Last Thursday, January 12th, Cambridge swimming and diving took on 10 other teams in the annual Fulton County Championships. The Bears have steadily jumped rank every year and this year was no exception. While the Bears couldn't take down the dynasty of Johns Creek, they certainly made their presence known in this incredibly competitive arena.
Girls' Team Scores
- Johns Creek 474
- Alpharetta 318
- Centennial 314
- Cambridge 252.5
- Chattahoochee 186
- Northview 178
- Milton 162
- Riverwood 108
- North Springs 96
- Creekside 61.5
- Westlake 56
- Johns Creek 401
- Milton 297
- Alpharetta 282
- Centennial 254
- Cambridge 230
- Northview 226
- Riverwood 162
- Chattahoochee 160
- Westlake 80
- North Springs 78
- Creekside 0
- Johns Creek 875
- Alpharetta 600
- Centennial 568
- Cambridge 482.5
- Milton 459
- Northview 404
- Chattahoochee 346
- Riverwood 270
- North Springs 174
- Westlake 136
- Creekside 61.5
Cambridge had multiple notable swim performances in the meet on Thursday. The top performances included the boys' medley relay (Sean McGinty, Konata Ford, Connor Christiansen, Ben Balmes) taking ninth out of 18 teams, followed closely by the B relay (Nicholas DiPonzio, Jason Yang, Cole Pieroni, Clayton Johnson) in 12th. For the girls' team, the A relay (Libby Jones, Katie Fishman, Chloe Paskins, Katie Durden) took seventh overall out of 20 relay teams.
In the 200-yard freestyle event, Austin Daniel took fourth place overall, followed closely by freshman teammate Matthew Gaines in eighth, both with state qualifying times. Zak Parker finished right behind them in ninth overall out of 30 athletes. In the girls' event, freshman Abby Grottle had an incredible performance and took first overall out of 33 athletes by over a second and a half. Teammate and fellow freshman Ashleigh Hays also had a standout performance by coming in 7th with a new state qualifying time and Lauren Jonsson immediately following in eighth also with a state qualifying time. Chloe Paskins and Morgan Young finished in 11th and 12th and both have time improvements.
In the 200-yard individual medley event, Ben Balmes took sixteenth overall with consistent time improvement in the event throughout the season and a new best time here. Jason Yang followed in 18th place. For the girls' team, Abby Grottle, in back-to-back events, took fourth overall with a state qualifying time followed by Maggie Duffner in 13th.
In the 50-yard freestyle event, Jason Hink narrowly missed the state qualifying time with his seventh place finish out of 50 swimmers, followed by Cameron Chong in 23rd and Connor Fleming in 24th. For the girls, Brooke McLain took 13th out of 59 swimmers, followed by Paula Morales in 16th, Isabella Empoliti in 23rd, and Katie Durden and Libby Jones in 24th.
In the 100-yard butterfly event, Connor Christiansen took 16th, followed by Cole Pieroni in 20th. For the girls, Carolyn McLain took 18th with a new best time followed by Rachel Avant in 26th.
In the 100-yard freestyle event, Jason Hink once again narrowly misses the state qualifying time but takes seventh place in an incredibly competitive event. Freshman Zak Parker took 11th, Cameron Chong took 23rd, Nicholas DiPonzio took 25th and Connor Fleming took 26th out of 40 swimmers. For the girls, Ashleigh Hays swam her second state cut of the day to take ninth, followed by Paula Morales in 13th, and Brooke McLain in 16th. There were 46 swimmers in the event.
In the 500-yard freestyle event, Matthew Gaines took seventh with a state qualifying time, followed by Sean McGinty in 11th with a new personal best time. For the girls, Lauren Jonsson took fourth with a state qualifying time, followed by Chloe Paskins in eighth and Darby Goodyear in 11th.
In the 200-yard freestyle relay, the boys' A relay (Austin Daniel, Zak Parker, Matthew Gaines, Jason Hink) took fourth overall with a state time of 1:33.43. The B relay (Ben Balmes, Nicholas DiPonzio, Konata Ford, Cameron Chong) were not far behind in 10th. For the girls, the A relay (Paula Morales, Brooke McLain, Ashleigh Hays, Abby Grottle) took second overall, winning at the touch, followed by the B relay (Katie Durden, Katie Fishman, Morgan Young, Lauren Jonsson) in eighth.
In the 100-yard backstroke event, Austin Daniel took fourth with a state qualifying time, followed by Sean McGinty in 16th. In the girls event, Libby Jones took 17th, followed by Maggie Duffner in 22nd.
In the 100-yard breaststroke event, Jason Yang took 11th place, followed by Konata Ford in 12th, and Ben Balmes in 18th. For the girls, Katie Fishman took 11th, followed by Natalie Henderson in 20th.
In the last event of the day, the boys' 400-yard freestyle A-relay (Austin Daniel, Zak Parker, Jason Hink, Matthew Gaines) took fifth overall out of 17 relays, followed by the B-relay (Cameron Chong, Jason Yang, Clayton Johnson, Sean McGinty) in 10th. For the girls' team, the A-relay (Ashleigh Hays, Lauren Jonsson, Paula Morales, Abby Grottle) came in fourth with a new best state qualifying time, followed by the B-relay (Katie Durden, Maggie Duffner, Morgan Young, Brooke McLain) in ninth.