Last Thursday through Saturday, Feb. 5-7, the Bears traveled to Georgia Tech to compete against the best in the state at the season-ending championship meet. In every way, the Bears made program history by setting school record after school record in almost every event that they competed in.
On Thursday, Maddie Chaloux and Simon Finlayson competed in the diving competition. In the 1-5A conference diving is extremely competitive, with some of the best private school programs facing off against one another. For Cambridge to send two out of three divers to the state meet in the first year that Cambridge has had diving at all is impressive in itself.
Simon Finlayson represented the Bears first on the boards on Thursday morning. Finlayson took a chance and added new dives and new levels of difficulty to his sequence. He had nothing to lose and had to make a big impression in order to make the cut from the preliminary round to be able to qualify to complete his last six dives. Finlayson came into the season with no dive experience or formal training of any kind and improved to such an extent that he not only set the school record for 6 and 11-dive sequences, but he did so well that his performance at Fulton County Championships qualified him to compete this weekend. Even though Finlayson did very well in his first five dives, it unfortunately was not enough to qualify him to finish his last six dives. The diver that went on to win from Pace was a three-time state champion and beat out the competition by over 100 points. Finlayson will be back at state next year with the goal of making the cut to the top 20.
Maddie Chaloux was up next on the boards. Chaloux has been strong all season and always impresses judges and teams with her skilled and technical performances on the boards. Chaloux has been a vital member of the girls' team, getting points that often made the difference between winning and falling to second place in big meets. Chaloux will hold the school record for Cambridge in the 6 and 11-dive sequences and her scores will certainly be tough to beat for future divers in the coming years. Chaloux had a strong chance to move on to finish her dives at state championships. Chaloux, just as Finlayson, moved around her dive sequence to put more of her challenging dives at the beginning of her sequence to help her chances of scoring high enough to move on. Chaloux almost earned a chance to move on to finals at Metros a couple weeks ago, but missed the last cut by just a few points due to her saving some of her most challenging dives for the end instead of near the front of her sequence to score the necessary points. With more challenging dives at the beginning of her sequence, it was more challenging for her to complete and in the end, Chaloux did not qualify to move on to finish her dives. Even though she did not make the cut, the accomplishment of making it to state among such talented divers speaks for itself. Chaloux will definitely be back next year at the state meet and will be a contender for a top finish.
Swim Recap
Every year, the Bears send more swimmers to the state meet. The first year, the girls' team sent three relays, the boys' team sent two relays, and there were two individual performances. Last year, the girls' team sent three relays, the boys' team sent two relays, and there were four individual performances. This year, the girls' team and the boys' team send all relays (six total) and there were seven individual performances (not counting diving). Every year, the Cambridge swimming program is getting stronger and is having a greater showing at the state meet and this year certainly made history.
On Friday, the Bears traveled to Georgia Tech to compete in the preliminary round of events to qualify to move on to finals on Saturday. Last year was the first year we had someone return to finals, but only as an alternate and they were not able to compete. The goal this year was to make it through prelims to qualify to return and there were a couple events that the Bears really stood a chance to make it back in.
The first relay to compete for the day was the 200 Medley Relay. The boys' team was represented by Erek Humm (backstroke), Kyle Daniel (breaststroke), Ethan Nalwasky (butterfly) and Conor Wesolowski (freestyle). Going into prelims, the relay was seeded in 41st place with a time of 1:49.73. The relay team really went out strong with great placement in the pool. With all members of the team putting up solid splits, the boys' touched the wall with a new school record of 1:48.04 and jumped their overall placement to 33rd place. Even though they needed to have finished in the top 20 to move on to finals, their performance was amazing and they have next year to look forward to as none of the relay members will be graduating next year. This was also the first year the boys' team had qualified in this event at all, so it was all-around a marker of success.
In the 200 Medley Relay, the girls' team was represented by Nicole Detjen (backstroke), Katie Fishman (breaststroke), Angela Ho (butterfly), and Katie Durden (freestyle). Going into the event, they were seeded 29th with a time of 2:02.37. Of the relay members, the standout performances were had by the two Katies. Katie Fishman (freshman) went all out for her premier state performance by putting up her fastest relay split for breaststroke. Katie Durden also posted her fastest 50-free time for the season. Even though their ending time was not an improvement from their seed time, their performance was very solid and they made the program proud with their performance.
