Cambridge Swimmers Finish 9th Overall in Fulton County Championships Jan. 11th

Posted: Jan 13, 2014

On Saturday, January 11^th, Cambridge competed in the coveted Fulton County Championships with many of our neighbors, including Alpharetta, Johns Creek, Roswell, Chattahoochee, and Centennial. Being still a relatively small program, the Bears were out to make some more state cuts and get geared up for North Georgia Regions the following weekend. Fulton County Championships provides the most challenging competition of the entire season. The swimmers that compete at this meet are the same ones we see again at State Meet at Georgia Tech in February, so this was race rehearsal for state.

The boys' team started off strong with the Medley Relay (Jake Todd, Ethan Nalwasky, Erek Humm, Austin Daniel) making a new school record of 1:52.21. While Ethan Nalwasky dropped much needed time from his leg of the race, it still wasn't enough to get the team their state cut. The team is hoping another week of practice and rest will get them what they need to shave off that additional second to make state. B-Team (Sean McGinty, Kyle Daniel, Jason Yang, Matt Hogan) also had a notable performance and placed fifteenth overall. The girls' team (Nicole Detjen, Maggie McGinty, Angela Ho, Lauren Holliday) went off the momentum from the boys' team and came out also with a new school record time for the season of 2:01.89, which even more solidifies their place at the state meet in February. The team beat out Alpharetta, Roswell, Centennial, Chattahoochee, and Riverwood's top relay teams. The B-Team (Darby Goodyear, Sydney Swenton, Olivia Mahler, Anna Salvadori) also had a notable performance which placed them in thirteenth out of nineteen teams.

The boys' 200-freestyle had many notable performances. The boys' team had Austin Daniel finish twelfth overall out of forty swimmers with a time of 1:58.13, followed by teammate Jake Todd finishing in fourteenth with a time of 1:58.42. Noah Sannes finished in thirtieth overall. The girls' team had notable finishes by Emma, Gustafsson, Simona Cofrancesco, Sydney Anderson and Ella McIlvain.

Matt Hogan and Sean McGinty had notable performances in the 200-Individual Medley. Hogan swam just off his personal best time and McGinty swam right on target with his personal best. The girls' also had notable performances by Maggie McGiny, placing sixteenth out of thirty-two, following by teammate Darby Goodyear with a new personal best time of 2:43.49, and Angela Ho.

In the 50-freestyle, Bryce Jewell led the boys' with another personal best time of 25.01, placing him in twenty-fourth overall out of 57 swimmers. Following Jewell was Mahler in thirty-ninth and then Sebastian Lara. The girls' team was led by Lauren Holliday, in sixteenth out of 60 swimmers, with a personal best individual time of 27.84, followed by Ashley Dale Henslee with a personal best individual time of 28.11. Other notable performances were had by Nicole Detjen, Sydney Swenton, Anna Salvadori, Amanda Seibert, Sophia LaMarca, and Emily Powers.

The boys' team was led by Ethan Nalwasky in the 100-butterfly with a time of 58.71, just a little less than a second off the state cut qualifying time. The time placed him overall in ninth place out of 32 swimmers. Following Nalwasky was Erek Humm and Jason Yang, both with notable finishes. The girls' team was led by Katie Durden with a time of 1:08.78, which earned her twelfth place overall out of 32 swimmers. Teammate Olivia Mahler placed sixteenth followed by Simona Cofrancesco and Emily Powers. Powers dropped over a second from her best time.

The 100-freestyle, an incredibly competitive event, proved to have some great swims. Matt Hogan blew away his best time by over two-seconds to swim 56.66 and earn twenty-fifth place out of 52 swimmers. Hogan was followed by Bryce Jewell, Alex Mahler, Noah Sannes and Sebastian Lara. The girls' team was led by Lauren Holliday in nineteenth out of 58 swimmers with a time of 1:02.45. Holliday was followed by Ashley Dale Henslee, Angela Ho, Emma Gustafsson, Anna Salvadori, Ella McIlvain, Sophia LaMarca, and Sydney Anderson.

