Cambridge Girls' Team Finishes 9^th and Boys' Team Finishes 10^th out of 27 Teams at 9^th Annual Madeline Jude Brown Meet of Champions at Emory

Boys' Team Recap
The boys' team started out with a solid performance in the 200-yard medley relay. The A-relay (Erek Humm, Konata Ford, Ethan Nalwasky, Jared Keim) went into the event seeded 14^th out of 57 teams and not only did their swim their exact seed time (1:49.81), but their overall placing also did not change. The B-relay (Sean McGinty, Jason Yang, Connor Christiansen, Cameron Chong) had a solid performance which earned them 21^st overall, which also beat out teams like Milton's A-relay and Alpharetta's B-relay. The C-relay (Nick Mirchandani, Kyle Daniel, Cole Pieroni, Connor Fleming) earned 35^th place overall.

In the 200-yard freestyle event, last year's top point-earner, Austin Daniel, took ninth overall out of 73 competitors, with a time of 1:48.38. Connor Christiansen took 43^rd overall, Cole Pieroni took 60^th overall, followed immediately by teammate Nick Mirchandani in 61^st.

In the 200-yard individual medley, Jason Yang was the first from Cambridge to touch the wall in 35^th place out of 58 swimmers. Ben Balmes finished in 49^th with over 3.5 seconds of improvement. Connor Fleming finished in 54^th with a slight improvement in time.

In the 50-yard freestyle event, Jared Keim was the first to finish from Cambridge. Out of 199 swimmers, Keim finished in 34^th place overall. Jason Hink finished in 54^th place, followed closely by Dawson Hall in 56^th place. Cameron Chong finished in 68^th place, followed immediately by Konata Ford in 69^th place. Ben Balmes finished in 90^th place, and Connor Fleming finished in 93^rd with a slight improvement in time. Kyle Daniel finished in 126^th, and Manav Kumar finished in 162^nd.

In the 100-yard butterfly event, Jake Todd swam an incredible time of 55.12 to take tenth place overall out of 65 swimmers. Todd had broken the school record earlier in the season and ended up breaking his own record in this event. Teammate Dawson Hall had an impressive swim where he was able to drop some time from where he was seeded to take 28^th overall. Ethan Nalwasky took 30^th and Erek Humm took 34^th.

In the 100-yard freestyle, Jake Todd followed up his impressive butterfly performance with an equally impressive freestyle performance. Todd dropped time from his seed to swim a 50.09, which earned him 5^th place overall out of 175 swimmers. Next to finish from Cambridg was Jason Hink in 37^th place with a slight time improvement, and then Jared Keim in 46^th also with a slight time improvement. Cameron Chong took 52^nd place with over a two-second time improvement. Nick Mirchandani finished 82^nd with an over five-second improvement, and Manav Kumar finished in 134^th.

In the 500-yard freestyle event, Sean McGinty took 32^nd out of 37 swimmers and Cole Pieroni took 36^th.

In the 200-yard freestyle relay, the boys' A-relay (Austin Daniel, Dawson Hall, Jared Keim, Jake Todd) had an incredible race. Taking first in their heat, the boys took over two-second off their seed time to swim 1:35.35, which will greatly improve their seed at state in February. They placed ninth out of 61 relay teams and was outtouched by Johns Creek's top relay only by about one-second. The B-relay (Jason Hink, Nick Mirchandani, Connor Fleming, Ben Balmes) took 17^th.

In the 100-yard backstroke, Austin Daniel took 11^th out of 72 swimmers with a time of 56.45. Erek Humm was next to the wall, taking 22^nd place, Sean McGinty took 37^th, and Connor Christiansen took 39^th.

In the 100-yard breaststroke event, Konata Ford took 12^th out of 80 swimmers, with a time of 1:07.02. With a time two one-hundredths away from the state cut, Ford looks to make the necessary time cut to make a state time in the coming weeks. An equally likely competitor in the 100-yard breaststroke at state is junior Jason Yang. Yang took 16^th overall. Ethan Nalwasky took 27^th, and Kyle Daniel took 30^th.

