On January 20th and 21st, Cambridge traveled to Westminster to compete against some of the best teams in the Metro Atlanta area. As the last big meet of the season, it was a last opportunity for state-qualifying performances and the Bears were able to grab a couple more new qualifiers. The girls' team was able to finish in third overall, only topped by two private schools (Wesleyan and Marist) which was an incredibly impressive end to a very challenging meet. In total, there were over 30 teams present at the meet.
Girls' Team Scores (top 10):
- Wesleyan 149
- Marist 139
- Cambridge 115
- Westminster 111
- Centennial 85
- Rome 77
- Woodward 67
- Paideia 63
- Grady 34
- Milton 31
Boys' Team Scores (top 10):
- Westminster 186.5
- Milton 147
- Alpharetta 101
- North Atlanta 95
- Woodward 95
- Wesleyan 92.5
- Roswell 49
- Marist 46
- Atlanta International School 38
- Cambridge 37
Diving
On Friday, the divers participated in their competition. The girls went first and the Bears had four competitors: Maddie Chaloux, Haley Copeland, Margeaux Messier, and Renee Wang. Metros is one of the most difficult meets of the year for the dive team as the competition is incredibly high, with very talented teams putting together fantastic performances. Wang was disqualified, and Messier and Copeland did not place in the top half after the first five dives so they were not invited to continue to the next round. Chaloux made it to the last round but did not make the top ten to finish her dives. Chaloux finished in 11th overall, which is incredibly impressive considering the competition. For the boys' team, Simon Finlayson and Turner Mignerey competed for the Bears. Mignerey made each cut except the last one, which meant he did not get to finish his dives, but his score did earn him 13th overall. Finlayson was part of the final group as his score qualified him in the top 10 with three dives to go. Finlayson placed eighth overall which earned him a medal and points towards the boys' team score.
Chaloux, Finlayson, Copeland and Mignerey will all compete at the state championship the first weekend of February.
Swimming Prelims
To start off the meet, the girls' medley relay (Lauren Jonsson, Katie Fishman, Katie Durden, Brooke McLain) took 10th, which snuck them into the A-finals for the evening session. The boys' medley relay (Sean McGinty, Konata Ford, Connor Christiansen, Cameron Chong) took 15th which earned them a spot in the B-finals for the evening session.
In the 200-yard freestyle event, Abby Grottle sailed into first place to set herself up for the top seed in the evening session. Lauren Johnson also earned a spot in the A-finals with a new best time which placed her in fifth. Morgan Young and Darby Goodyear earned spots in the B-finals for the evening.
In the 200-yard individual medley, Maggie Duffner dropped time to take 19th, which placed her in the B-finals for the evening. Matthew Gaines shaved off a little time to easily place him in the top 10 to secure his spot in the A-finals for the evening session. Ben Balmes earned the first alternate position for finals in the evening.
In the 50-yard freestyle event, Jason Hink dropped the necessary time to finally earn his state qualifying time of 23.37. This also placed him in the top 10 which gave him a spot in the A-finals. Connor Fleming qualified for the second alternate position.
In the 100-yard butterfly event, Ashleigh Hays easily placed in the top 10 to earn a place in the A-finals. Katie Durden squeaked into 20th place to earn a spot in the B-finals. In the boys' event, Zak Parker shaved off the necessary time to earn his state-qualifying time. Additionally, his time qualified him to place in the top 10 and return for the A-finals.
In the 100-yard freestyle event, Paula Morales also had an impressive swim where she was able to shave off the necessary time and earn her state qualifying swim (58.45). Her time also placed her in the top 10 to return to the A-finals in the evening. Brooke McLain placed 15th which earned her a spot in the B-finals. Jason Hink had another impressive swim which earned him his second individual state qualifying time of 51.25 which earned him seventh place overall and a spot in the A-finals. Zak Parker and Connor Fleming also earned spots in the evening session in the B-finals heat.
In the 500-yard freestyle event, Abby Grottle easily touched in first place overall to be the top seed for the evening. Lauren Jonsson wasn't far behind with a third place finish and a new best time. Darby Goodyear also earned a spot in the A-finals with her eighth place finish. For the boys' team, Matthew Gaines took fifth and saved his spot in the A-finals. Sean McGinty qualified to be the first alternate for the evening session.
In the 200-yard freestyle relay, the girls' team (Paula Morales, Ashleigh Hays, Brooke McLain, Abby Grottle) shaved off some time and took third in the preliminary heat to easily place in the A-finals for the evening. The boys' team (Jason Hink, Connor Fleming, Zak Parker, Matthew Gaines) also did well and placed in seventh overall, to earn a spot in the A-finals.