In the 500-freetyle, Jake Todd was the sole competitor for the boys' team. Coming in with a time of 5:15.08 was just off his high school meet best time. Already qualifying for state, Todd hopes to drop additional time next weekend at Dalton before competing in state to improve his seed time. Todd's finish earned him tenth overall out of 27 swimmers. Sydney Swenton, also the only competitor for the girls' team, finished just off her best time for a tenth place finish out of 22 swimmers. Swenton also hopes to drop additional time and set a new school record next weekend at Dalton.

Another race the boys' team hoped to make state in at this meet was the 200-freestyle relay. Mixing up the relay team (Austin Daniel, Erek Humm, Alex Mahler, Bryce Jewell) hoped to provide a closer outcome. The team did set a new best time for the season of 1:40.47, just a little less than a half-second from the state cut. The team hopes that next week will be the meet that they will make the time. The B-Team (Matt Hogan, Tony Guerra, Noah Sannes, Sean McGinty) cut significant time and placed fifteenth overall.

The girls' team, having made the state cut the day before, swam with a little less pressure, but looking to improve their time. The A-Team (Katie Durden, Lauren Holliday, Ashley Dale Henslee, Alex Newcomer) placed seventh overall out of 19 teams, but did not improve their time. The B-Team (Nicole Detjen, Angela Ho, Darby Goodyear, Emma Gustafsson) performed well and Angela Ho swam a personal best split of 27.75.

The 100-backstroke had many impressive swims for both the boys' and the girls' teams. Erek Humm led the boys' team with a ninth place finish out of 36 swimmers with a personal best time of 1:00.72, less than a second off the state cut. Teammate Ethan Nalwasky also had an impressive swim with a time of 1:01.66, three-seconds better than his previous time in the event. Sean McGinty also had a notable performance in the event with a time of 1:10.86, just off his best time. The girls' team was led by Katie Durden, who finished thirteenth overall out of 33 swimmers, with a new personal best time of 1:07.73. Durden was followed immediately by Nicole Detjen, who bested her time by over three-seconds to swim 1:09.62. Darby Goodyear had a notable performance to finish with a time of 1:16.00, followed by Julia Dinardo with a personal best time of 1:17.72, and Olivia Mahler with a personal best time of 1:19.06.

For the boys' team, Kyle Daniel was the only to compete in the 100-breaststroke event and he finished with a time of 1:17.35. For the girls' team, Maggie McGinty broke through the 1:12.00 wall to swim 1:11.93 to place fourth overall and improve her state meet seed time. McGinty was the first alternte at state championships finals round last year and intends to make it to finals this year to cap off her senior season. Sarah Moore finished with a new personal best time by over three-seconds to swim 1:24.24, also finishing her in the top twenty swimmers in the event. Alex Newcomer also had a notable performance with a new personal best time of 1:25.96.

The boys' A-Team for the 400-freestyle relay (Jake Todd, Bryce Jewell, Noah Sannes, Ethan Nalwasky) had a notable finish in eleventh place with particularly good swims by Todd with a split time of 55.88 and Nalwasky with a split time of 55.70. The B-Team (Alex Mahler, Tony Guerra, Adam Montes, Austin Thistleton) performed well, with Montes standing out with a split time of 58.74. The girls' team just missed the state cut time with a time of 4:13.91. The A-Team (Katie Durden, Emma Gustafsson, Alex Newcomer, Ashley Dale Henslee) had especially notable performances by Durden with a split time of 1:01.60 and Henslee with a split time of 1:02.00. The B-Team (Sydney Anderson, Anna Salvadori, Maggie McGinty, Sydney Swenton) also had an impressive showing, finishing only two places behind the A-Team.

Next weekend will prove to be a deciding factor for many and their state meet hopes. The Bears performed well at North Georgia Regions (hosted at Dalton High School) last year and was outscored for a trophy by two points. The Bears are determined to bring back some hardware next week. With the state-meet type set-up with a preliminary round and then a finals returning round in the evening, the meet should produce some top times and new personal bests. The meet will begin Friday with the preliminary round for the 500-freestyle, which will include Jake Todd, Sydney Swenton, Sydney Anderson, and Simona Cofrancesco. The rest of the events will begin Saturday morning and then finals will be Saturday evening.

Combined Final Scores: