On Friday, December 7th, Cambridge traveled to Wesleyan to face off against Wesleyan and Lovett in a swim and dive competition. While the boys' team was short-handed and fell to both Wesleyan and Lovett, the girls' team dominated both teams and made up the point differential to take second place overall.
Combined Team Score
Wesleyan 516
Cambridge 441
Lovett 377
Girls' Team Score
Cambridge 290
Wesleyan 218
Lovett 173
Boys' Team Score
Wesleyan 298
Lovett 204
Cambridge 151
Cambridge started off the meet strong with the boys' and girls' 200-medley relay. For the boys' team, the A-relay (Jack O'Connor, Gabe Montes, Michael O'Connor, Nick DiPonzio) took first with a time of 1:52.05. The girls' team followed suit and finished in first as well with their A-relay (Libby Jones, Grace Ghent, Emma Guy, Brooke McLain) finishing in 2:04.16. The B-relay (Emma Solomon, Adyson LeeMaster, Rachel Henderson, Delaney Goodell) took fourth and the C-relay (Adi Avishai, Amelia Duffner, Laura Watkins, Sydney Forbes) took sixth.
In the 200-yard freestyle event, Jack O'Connor swam an incredible race and push hard to finish strong and took second overall with a time just off the state cut. Aiden Goodnight took sixth. For the girls' team, Libby Jones swam a great race and took second, followed by teammate Morgan Young in fourth, and Sydney Chambers in eighth.
In the boys' 200-individual medley, Nick DiPonzio, already a state qualifier in the event, swam an incredible race and took second. For the girls' team, Cambridge did a full sweep. Camille Brown took first with no competition and over a 10-second lead to teammate Rachel Henderson who took second place and Laura Watkins who took third.
In the boys' 50-yard freestyle event, John Empoliti took 12th and Harrison Cottick took 17th. For the girls' team, Brooke McLain took third, Emma Guy took fifth, Paige Jaeger took eighth, Anna Kerber took ninth, Adyson LeeMaster took 10th, Sydney Forbes took 11th, Priscilla Rodriguez Sevilla took 16th, Izzy Filipek took 19th, and Adi Avishai took 31st.
The swim competitions took a break while the diving competition commenced. Wesleyan in particular is known for an outstanding dive program. Their divers consistently claim top places at the state meet and provided great competition for the growing Cambridge program. The diver participated in their short 6-dive program to test themselves and prepare for the state meet.
For the boys' team, Maddox Riddick showed a lot of improvement in some of his most challenging dives. He took sixth with a score of 152.30. Freshman Brendan Hunt also showed significant improvement with his technique and dive completions to finish in seventh with a score of 127.35.
For the girls' team, Kate McKay took second with a score of 214.55 which is an over 11-point improvement from her last 6-dive routine and would qualify her for state with her short program, which is incredibly challenging to do. Haley Copeland also nailed many of her dives and impressed the judges to earn third place. Margeaux Messier took seventh with some improved scores as well.
Resuming the swim portion of the meet, Aiden Goodnight dropped two second in his 100-yard butterfly even just from his performance on Wednesday evening. Goodnight is getting closer and closer to his state qualifying time. Gabe Montes took fifth. On the girls' side, Olivia Cash claimed first place and teammate Delaney Goodell finished in third and Rachel Henderson took fourth.
In the 100-yard free event, Konata Ford easily took first in his heat and then claimed fifth overall with a time of 56.20. John Empoliti took 10th, Abhi Malik took 13th, and Harrison Cottick took 14th. On the girls' team, Brooke McLain took second with a time of 58.87 followed by Emm Guy in fourth with a season best time of 58.98. Grace Ghent took fifth, Camille Brown took sixth, Morgan Young took ninth, Paige Jaeger took 11th, Sydney Forbes took 12th, Priscilla Rodriguez Sevilla took 13th, Anna Kerber took 14th, Laura Watkins took 19th, Emma Solomon took 21st, Amelia Duffner took 23rd and Adi Avishai took 24th.
In the 500-yard freestyle, Michael O'Connor swam an incredible race and improved his state qualifying time by three seconds to touch the wall in 5:15.49 which also earned him first place. For the girls' team, Delaney Goodell fought to finish strong and out-touched the Lovett swimmer to take second place. Izzy Filipek took fourth and Sydney Chambers took sixth.
In the 200-yard freestyle event, the boys' relay (Aiden Goodnight, Abhi Malik, Harrison Cottick, John Empoliti) took sixth. For the girls' team, the A-relay (Emma Guy, Brooke McLain, Libby Jones, Eva Medici) were leading the first half of the race, but the Wesleyan team narrowed the race and passed the Bears at the end so the girls had to settle for second. The B-relay (Morgan Young, Sydney Chambers, Camille Brown, Olivia Cash) took fourth, and the C-relay (Anna Kerber, Sydney Forbes, Emma Solomon, Adyson LeeMaster) took sixth.
In the boys' 100-yard backstroke event, Nick DiPonzio checked another event off his list by finishing in first with a time of 59.83 which qualifies him for his second individual event. Jack O'Connor, another state hopeful, finished in second with a Cambridge sweep of the event. The girls' team followed up in similar fashion by claiming the top three spots. Eva Medici, in her third meet in a row, took first place, Libby Jones took second, and Olivia Cash took third.
In the 100-yard breaststroke event, Konata Ford took first with a time of 1:06.74 with Gabe Montes finishing not far behind in third place. For the girls' team, Grace Ghent took a huge lead and held on to that lead for the whole race and finished almost nine-seconds ahead of the next finisher. Her time showed a two-second drop and gets her significantly closer to the state qualifying time she wants. Adyson LeeMaster also drops time and takes third overall and Amelia Duffner takes eighth.
In the last event of the evening, the boys' 400-yard freestyle relay battled back and forth with the top relay team from Wesleyan but couldn't close the gap at the end. The A-relay (Michael O'Connor, Jack O'Connor, Gabe Montes, Nick DiPonzio) took second. The B-relay (John Empoliti, Harrison Cottick, Abhi Malik, Aiden Goodnight) took fifth. For the girls' team, the A-relay (Camille Brown, Morgan Young, Delaney Goodell, Grace Ghent) took care of business but couldn't hold on to the pace of the top relay team from Wesleyan. They took second with a solid race. The B-relay (Rachel Henderson, Anna Kerber, Sydney Chambers, Olivia Cash) took fourth, and the C-relay (Priscilla Rodriguez Sevilla, Paige Jaeger, Izzy Filipek, Amelia Duffner) took sixth.
Preview
After a very challenging week of competition, the Bears will spend the week preparing themselves for the Meet of Champions next weekend at Georgia Tech. The dive competition will take place on Friday afternoon, Dec. 14th at 4:00 PM and the swim portion will take place at 10:00 AM on Saturday, Dec. 15th. Year after year, this meet is a great test for the Bears in terms of preparation for their last month of training and competition to lead up to state. The Bears can typically grab a couple more state qualifying times and at such a great facility, it will be a meet of great dives and swims. Come cheer on your Bears!
On the 21st, the Bears will also take on Milton and South Forsyth at a home meet at Cumming Aquatic Center at 8:15 PM. Diving will go first and swimming will start immediately after.