The next performance of the day was Austin Daniel and Jake Todd in the 200-freestyle. Going into the meet, Daniel's best time from the season was 1:48.17, which was seeding him in the top 20. Daniel just had to maintain his performance to be able to return to finals. Dropping time from his seed, Daniel swam an incredible 1:47.21, which kept him in the top 20 and qualified him to return to compete in finals on Saturday. His time also posted a new school record. Todd also had a solid performance in the event. Going into the event, Todd was seeded 28th with a time of 1:54.43. Coming out of prelims, Todd maintained his same seed position, but he improved his time by almost a second and a half to swim a final time of 1:53.19, a personal best. Even though he would not get to swim it again, he did start his day off with a great time that would set the tone for the rest of his events.
The next performance of the day was Caley Cramer in the 50-freestyle. Going into the event, Cramer was seeded in 55th place with a time of 26.47, just barely making the qualifying time. With great placement in the pool and additional rest, Cramer broke her own school record to post a new best time of 25.85. Her placement improved all the way to 35th. Unfortunately, it did not place her in the top 20 to return on Saturday, her performance was incredible.
Austin Daniel was up to compete again in the 100-freestyle. Going into the event, Daniel was seeded 26th with a time of 50.10. Daniel would have to drop time in order to be in a position to come back to swim it again on Saturday, and he did just that. Daniel again put up an incredible performance to drop almost a second and a half to swim a new school record of 48.72, which placed him in 17th in prelims and earned him a spot in finals the next day.
The next relay up was the boys' 200-free relay. The boys' team was represented by Austin Daniel, Erek Humm, Matt Hogan and Jake Todd. The relay was seeded 31st going into the meet with a time of 1:36.80. In order to qualify to come back, they would have to drop significant time with all members of the team going their best time. The boys' team was extremely focused and determined and team members did post their best times. The team dropped an incredible three seconds from their seed time to swim a final time of 1:33.81 and improve their seed to 20th place, placing them just within the range they needed to be to return on Saturday. The performance was truly incredible and defied what everyone thought they would do. The relay also made history in marking the first relay to qualify to return to finals for the program.
The girls' team was hoping to follow the boys' trend and return with them on Saturday to finals. The girls' team was represented by Katie Durden, Angela Ho, Alex Newcomer, and Caley Cramer. Going into the event, the girls' team was seeded in 22nd place, which would have put them in a place to return as alternates to finals. The girls swam hard and did well and ended up dropping over a half-second from their seed time to post a time of 1:47.86. Unfortunately, other teams dropped more significant time and made it so that the performance was not enough to earn them a spot back on Saturday. Even though they would not get to swim it again, the girls' team did post a new school record.
The next performance was by Erek Humm and Jake Todd in the 100-backstroke. Humm went into the event with a seed of 51st place and a time of 59.68, but his performance was incredible solid and he improved his time by over a second to swim 58.38, which improved his placement to 42nd place. Todd also had a solid performance. After going into the meet seeded 48th with a time of 59.65, Todd dropped two second to swim 57.65 and finishing in 33rd place. His time was just off the school record set by Austin Daniel earlier in the season at 57.20.
Caley Cramer also competed in the 100-backstroke. With an entry time of 1:04.44 that she swam at Metros two weeks prior, Cramer was seeded 32nd in the meet. Unfortunately, Cramer did not improve her time and so she was not able to increase her placement to qualify to return. Regardless of not being able to return, her time from two weeks ago set a new school record by over two seconds from the previous year and she still had a relay to compete in.
The last event for the boys' team was the 400-free relay. Out of all of the relays, this was anticipated to be the boys' best chance of returning to finals. Going into the event, the boys' team was seeded 24th with a time of 3:32.90. Representing the boys' team in the event was Austin Daniel, Erek Humm, Matt Hogan and Jake Todd. The team was hoping to drop the necessary time to return to finals for a second relay. The boys' team came out of no where in the event to post incredible individual splits to drop an unbelievable 8.06 seconds from their seed to swim a final time of 3:24.84, which was not only a new school record, but also got them to finish in 15th place overall and qualify to return to finals. Again, the boys' team defied the odds and put up an amazing performance.
