifth and sixth place overall finishes.
 
The boys' team continued to plow through the competition in the next event, the 200-freestyle. In the fastest heat, Jake Todd, right after competing in a hard-fought medley relay, took to the pool and was out in front all by himself. Todd raced himself the entire time and sailed easily to first with a time of 1:58.73. Coach Hall thinks that he will make his state cut in the 200-freestyle as long as he has someone to compete against and to beat within his race. Todd is a competitor and a fighter, but you don't see it unless there's someone next to him that he wants to beat. Other point-earners for the Bears in the 200-freestyle were Erek Humm with an important fifth place finish, and Adam Montes with a sixth place finish. Each team can only earn points for their top three finishers, but if it had been according to place, Connor Flemming would have also earned the Bears points for his performance.
 
The girls' team followed up with taking a sweeping of point-carrying places. Ashley Dale Henslee took fourth overall, following by Simona Cofrancesco in fifth, and Sydney Anderson in sixth and dropping over two-seconds from her performance last week.
 
In the 200-Individual Medley, the team had three new swimmers to compete in the boys' team. Austin Daniel, with a tough schedule for the day to include this race and the 500-freestyle, took fourth place overall. His time is just a little over five-seconds away from a state cut. Following Daniel was Matt Hogan with a sixth place point-earning finish, as well as Sean McGinty right after Hogan in seventh. All three of these freshman place vital roles in earning points for the team the entire and put up strong performances for the team.
 
The lone competitor in the 200-individual medley for the girls' team was Angela Ho. Besting her time by over two-seconds, Ho earned a fifth place finish. Another very important point-earning place for the girls.
 
With 36 competitors for the boys' 50-freestyle, the competition was tough, but the Bears had strong performers lined up to compete. Noah Sannes and Alex Mahler were positioned right next to each other in the race, which turned out to be what both of them needed to bring out the fighting spirit they needed to go as fast as they could. Sannes and Mahler raced each other down to the very last touch, with Sannes out-touching by a few hundredths of a second. Sannes, with a ninth place overall finish, improved his time by over a second from last week to go 26.43. Mahler was in-line with his performance last week to go 26.94 for a thirteenth place finish. Sebastian Lara followed Mahler with a fourteenth place finish, Nick Mirchandani in fifteenth, Tony Guerra in sixteenth, Kyle Daniel in twentieth place, and Austin Thistleton in twenty-seventh.
 
The girls' team had 47 competitors in the 50-freestyle and the girls definitely left their mark on this event. Nicole Detjen took first place in her heat and took second place overall. Following her was Anna Salvadori in third place. The points continued to roll in for the girls with a sixth place performance by Sophia LaMarca. Other notable performances in the event include Emily Powers coming in fourteenth place overall, Melissa Mandato in twenty-second, Raeghan Bulman in thirty-first, and Colleen McCreanor in thirty-third place.
 
All three of the competitors for the boys' 100-butterfly event earned points for the Bears' team. Erek Humm took fourth place, Jason Yang took fifth, and Connor Flemming took eleventh. Flemming dropped over a second from his time. In the past, butterfly has been the area of the meet where the Bears lost opportunities to earn needed points in order to bring home top team finishes. These boys' are going to open doors for the team this year that they did not have last year. The same can be said for the girls. Emily Powers was limited in her ability to compete last year, but she would be the only returner that would be among the girls bringing points for the team in the butterfly event. All others are new faces to the team. Olivia Mahler, taking fifth place, will be a very important point-earner in this event. Simona Cofrancesco and Emily Powers followed her up with eighth and ninth place overall finishes, all earning points.
 
Just like the 50-freestyle, the 100-freestyle is equally competitive with 27 entries. However, in this race, the Bears would not fade into the middle of the pack. With an incredible second-place finish, Matt Hogan swam a personal best of 58.66, which is a two-second improvement from last week. Another very important finish was Noah Sannes with a fourth place finish. The points continued to roll in with Alex Mahler's seventh place performance and a little over a second improvement in his time. David Le, winning his heat, took nineteenth overall, followed by Austin Thistleton in thirteenth.
 
