On Monday, November 20th, Cambridge took on South Forsyth, Forsyth Central and Pinecrest Academy at Cumming Aquatic Center. It was the first meet where the swimmers and divers got to compete together and Cambridge came up just short of South Forsyth and took second overall, and with the boys' and girls' team scores.
Combined Team Score
South Forsyth 1,392
Cambridge 1,048.5
Forsyth Central 967.5
Pinecrest 560
Boys' Team Score
South Forsyth 682
Cambridge 481.5
Forsyth Central 472.5
Pinecrest 320
Girls' Team Score
South Forsyth 710
Cambridge 567
Forsyth Central 495
Pinecrest 230
In the boys' medley relay, the A-relay team (Diponzio, Ryzhkov, Cofrancesco, Balmes) took third overall, followed by the B-relay (Montes, Ford, Pieroni, Goodnight) in sixth.
In the girls' medley relay, the A-team (Jonsson, Fishman, Medici, Guy) took third overall, the B-relay (Duffner, Jayci Brown, C McLain, Doodell) took fifth, the C-relay (Jones, Riddick, Ho, LeeMaster) took seventh.
In the boys' 200-yard freestyle event, Don Cofrancesco took sixth with a new best time, followed immediately by teammate Phillip Ryzhkov in seventh.
In the girls' 200-yard freestyle, Lauren Jonsson took third with a state qualifying time of 2:01.71. Maggie Duffner followed Jonsson in fifth with a new best time by three-seconds, Delaney Goodell took eighth, Anna Kerber took ninth, Sydney Chambers took eleventh, and Brigs Riddick took sixteenth.
In the boys' 200-yard individual medley, Billy Blood took third with a full second improvement and coming just short of the state qualifying time for the event. Konata Ford took fourth, Aiden Goodnight took tenth.
In the girls' 200-yard individual medley, Abby Grottle took second with a state qualifying time of 2:16.42 and Jayla Brown took fourth also with a state qualifying time of 2:23.33. Isabelle Empoliti took eighth, Rachel Avant took twelfth.
In the boys' 50-yard freestyle event, Ben Balmes took fifth with some time improvement, followed by Nick Iline in tenth, and Nathaniel Champion in twenty-fourth out of 34 swimmers.
In the girls' 50-yard freestyle, Brooke McLain took fifth, Katie Fishman took eleventh, Morgan Young took twelfth, Carolyn McLain took fourteenth, Katie Fox took twenty-fourth, Rebecca Ho and Irazu Lara tied and took twenty-eighth out of 48 swimmers.
In the dive portion of the meet, Turner Mignerey well outperformed the other competitors and received consistent scores of six and above on his dives. He received 222.45 points and took first. Maddox Riddick took advantage of his second opportunity to dive this season and took fifth with a score of 111.85. Both scored important points for the Bears. On the girls' side, Noor El-Gazairly showed tremendous improvement and took second with a score of 162.90, followed by Margeaux Messier in third with a score of 155.45 out of seven divers. Both girls have their sights set on state.
In the boys' 100-yard butterfly, Cole Pieroni took third, followed by Don Cofrancesco in fourth, and Aiden Goodnight in eighth.
In the girls' 100-yard butterfly, Abby Grottle took third with a state qualifying time of 1:01.13, followed by Emma Guy in tenth, Carolyn McLain in twelfth, Grace Ghent in thirteenth, and Rebecca Ho in fourteenth.
In the boys' 100-yard freestyle, Nick Diponzio took sixth with a new best time of 55.43, followed by Konata Ford also with a new best time of 56.01. John Empoliti took fourteenth also with a new best time.
In the girls' 100-yard freestyle, Brooke McLain took sixth, Emma Guy followed immediately in seventh, Jayci Brown in ninth, Eva Medici in tenth, Maggie Duffner in thirteenth, Morgan Young in fourteenth, Isabella Empoliti in fifteenth, Delaney Goodell in eighteenth, Anna Kerber in nineteenth, Sydney Chambers in twentieth, and Katie Fox in twenty-fifth out of 41 swimmers.
In the 500-yard freestyle, Gabe Montes took sixth for the boys' team. For the girls' team, Lauren Jonsson took third with a state qualifying time, followed by Libby Jones in fifth.
In the boys' 200-yard freestyle relay, the A-tem (Blood, Balmes, Ford, Montes) took second with a state qualifying time of 1:39.14. This was the last state qualifying relay the boys' team needed to make in order to appear in all three relays at state. The B-relay (Iline, Empoliti, Champion, Goodnight) took fifth.
In the girls' 200-yard freestyle relay, the A-relay (B McLain, Medici, Jayla Brown, Grottle) took fourth with a state qualifying time of 1:48.45. The B-relay (Fishman, Young, Empoliti, Ghent) took seventh, and the C-relay (Avant, Chambers, Goodell, Kerber) took eighth. The D-relay was disqualified for an early take-off.
In the boys' 100-yard backstroke, Billy Blood took second with a state qualifying time of 59.92. Nick Diponzio took third with a new best time, Phillip Ryzhkov in fourth, Nick Iline in eleventh, and John Empoliti in fifteenth.
In the girls' 100-yard backstroke, Eva Medici took fifth with a new best time that is just off the state qualifying time, followed by Libby Jones in seventh, and Rachel Avant in twelfth.
In the boys' 100-yard breaststroke, Gabe Montes took fourth, Ben Balmes took fifth with a new best time, Cole Pieroni took eighth with a new best time, and Nathaniel Champion in tenth with a new best time.
In the girls' 100-yard breaststroke, Jayla Brown took first with a very exciting race against top South Forsyth swimmer. Her time was a state qualifying time. Katie Fishman took third, Grace Ghent took fifth, Kayci Brown took seventh, Brigs Riddick took tenth with a new best time, Adyson LeeMaster took thirteenth with a new best time, and Irazu Lara took fourteenth with a new best time.
In the boys' 400-yard freestyle relay, the A-relay (Ryzhkov, Blood, Diponzio, Cofrancesco) took fourth, followed by the B-relay (Pieroni, Champion, Empoliti, Iline) took seventh.
In the girls' 400-yard freestyle relay, the A-relay (Jayla Brown, Jonsson, B McLain, Grottle_ took first overall with a new season best state qualifying time of 3:47.77. The C-relay (Avant, Empoliti, Ghent, Jones) took sixth, and the D-relay (C McLain, Kerber, Chambers, LeeMaster) took seventh. The B-relay was disqualified for an early start.
The Bears are looking forward to their next meet on December 1st where they will face off in a dual meet against Lassiter High School. The meet will begin at 8:15 PM at Cumming Aquatic Center. The divers will start the meet and the swim portion will begin as soon as the diving has ended.