On Friday and Saturday, Jan. 16 & 17, Cambridge traveled to Dalton, Georgia to compete with 18 schools in North Georgia Regional Championships. Friday evening was dedicated to diving, while Saturday held preliminary and finals rounds of swimming. At the end of the night on Saturday, the Bears took home a lot of hardware.

1. Blessed Trinity                      192
2. Jefferson High School           169
3. Rome High School                 157
4. Cambridge High School     148
5. Dalton High School               71

1. Dalton High School               208
2. Rome High School                 172
3. Cambridge High School     140
4. Blessed Trinity                      103
5. Jefferson High School           93

1. Rome High School                 329
2. Blessed Trinity                      295
3. Cambridge High School     288
4. Dalton High School               279
5. Jefferson High School           262

On Friday evening, Maddie Chaloux, Simon Finlayson, and Jack Braglia competed for Cambridge in the diving event. Going into the competition, Chaloux was seeded first in the girls' diving event, while Finlayson was also seeded first in the boys' diving event. 

In the boys' competition, Finlayson earned some of the highest scores he has earned all season. With a difficulty level remaining high, his technique had visible improvement and he earned solid 7s for a number of his dives. His ending score was 308.80, which along with his level of difficulty, is the second time he has had a state qualifying performance this season. Teammate Jack Braglia also had a number of improvements in his dives. Braglia, with a background in tumbling, attempts many dives that are extremely challenging. Unfortunately, due to a number of the dives being incomplete, he could not earn a score. He will look to perfect his technique this week to earn the necessary points and completion to pave his way to the state meet at Metros next Friday. 

In the girls' competition, Chaloux looked very solid and confident in warm ups with judges and other coaches commenting on her technique. Chaloux went through the competition with some increasingly challenging dives. Chaloux's performance was very solid and earned her 350.55 points and second place in the girls' event behind a Jefferson High School diver. 

The points earned by Finlayson and Chaloux contributed to the combined team score as well as the girls' and boys' team scores. Without their points, Cambridge could not have come away with a third place trophy. 

Boys' Swimming Team Recap 

Last year at North Georgia Regional Championship, the boys' team did not finish in the top five and this year, they advanced all the way to third place. Their improvements were apparent as Cambridge boys repeatedly made appearances in the final heats of the events on Saturday evening. The top 12 finishers from the preliminary round on Saturday morning moved on to the finals round to compete. The only exceptions were for relays (where only the top six returned to compete again, but places seven through 12 still scored), and in the 500 where only the top six returned to compete. 

In the preliminary round on Saturday morning, the boys' B-medley relay (Sean McGinty, Jason Yang, Connor Christiansen, Jared Keim) qualified in 7^th place to earn points for the Bears. 

In the 200-freestyle, the Bears had two boys return to finals: Conor Wesolowski and Noah Sannes. Wesolowski was seeded in seventh going into finals and finished in eighth. Sannes was seeded 10^th going into finals and improved his place to come in 9^th overall with a new best time. 

In the 200-individual medley, the boys' team had an even better finals appearance with two boys returning to the A-finals round (meaning the top 6 finishers out of the preliminary round). Ethan Nalwasky was seeded 4^th going into finals while Jake Todd was seeded 6^th going into finals. Nalwasky finished in 5^th and Todd stayed in 6^th, both earning vital points for the boys' team. 

In the 50-freestyle, Matt Hogan finished 12^th in the preliminary round. In finals, Hogan improved his seed and came out in 11^th place overall (out of 101 entries) and scored more points for the team. 

In the 100-butterfly, the Bears had three return to finals. In the A-finals round, Ethan Nalwasky was seeded 5^th going into finals, while Erek Humm was seeded 6^th and Jason Yang was seeded 9^th. After finals, Nalwasky took home 5^th, Humm took home 6^th and Yang took home 9^th. 

In the 100-freestyle, the boys' team had three return to finals. Jake Todd finished the preliminary round in 6^th place, Conor Wesolowski was seeded in 10^th, and Jason Hink was seeded in 11^th. After finals, Todd maintained his 6^th place position, Wesolowski improved to 9^th place, and Hink finished in 12^th place. There were 81 competitors in the event. 

Sean McGinty competed in the 500-freestyle on Friday evening before diving. His time placed him in 12^th overall, which earned the Bears important points towards their victory the next day. 

In the 200-freestyle relay, Cambridge had two relay teams earn points for the Bears. The B-relay team (Sebastian Lara, Noah Sannes, Nick Mirchandani, Jason Yang) placed 10^th overall. The A-relay (Matt Hogan, Jared Keim, Jason Hink, Erek Humm) finished the preliminary round in 3^rd place, and came out of finals in 4^th place overall. 

In the 100-backstroke, Erek Humm and Sean McGinty qualified to return to finals in the consolation final. Humm was seeded 7^th going into finals while McGinty was seeded 11^th. In finals, Humm maintained his 7^th place position but also swam a state-qualifying time of 59.68. McGinty also maintained his 11^th place position in the finals round. 

In the 100-breaststroke, three boys returned to the final round, one returning to the top 6 final and two returning to the consolation final. Kyle Daniel was seeded 6^th, Jason Yang was seeded in 8^th, and Sebastian Lara was seeded in 12^th. In finals, Daniel finished in 6^th overall, followed by Yang who improved his seed to finish 7^th overall, and Lara who also improved his seed to finish 11^th overall. 