The girls' took this race into their own hands. With 40 entries, the Bears claimed seven of the top ten places. In a highly competitive heat, Angela Ho out-touched her teammates to claim the second place overall finish. Following her was Ashley Dale Henslee in third and Maggie McGinty in fourth. Less than a second behind was Darby Goodyear with a sixth place finish (second place in her heat), Anna Salvadori in seventh (first place in her heat), Sydney Anderson in eighth (first in her heat), and Sophia LaMarca in ninth (second place in her heat). Other notable finishes include Sarah Moore' eleventh place finish and Ayana Dudley's nineteenth place finish.
 
While teammates are sources of motivation and encouragement, they are also sources of competition. Such is true for Jake Todd and Austin Daniel. Both very fast and competitive swimmers, the boys entered the 500-freestyle with eyes on each other for the top finish. While preparing for the race, when Coach Hall spoke with Jake Todd on what he wanted his splits to be, he replied with "I'm just going to race Austin." The boys took off and Daniel went out fast, holding the pace for the rest of the pool, with his first 100-yards in under 57-seconds. Todd followed with a time a little slower, but staying right behind. Daniel's pace was too fast to start and Daniel started to settle into his distance pace and Todd began to close in. The boys, both breathing on the side that would allow them to see one another, kept close tabs on each other through the next 100-yards. Daniel slowed his next couple splits to 1:05 and Todd closed in, keeping a 1:03 – 1:04 pace. Todd passed Daniel about halfway through the race, but Daniel stayed close, hoping to close in at the end. The boys easily held first and second place the entire race, not letting anyone else have a chance to take it from them. At the touch, Todd had dropped his time by over five-seconds to improve his state cut time to 5:14.99. Daniel touched just after with a state cut time of 5:18.15.
 
The Bears would continue to dominate the challenging distance event with the girls' team. Sydney Swenton, previous sprinter and breaststroker, turned distance this year and the race seems to suit her strengths perfectly. Swenton went out at a solid pace and began to back off to get into her distance pace. Through the next 300-yards, Swenton held her pace and began to lap other competitors. With only one other swimmer ahead of her, Swenton took off in her last 100-yards to sprint to the finish. With the only person ahead of her finishing with a state cut, Swenton pushes to swim a negative split (a faster time than her previous laps) her last lengths to cut her time by over four-seconds. Swenton has her eyes on the school record, which is less than a second off of her time on Saturday. Her second-place finish brought valuable points to the team.
 
The relays are always the most exciting parts of any meet and that rang true in the next event. The 200-freestyle relay was an event that the Cambridge boys exceled in last year and went to state championships for. Even with Ethan Nalwasky out with a broken hand, the boys wanted to make the cut. Stepping in for Nalwasky was Alex Mahler and it was going to be necessary for him to swim faster than his individual earlier in the meet. Other members of the team were Erek Humm and then Austin Daniel and Jake Todd, both of whom had just finished the 500-freestyle. Even though the boys were probably going to be exhausted from previous races, the team was going to try for the cut. Mahler led the team with the first leg, touching in at 25.48, a personal best time. Following him was Erek Humm with an equally good 25.57. Todd entered the water to swim an on-target 25.14. The last leg was the team's best sprinter, Austin Daniel. The top three teams in heat went back and forth the entire race, and Daniel entered the water and swam an incredible 24.57. The team touched in third place and just a little over a second out of reach of the state cut. The team plans to take reduced schedules at the next meet in order to rest their arms and make up that last second to make the state cut. The team is not at all in doubt of their ability to make that cut in the upcoming meets. Other notable performances were in the B and C relay teams. In the B Relay (Noah Sannes, Matt Hogan, Jason Yang, Kyle Daniel), Hogan put up a very fast 26.79 freestyle leg along with Sannes who put up a 27.00, bringing the team to a seventh-place finish. The team's C-Relay (Austin Thistleton, Connor Flemming, Nick Mirchandani, David Le) also placed in the top 10 relay finishes.
 
