On Saturday, November 11th, the Cambridge swimmers took on Centennial in a dual meet at Dynamo Aquatic Center. Due to the girls' team winning by a healthy margin, their score was able to make up for the boys' squad who fell just short of Centennial to take the win for combined score.
Combined Score:
Cambridge - 281
Centennial - 266
Girls' Team Score:
Cambridge - 152
Centennial - 134
Boys' Team Score:
Centennial - 132
Cambridge - 129
In the boys' 200-yard medley relay, the Cambridge A-relay (Diponzio, Gaines, Ryzhkov, Blood) took first overall with a time just short of the state qualifying time. The B-relay (Montes, Ford, Pieroni, Balmes) touched the wall a few seconds later to take second overall ahead of the first Centennial relay team.
In the girls' 200-yard medley relay, even though the girls' A-relay (Jonsson, Jayla Brown, Grottle, B McLain) took second overall, they touched the wall with a state qualifying time of 1:56.35. The time also broke the school record that has stood since the 2013 - 2014 season. The B-relay (Empoliti, Fishman, Jayci Brown, Chambers) took third, followed by the C-relay (Jones, Riddick, C McLain, Kerber) in fifth.
In the boys' 200-yard freestyle event, Billy Blood was the first from Cambridge to touch the wall with a second place overall finish, followed by Nick Diponzio in third.
In the girls' 200-yard freestyle event, the competition was stacked with talent. Cambridge's Abby Grottle took first place with a time of 1:58.29, which qualifies her for state in the event. Morgan Young took third, Libby Jones took fourth, Jayci Brown took fifth, Isabella Empoliti took seventh, and Anna Kerber took ninth.
In the boys' 200-yard individual medley, Billy Blood took to the block in his third race in a row and took second place overall. Gabe Montes took third.
In the girls' 200-yard individual medley, Maggie Duffner took fourth followed by Grace Ghent in fifth, Carolyn McLain in sixth, and Rachel Henderson in seventh.
In the boys' 50-yard freestyle, Nick Iline took third and Nathaniel Champion took fifth.
In the girls' 50-yard freestyle, Brooke McLain took first overall with a significant lead off the second place finisher, which is unusual for an event so short. Adyson LeeMaster took third, Rebecca Ho took seventh, Katie Fox took eighth, and Irazu Lara took ninth.
In the boys' 100-yard butterfly, Matthew Gaines raced till the end with top Centennial flyer Joe Peak and touched less than a second behind him with a time of 56.56, which qualifies Gaines for state in the event. Phillip Ryzhkov took third overall, followed by Konata Ford in fourth, and Cole Pieroni in fifth.
In the girls' 100-yard butterfly, Jayla Brown took third, Eva Medici took fifth, Carolyn McLain took seventh and Jayci Brown took eighth.
In the boys' 100-yard freestyle, Ben Balmes took third and John Empoliti took sixth.
In the girls' 100-yard freestyle, Brooke McLain took second, followed by Morgan Young in third, Sydney Chambers in fifth, Rachel Henderson in sixth, Rachel Avant in seventh, Anna Kerber in eighth, Katie Fix in eleventh, Rebecca Ho in twelfth, and Irazu Lara in fourteenth.
In the boys' 500-yard freestyle, Matthew Gaines cruised his way through the race with no competition in sight. He finished with a time of 5:10.06 without too much effort and easily qualifies for state. Last year, Gaines made the B-finals at state in the event and he hopes to return to take on the 500 again at Georgia Tech. Aiden Goodnight finished in second.
In the girls' 500-yard freestyle, there was a bit more competition than on the boys' side. Abby Grottle and top Centennial competitor were going side by side for the first part of the race, and once the race got to the halfway point, Grottle took off and left her competition a few body lengths behind and held it until the end. Grottle finishes in first and with a state cut of 5:08.34. Lauren Jonsson also swims a state qualifying time in the event. Grottle and Jonsson both swam the 500 at state last year and will most likely choose this to compete in again this year. Grottle hopes to get on the podium in the event and hopefully Jonsson can be right there with her. Maggie Duffner took fifth in the event as well.
In the 200-yard freestyle relay, the boys' A-relay (Ford, Montes, Goodnight, Balmes) took second overall and the B-relay (Pieroni, Empoliti, Champion, Iline) took fourth overall.
In the girls' 200-yard freestyle relay, the A-relay (Medici, Jayci Brown, Ghent, Young) took second, followed by the B-relay (Henderson, Kerber, Duffner, Fishman) took fourth, and the C-relay (Avant, LeeMaster, Riddick, C McLain) took fifth.
In the boys' 100-yard backstroke, Nick Diponzio took first with a healthy five-second lead, followed by Aiden Goodnight in fourth.
In the girls' 100-yard backstroke, Lauren Jonnson swam a great race to take second place overall, made a state qualifying time, and set a new school record of 1:02.70 in the event. Eva Medici took third, followed by Libby Jones in fourth, Sydney Chambers in fifth, Isabella Empoliti in seventh and Rachel Avant in ninth.
In the boys' 100-yard breaststroke event, Phillip Ryzhkov took first overall with a significant five-second lead and touched with a state qualifying time of 1:05.41. Konata Ford touched in second place, Gabe Montes in third, Ben Balmes in fourth, Cole Pieroni in sixth, and Nathaniel Champion in eighth.
In the girls' 100-yard breaststroke, Jayla Brown swam a great race and touched the wall in second place with a state qualifying time and a new school record of 1:09.86. Katie Fishman finished just behind her in third, Grace Ghent in fourth, Adyson LeeMaster in seventh, and Brigs Riddick in ninth.
In the last event of the day, the boys' 400-yard freestyle A-relay (Gaines, Diponzio, Ryzhkov, Blood) swam a great race. The boys were trailing the A-relay from Centennial going into the last leg of the race. Gaines took off as the anchor of the relay and nearly caught the Centennial team at the touch on the wall. Gaines swam a personal best time with a split of 48.88 and even though Cambridge couldn't outtouch the Centennial team, they earned their state qualifying time of 3:39.67. Gaines and Ryzhkov finished the day with three state qualifying times each.
The girls' 400-yard freestyle A-relay (Grottle, Jayla Brown, Jonsson, Medici) were leading almost the entire race. By the last leg, Cambridge had no one next to them and they sailed into a first place finish with a state qualifying time of 3:51.49. At the end of the meet, Grottle and Jonsson had both tacked up four state qualifying times each, and Jayla Brown had three. The Cambridge C-relay (Jones, Empoliti, Chambers, Henderson) took fourth, and the D-relay (Avant, Lara, LeeMaster, Ho) took sixth. The B-relay was disqualified for an early start by one of the legs.