In the last event of the evening, the 400-freestyle relay, the boys' team had one relay return to the A-finals round. The A-relay (Jake Todd, Erek Humm, Matt Hogan, Conor Wesolowski) came out of the preliminary round in 4^th. The B-relay (Ethan Nalwasky, Jason Hink, Sebastian Lara, Sean McGinty) finished 9^th in the preliminary round.  Even though the B-relay did not swim again in the evening, their 9^th place finish earned the team vital points. In the finals round, the A-relay improved their position to finish in 3^rd overall, helping Cambridge finish strong for the meet. 

Girls' Swimming Team Recap 

Last year at North Georgia Regional Championships, the girls' team took away second place overall with very solid performances. With a number of top swimmers having graduated or not present, the girls' team had a lot of catching up to do. 

Coming out of the preliminary round, the girls' A-relay (Nicole Detjen, Katie Fishman, Caley Cramer, Lauren Holliday) was seeded first going into finals. In the finals round, the Bears were side by side with the A-relay from Rome High School. Coming into the final stretch, the Bears were out-touched by the girls from Rome to take second place. The B-relay (Darby Goodyear, Sarah Moore, Ella McIlvain, Paula Morales) was also in a point-earning position taking 11^th place after the preliminary round. 

In the 200-freestyle, the girls' team also had two girls return to finals: Annah Morgan and Julia Dinardo. Morgan was seeded in 8^th going into finals and finished in the same place, while Dinardo was seeded 12^th going into finals and finished in 9^th. 

In the 200-individual medley, the girls' team had two return for the consolation final with Sydney Swenton seeded as 7^th going into finals and Katie Fishman seeded as 8^th going into finals. Swenton won her heat in the preliminary round and she did the same in finals coming out first in her heat and 7^th place overall. Fishman had a strong performance and earned points with her 10^th place overall finish. 

In the 50-freestyle, Cambridge had a solid showing in the top 12. In the A-finals round, Alex Newcomer was seeded 5^th, followed by Katie Durden in 8^th, and Angela Ho in 10^th. In the finals round, Newcomer took home 6^th place, Ho maintained her 10^th place position and Durden finished in 12^th. The event had 135 girls competing for the top positions in finals. 

In the 100-freestyle, two girls returned for the finals round. Alex Newcomer was seeded 10^th going into finals while Paula Morales was seeded 12^th going into finals after having dropped five-seconds from her best time of the season. At finals, Newcomer maintained her 10^th place position and Morales dropped more time to improve her position to 11^th. There were 91 girls in the event. 

In the 500-freestyle, three girls earned points for the Bears. On Friday, Sydney Anderson and Ella McIlvain swam the 500-freestyle in the preliminary round. Anderson placed 10^th overall, followed by McIlvain finishing in 12^th overall. In the finals round on Saturday evening, Darby Goodyear competed for the Bears and earned a 6^th place finish. 

In the 200-freestyle relay, the girls' team had two relay teams return for finals Saturday night. The A-relay (Lauren Holliday, Sydney Swenton, Alex Newcomer, Katie Durden) was seeded 3^rd going into finals, followed by teammates in the B-relay (Ashley Dale Henslee, Katie Fishman, Nicole Detjen, Angela Ho) sneaking into finals in 6^th place. In finals, the A-relay finished in 4^th overall, while the B-relay improved their position to take home 5^th place overall. 

In the 100-backstroke, three girls returned to finals. Caley Cramer was seeded third after the preliminary round, while teammate Nicole Detjen also qualified to join her in the A-final in 6^th place. Katie Durden's time qualified her to return to swim again in the consolation final in 9^th place. In the final round, Cramer came out with a 5^th place ribbon, followed by Detjen in 6^th. Durden maintained her 9^th place position in finals. 

In the 100-breaststroke, Katie Fishman qualified to return to finals in the A-final with a 6^th place seeding, followed by teammate Sydney Swenton seeded in 11^th to return to the consolation final. Fishman maintained her 6^th place position in finals, while Swenton improved her seed to take home a 9^th place ribbon with an improved time for the season. 

In the last event of the evening, the girls' team had two relay teams return for the A-final on Saturday evening. The A-relay (Katie Durden, Ashley Dale Henslee, Alex Newcomer, Caley Cramer) was seeded 2^nd going into finals. The B-relay (Angela Ho, Darby Goodyear, Sydney Swenton, Lauren Holliday) were seeded 5^th going into finals. In the final heat, the A-relay took home 4^th place ribbons and the B-relay took home 6^th place ribbons.  

End of Season Preview

The swimming and diving team has one meet left in the regular season this coming weekend, January 23rd & 24th. Cambridge divers will compete at Metros held at Westminster on Friday afternoon at 4:00 PM. The swimmers will compete on Saturday at 9:00 AM for the preliminary round and in the evening for the finals round. This will be the last chance for Cambridge to improve their individual and relay times for submission to the state meet. 

The state meet will be held on February 6^th and 7^th, with the preliminary round of swimming and all of diving on the 6^th and then finals for swimming on the 7^th. The state meet roster for Cambridge already includes 20 swimmers and divers. The team has the best chance in three years to swim times that will qualify them to move on to finals. The divers are also in position to earn Cambridge their first points on the state level. 

Come cheer on your divers and swimmers next weekend at Westminster!