The meet had started slowly for the boys' team, but picked up the intensity throughout the very long day. The meet culminated in a very exciting 400-yard freestyle relay. The A-relay (Jake Todd, Austin Daniel, Dawson Hall, Erek Humm) had an incredible showing by dropping over four-seconds from their seed time to swim an impressive 3:26.52. Last year, the boys' relay made it back to the consolation heat of finals at state, but this year, with a little more time dropping, the boys' are looking to return in the A-final among the top teams in the state. The B-relay (Ethan Nalwasky, Jason Hink, Konata Ford, Connor Christiansen) took 23^rd overall followed closely by the C-relay (Cole Pieroni, Sean McGinty, Jason Yang, Cameron Chong) in 28^th.

The girls' team started off strong with the 200-yard medley relay. The A-relay (Lauren Jonsson, Katie Fishman, Caley Cramer, Alex Newcomer) took 9^th overall out of 71 relay teams with a half-second improvement from their seed time (2:01.25). The B-relay (Darby Goodyear, Sydney Swenton, Olivia Mahler, Paula Morales) took 20^th overall, the C-relay (Nicole Detjen, Sarah Moore, Emily Powers, Anna Salvadori) took 38^th overall, and the D-relay (Isabella Empoliti, Melissa Mandato, Carolyn McLain, Annah Morgan) took 42^nd.

In the 200-yard freestyle, Lauren Jonsson took 12^th out of 65 swimmers with a time of 2:06.50, followed by Darby Goodyear in 30^th, Chloe Paskins in 40^th, and Ella McIlvain in 50^th.

In the 200-yard individual medley, Olivia Mahler was the first from Cambridge to finish in 36^th place out of 54 swimmers. Lindsey Robinson finished in 38^th with over seven-seconds improvement, Anna Salvadori was next in 50^th, followed by Emily Powers in 53^rd.

In the 50-yard freestyle event, things started to get exciting for the girls' team. Senior Alex Newcomer had been chasing the state cut in the 50-yard freestyle event for years and finally she earned her place at Georgia Tech. Newcomer finished 14^th out of 298 swimmers with a time of 26.39. Caley Cramer will be joining her and returning to perform in the event at Georgia Tech. Cramer swam the exact state cut with a time of 26.50 and that earned her 16^th place. Katie Durden finished in 47^th place, Sydney Swenton finished in 53^rd place, Katie Fishman finished in 58^th with about a half-second improvement, Isabella Empoliti finished in 64^th with about three-fourths of a second improvement, Ashley Dale Henslee finished in 73^rd, Nicole Detjen finished in 76^th, Avery Osborne finished in 91^st with almost a half-second improvement, Brigs Riddick finished in 104^th with over a second of improvement, Julia Dinardo finished in 105^th with about a half-second improvement, Anna Salvadori finished in 106^th, Carolyn McLain finished in 123^rd, Ashley Robinson finished in 128^th, Annah Morgan finished in 130^th, Melissa Mandato finished in 136^th, Bella Kane finished in 143^rd with about a half-second improvement, Ayana Dudley finished in 144^th with about a third of a second improvement, Kerrigan McCabe finished in 157^th, Cat Kania finished in 159^th, Irazu Lara finished in 162^nd with a slight improvement, Natalie Henderson finished in 181^st, Colleen McCreanor finished in 201^st, and Srijita Nandy finished in 205^th.

In the 100-yard butterfly, Olivia Mahler finished in 22^nd out of 61 swimmers, followed by Carolyn McLain in 47^th with over a second improvement, and Bella Kane in 51^st.

In the 100-yard freestyle, Alex Newcomer had another impressive performance. Newcomer swam a personal best time of 57.72, which earned her 17^th place out of 253 swimmers, a state qualifying time and a new school record. Newcomer will join Cramer, who already qualified in the event earlier in the season. Next to finish was Paula Morales with a time of 1:01.54, which is her best time this season, followed immediately by Katie Durden in 41^st, Ashley Dale Henslee in 60^th, Sarah Moore in 65^th, Isabella Empoliti in 74th with an almost three-second improvement , Annah Morgan in 81^st with almost a half-second improvement, Sydney Anderson in 100^th, Julia Dinardo in 102^nd, Brigs Riddick in 108^th, Ashley Robinson in 109^th, Avery Osborne in 115^th with almost a second improvement, Melissa Mandato in 123^rd, Cat Kania in 126^th, Kerrigan McCabe in 132^nd with over two-seconds improvement, Srijita Nandy in 137^th with over a half-second improvement, Irazu Lara in 141^st, Ayana Dudley in 142^nd, Colleen McCreanor in 144^th with over a two-second improvement, and Natalie Henderson in 163^rd.