The girls' relay was equally exciting as the A-Relay team was in tight competition with three other teams. The Bears were in tight with Mount Paran, Campbell, and North Cobb. The Mount Paran girls took off far ahead, going on to crush the state cut time. That left the next three places up for grabs. The teams were back and forth to take the lead, but ultimately, the heavy schedules of the Bears' team took a toll. The A-Relay team, made up of Sydney Swenton, Ashley Dale Henslee, Alex Newcomer, and Nicole Detjen, put up a solid performance and solid splits, but ultimately the team was made up of girls that had tough earlier races and didn't have the gas to sprint in the end. While not what the girls wanted as far as time, the fourth-place finish was important for points. The B-Relay team had a very exciting race. The team, made up of Sydney Anderson, Emily Powers, Anna Salvadori, and Simona Cofrancesco, made a run for the top spot in their heat. The team was close in with the other top teams in their heat, but ultimately, the Bears' made a harder fight till the end and out-touched the other teams to take first in their heat and sixth place overall. The Bears' C-Relay team also played an important role in earning points with their tenth place finish. The team, made up of Colleen McCreanor, Raeghan Bulman, Melissa Mandato, and Olivia Mahler made an impressive showing in their heat.
 
Points continued to roll in for the Bears in backstroke. Sean McGinty, a top backstroker for the boys' team, took a second-place overall finish. Tony Guerra backed him up with a fourth-place finish. The girls' were equally impressive with Nicole Detjen taking fourth place, Darby Goodyear taking seventh, Olivia Mahler taking eleventh, and Colleen McCreanor taking thirteenth. All performances earned points.
 
The last individual race for the day was breaststroke. The Bears' have been strong in breaststroke the last two years and this year is proving to continue the pattern. Jason Yang took off in his race, lengthening his stroke and strengthening his kick, took off and grabbed a third-place overall finish with an improvement of over three-seconds to his time. His teammate, Kyle Daniel, has also had an impressive season. Dropping time from his performances last season, Daniel's sprint breaststroke and mid-distance breaststroke has improved tremendously. Daniel took sixth-place overall. Other notable performances were Sebastian Lara and his tenth-place finish, followed by David Le's eleventh-place performance, an Nick Mirchandani's twelfth-place performance. The girls' team top breaststroker, Maggie McGinty, never disappoints. Her performance easily took first-place, with room to spare. Her time was also an improvement from last week's state cut time. Sydney Swenton, exhausted from her schedule of relays and the 500-freestyle, still managed a solid performance to take fifth-place. Teammate Alex Newcomer, who is new to breaststroke this year, took seventh-place overall, followed by Sarah Moore in ninth-place, and Melissa Mandato in twentieth-place.
 
The last event of the day was the 400-freestyle relay. The boys' A-Relay team, made up of Sebastian Lara, Adam Montes, Tony Guerra, and Sean McGinty, was in tight competition with Campbell High School for third-place the entire race. With Adam Montes starting the team off with a solid time and his teammates also providing solid performances, McGinty entered the pool to anchor the relay. With some gas left in the tank after a very long meet, McGinty pushed the team to out-touch Campbell with a 58-second 100-freestyle. Also earning points in the last event was the B-Relay with Connor Flemming, Nick Mirchandani, David Le, and Austin Thistleton.
 
Making the last push for points on the girls' team, Darby Goodyear, Angela Ho, Maggie McGinty, and Sydney Swenton took to the pool for the A-Relay team. Racing down to the last touch with North Cobb High School, the Bears came out on top with a third-place finish. The B-Relay team, made up of Simona Cofrancesco, Sydney Anderson, Anna Salvadori, and Sarah Moore, took first in their heat and also put themselves in place-earning position with a fifth-place overall finish.
 
The team had an exhausting day of competition. Many swimmers had to take on multiple very challenging races in addition to high-pressure relays. But more than that, Coach Hall comments that the team is focusing on mental toughness. "I want these swimmers to fight. They need to fight in practice to work themselves as hard as they can so that when they get to their races they fight to get to the wall. Many of them don't know how to fight for what they want because they've never had to before, so I intend to train them how."
 
With a taste of victory, the Bears intend to continue this positive momentum into December's competition, starting with Centennial and Roswell on December 7th at Dynamo Aquatics Center in Alpharetta at 2:30 PM. Come and support your swimmers!
 
Final Scores:

Combined Score

Cambridge         552
Kell                     473
North Cobb        451
Campbell           417
McEachern         179
Mount Paran      138

Girls

Cambridge         266
Kell                    226
Campbell           209
North Cobb       191
Mount Paran     134
McEachern         62

Boys

Cambridge         286
North Cobb        260
Kell                    247
Campbell           208      
McEachern         117
Mount Paran        4