The girls' team had one last chance to qualify to return to finals with the boys' team. Just like the boys' team, the girls' team was positioned in a place where they had a chance, with some time improvement, to return for finals. The girls' team was represented by Caley Cramer, Angela Ho, Katie Durden, and Alex Newcomer. Their seed time of 4:02.04 had them placed 23rd, just outside the top 20 spots, so they hoped to drop some time to make it back. The girls' team put up an incredible performance with Cramer starting off the relay with an official split of 57.83, which counts as a new school record in the 100-freestyle. Of the four relay members, three of the girls swam a sub one-minute 100-freestyle, which was the best they had performed all season. The girls' team dropped over three-seconds from their seed time to post a new school record of 3:58.73. Unfortunately, other schools dropped more time and they did not improve their seed so they were not invited back to compete in the event again. Even though they were disappointed about not returning to finals, their performances throughout the day set a new standard for the program and for what they intend to do next year.
Along with those that competed in the relays, the team had alternates that were ready to compete if necessary. The boys' team had Jared Keim and Jason Hink that were alternates for the freestyle relays. The girls' team had Lauren Holliday, Ashley Dale Henslee and Sydney Swenton that were alternates for the freestyle relays.
Finals Recap
This was the first time that the Cambridge program was represented at finals and the boys were extremely honored and excited to represent the school and program among the very best among the best in the state.
The first event with a Cambridge competitor was Austin Daniel in the 200-freestyle. Going into finals, Daniel was seeded 18th. Unfortunately, Daniel did not swim a faster time than his seed and he dropped to 19th place. Even though his time did not improve from prelims, Daniel had an incredible performance and he made Cambridge history in being the first individual to return to compete in finals. Daniel has two more years of competition with the program, so it will be exciting to see what he does in the coming years.
Daniel also competed in the 100-freestyle. His seed had him placed in 17th. Daniel swam almost the exact same time as he did in prelims, which caused him to finish in 19th overall. Again, Daniel had an incredible solid performance and represented the program well. He still had two events to go with the freestyle relays, so he had a full agenda for Saturday.
In the 200-freestyle relay, the boys' put up a solid performance. Going into the event in 20th place, the boys' had no where to go but up. Of all members of the team, Erek Humm had the most stand-out performance. Humm swam the fastest split of the team with a time of 22.96, which was a personal best time. The team did not improve their seed time from the previous day, but by qualifying to return to finals, they scored points for the team. The same relay group had another performance yet to be had for the day, so they needed to refocus and prepare for their last event.
In the 400-freestyle relay, the boys' team was looking to drop even more time to break their own school record. They were seeded 15th in the event, which gave them a better position in the pool and put them in a good position to push themselves against teams that were faster than they were. Again, Erek Humm had another stand-out performance by dropping more time from yesterday to swim a 51.48 100-freestyle. Matt Hogan also swam a personal best time of 52.98 on his leg of the relay. Jake Todd swam a personal best in the preliminary round with a time of 50.62 and swam at the same pace in the finals round. Austin Daniel always posted the best times for the relay with both performances posting sub 50-second 100-freestyle legs. Even with solid times being posted by all members of the team, their final time was not an improvement from the day before and they dropped to 18th place overall. Either way, the team did an incredible job and was the best possible representative of the Cambridge program. With all members of the team returning next year, there is no limit to what this group of boys will be able to accomplish next year.
The finals round at state was a testament to the extent to which the Cambridge program has grown and developed. In the past couple years, it has been the girls' team that has posted the biggest points and made the biggest impact, but this year the boys' team definitely caught up. They showed the biggest improvement and it is exciting to see what the future holds in store for this team. Next year holds promise for both teams in the swimming and diving events. This program is no longer the underdog program in the region. They are truly competitors and ready to take on the best. Watch out for these guys, they are going to certainly be making a "splash" in the coming years.
Go Bears!