In the 500-yard freestyle event, Darby Goodyear took 20^th out of 44 swimmers with a time of 5:57.53, her best time this season. Chloe Paskins took 27^th with over a second of improvement, Sydney Anderson took 31^st, and Ella McIlvain took 34^th with an improvement of over a second.

The girls' 200-yard freestyle A-relay (Katie Durden, Sydney Swenton, Ashley Dale Henslee, Katie Fishman) took 20^th place out of 72 relay teams. The B-relay (Nicole Detjen, Chloe Paskins, Avery Osborne, Ashley Robinson) took 31^st, the C-relay (Julia Dinardo, Isabella Empoliti, Lindsey Robinson, Melissa Mandato) took 39^th, and the D-relay (Cat Kania, Ella McIlvain, Emily Powers, Carolyn McLain) took 48^th.

In the 100-yard backstroke, Caley Cramer took 14^th place out of 86 swimmers in a very impressive performance with a time of 1:04.88. Again this year, Cramer qualifies for state in the event. Teammate Lauren Jonsson took 22^nd place, Nicole Detjen took 31^st, and Paula Morales took 36^th with a slight time improvement.

In the 100-yard breaststroke, Katie Fishman swam a great race to touch in 12^th place out of 77 swimmers, and a time of 1:16.72. Sydney Swenton was the next to touch in 24^th place, followed by Sarah Moore in 31^st, and Lindsey Robinson in 36^th.

Just like in the boys' event, the girls' team had a very exciting finish to the meet. The 400-yard freestyle A-relay (Caley Cramer, Katie Durden, Lauren Jonsson, Alex Newcomer) finished in 7^th place out of 49 relay teams, which was almost a four-second improvement from their best time this season. With a time of 3:56.62, the girls will have a good seed position going into state, but if they want to return to finals, they will have to drop more time before February. The B-relay (Paula Morales, Chloe Paskins, Darby Goodyear, Ashley Dale Henslee) finished in 17^th, and the C-relay (Lindsey Robinson, Anna Salvadori, Annah Morgan, Sarah Moore) finished in 24^th.

While swimming events were taking place, the divers were in the midst of their toughest competition this season. Not only were there some of the best divers in the state at the event, but the divers had to complete their dives with the distraction of swim whistles and starts taking place in the same pool. The meet certainly tested their concentration as well as their diving technique and skills.

Even with the difficult circumstances, the Cambridge divers continued to impress. The girls took to the boards first. Even though they didn't make it beyond the first cut, new divers Haley Copeland and Renee Wang had great performances. Out of 47 divers, Copeland finished in 30^th with a score of 90.90, followed by Wang with a 37^th place finish with a score of 54.35. Both divers are improving and will be significant assets to the team in the coming seasons.

Maddie Chaloux, the top female diver from Cambridge, made it through the various cuts to be able to complete all 11 of her dives. The judges were particularly tough on the divers and scored down any imperfection in the divers' execution. The tough judging certainly gave Chaloux practice with touch critique as she prepares for her February performance at the state meet. Chaloux performed beautifully as usual and finished in 11^th place overall with a score of 320.55.

The boys' competition immediately followed the girls, and Cambridge had two divers in competition. Turner Mignerey was in his first big meet of the season and had some issues with the boards. Unfortunately, the judges called two of his dives as incomplete so he was not able to continue through the first cut. We look forward to seeing more of Mignerey, who is showing a lot of promise in the sport. Simon Finlayson, the top male diver from Cambridge, was able to complete all 11 of his dives and even with difficult judging, Finlayson walked away with 6^th place out of 25 divers and a score of 329.55. Finlayson has improved so much in the off-season and is having an incredibly successful season. 

The Cambridge divers will be competing in the Forsyth Holiday Invite on January 2^nd at Cumming Aquatic Center. Warm ups will begin at about noon and competition is expected to begin at about 1 PM. All five divers will be competing, so come and cheer them on!

Both the swimmers and the divers will be competing in the Fulton County Championship meet on Thursday, January 7^th at the West Gwinnett Aquatic Center in Norcross. Diving will begin at 2 PM and swimming will begin at 4 PM. With a great facility to host the event, there should be some fast times posted by the swimmers and solid scores by the divers.