In the 100-yard backstroke event, Libby Jones earned the first alternate position for the evening and Sean McGinty earned 18th place, to return to the B-finals in the evening.
In the 100-yard breaststroke event, Ashleigh Hays dropped some time to take fourth overall and come back in the evening for the A-final. Katie Fishman took 19th, which snuck her into the B-finals for the evening. Jason Yang also snuck into finals by taking 20th in the preliminary heat.
In the 400-yard freestyle relay, the girls' team (Ashleigh Hays, Brooke McLain, Lauren Jonsson, Abby Grottle) took second place, easily securing their spot for the evening. The boys' team (Jason Hink, Connor Fleming, Zak Parker, Matthew Gaines) grabbed the last spot in the A-finals for the evening by taking 10th.
Swimming Finals
The girls' medley relay (Lauren Jonsson, Katie Fishman, Katie Durden, Brooke McLain) dropped almost two-seconds from their time in prelims and advanced three spots to take seventh place overall. This also improves their seed time for the state meet at the beginning of February. The boys' relay (Sean McGinty, Jason Yang, Connor Christiansen, Cameron Chong) maintained their 15th place spot in their final heat.
In the 200-yard freestyle event, Abby Grottle shaved off some more time and had no one to challenge her in maintaining her top spot. She took first place by over two-seconds. Lauren Jonsson also dropped some more time to swim a personal best and take fourth overall. Morgan Young maintained her 15th place position.
In the 200-yard individual medley, Maggie Duffner improves her 19th place seed to take 16th in finals. Matthew Gaines also improves his seed from 7th place in prelims to 4th place in finals with also almost a two-second improvement from prelims. Ben Balmes got lucky with scratches in the event, so he got to compete. He went from the 21st place seed to placing 16th overall with another almost two-second time drop in his finals performance.
In the 50-yard freestyle event, Jason Hink maintained his ninth place seed in his finals performance.
In the 100-yard butterfly event, Ashleigh Hays dropped over a second to take fourth place in the finals heat with an improved state seed time. Katie Durden improved her seed from 20th place to 14th place in finals. Carolyn McLain, the third alternate from prelims, gets to benefit from other scratches and swim in finals to take 19th overall. In the boys event, Zak Parker dropped even more time to have a new state qualifying time of 57.05 which earned him ninth place overall.
In the 100-yard freestyle event, Paula Morales took eighth place which was her original seed from prelims. Jason Hink also takes eighth place overall in the boys event. Connor Fleming advanced from 19th place to 17th place in finals, and Zak Parker took 20th.
In the 500-yard freestyle event, Abby Grottle took first place by over eight seconds, followed by Lauren Jonsson in fourth place with an improved time, and Darby Goodyear in ninth place with an improved time, but just six-seconds off the state qualifying time. In the boys event, Matthew Gaines advanced from fifth place to third place with almost a seven-second improvement. Sean McGinty also benefited from another swimmer scratching the event to get to compete. He went from being the 21st place seed to taking 19th in the finals event.
In the 200-yard freestyle relay, the girls team (Paula Morales, Ashleigh Hays, Brooke McLain, Abby Grottle) drop about a half-second to take fourth overall with a new best time and a new school record. The boys team (Zak Parker, Matthew Gaines, Connor Fleming, Jason Hink) take ninth place overall.
In the 100-yard backstroke event, Libby Jones gets to swim with a swimmer scratching the event. She went from 21st place seed to taking 16th in the finals event. Sean McGinty advanced from 18th place seed to 17th place in the finals event for the boys.
In the 100-yard breaststroke event, Ashleigh Hays maintained her fourth place position but dropped almost two-seconds which finally broke the longest lasting Cambridge school record set by Maggie McGinty. Hays will swim this event at state and hopefully it will be enough to get her back to finals. Katie Fishman also maintained her seed position and took 19th overall. Jason Yang took 19th overall in the boys event, which improved his spot from 20th in prelims.
In the last event of the night, the Cambridge girls 400-yard freestyle relay team (Ashleigh Hays, Brooke McLain, Lauren Jonsson, Abby Grottle) dropped almost two and a half seconds swim a new school record of 3:48.99 and taking third overall. The boys relay team (Zak Parker, Matthew Gaines, Connor Fleming, Jason Hink) advanced from 10th place in prelims to ninth place in the finals heat.