On Friday and Saturday, Dec. 14th & 15th, the Bears traveled to Georgia Tech to compete in the 12th annual Madeleine Jude Brown Meet of Champions, hosted my Marist. Girls' team finished in 7th out of 26 teams and the boys' team finished 12th out of 22 teams.

Diving

The divers competed on Friday afternoon and evening and shared boards with some of the best divers in the state. Maddox Riddick, Cambridge's only male diver in the competition, made it through the first round of cuts which allowed him to finish his full 11-dive routine. Without any failed dives, Riddick was able to show a lot of improvement and took risks on a number of very challenging dives. Riddick finished 12th out of 18 divers. For the girls' side, Kate McKay, Margeaux Messier, Haley Copeland and Noor El-Gazairly competed for the Bears. After the first round of cuts after 5 dives, Kate McKay and Haley Copeland made it through in the top 16. After the first round, McKay was in 8th place and Copeland was in 10th place. After the divers were cut to 10 divers following the 8th round, neither McKay nor Copeland made it through. McKay finished in 13th place, Copeland in 15th place, El-Gazairly in 25th and Messier in 33rd out of 42 divers. All four of the girls have already qualified for state but it was great opportunity for them to practice on the boards they will compete on again at the state meet in February. The talent displayed at the meet was incredible, but most of the top scorers were from private schools that the Bears will not have to compete against at the state meet. With only a small number of divers from 6A and 7A schools making it into the top 10, the Bears were among good company and show they can compete with the best in the state regardless of region conference. 

Swimming

The swimmers made their way to the very same deck the following morning. Competition began at 11:00 AM and completed at 5:00 PM. Very long meets are challenging for even the best of swimmers and this challenged the endurance, concentration and mental toughness of all athletes on deck.

In the 200-yard medley relay, the boys' A-relay (Nick DiPonzio, Konata Ford, Billy Blood, Matthew Gaines) shaved off some time to swim a new season best 1:46.30 which earned them 13th out of 41 relay teams. The B-relay (Jack O'Connor, Gabe Montes, Aiden Goodnight, Michael O'Connor) also had great swims and splits which helped them win their heat and take 22nd place overall.

On the girls' side, the 200-yard medley relay A-relay (Lauren Jonsson, Jayla Brown, Claire Kerber, Brooke McLain) had an outstanding performance and cut over a second off their best time to swim 1:55.59 and earned them second place out of 45 relay teams, only falling to 7A team from Brookwood. The B-relay (Libby Jones, Grace Ghent, Delaney Goodell, Morgan Young) took 19th, the C-relay (Emma Solomon, Caitlin-Rose Burke, Anna Kerber, Adyson LeeMaster) took 26th, and the D-relay (Amelia Duffner, Priscila Rodriguez Sevilla, Laura Watkins, Adi Avishai) took 34th.

Matthew Gaines followed up his great performance in the medley relay with a second place finish out of 46 athletes in the 200-yard freestyle event with a time of 1:44.38 which is an improved state qualifying time. Michael O'Connor finished in 22nd, Aiden Goodnight swam a new best time in the event and took 28th.

Jayla Brown competed in the 200-yard freestyle for the first time this season and swam a new state qualifying time of 2:02.47 which earned her eighth place out of 45 athletes. Claire Kerber took 18th, Rachel Henderson dropped significant time and took 24th, Morgan Young took 36th.

In the 200-yard individual medley, Jack O'Connor came within two-seconds of the state qualifying time to swim a 2:13.68 and take 24th out of 37 athletes.

For the girls' team, Olivia Cash dropped over 7.5 seconds to finish in 24th out of 40 athletes. Grace Ghent took 31st, Laura Watkins dropped time to take 35th, and Anna Kerber took 38th.

In the boys' 50-yard freestyle, John Empoliti took 72nd, Abhi Malik took 83rd with a new best time, and Harrison Cottick took 87th out of 135 athletes.

In the girls' 50-yard freestyle, Brooke McLain was determined to secure her second individual state cut and was successful in not only earning her time but also touching in at a faster time than she swam at state last year. Taking 6th place out of 161 athletes, McLain touched the wall in 26.13. Claire Kerber took 17th, Emma Guy took 19th, Eva Medici took 35th, Delaney Goodell took 39th, Caitlin-Rose Burke took 42nd, Sydney Forbes took 51st, Priscila Rodriguez Sevilla took 69th, Paige Jaeger took 73rd, Katie Fox took 77th, and Emma Solomon took 88th.

In the boys' 100-yard butterfly, Billy Blood took 16th out of 44 athletes with a time of 57.36, Gabe Montes swam a new best time and took 32nd, Michael O'Connor finished right behind him in 33rd, Aiden Goodnight took 36th.

For the girls' team, Lauren Jonsson swam a new state qualifying time of 1:04.20 which earned her 11th place out of 50 athletes. Delaney Goodell shaved off almost 3.5 seconds to take 24th overall, Olivia Cash cut time and took 28th, and Rachel Henderson took 39th.

In the boys' 100-yard freestyle, Nick DiPonzio took 29th out of 132 athletes with a time of 53.39, Abhi Malik dropped over 2-seconds to take 83rd, and Harrison Cottick took 93rd.

In the girls' 100-yard freestyle event, Brooke McLain took 10th out of 156 athletes, Emm Guy took 20th, Adyson LeeMaster dropped time to take 56th, Anna Kerber took 57th, Sydney Forbes dropped time and took 58th, Sydney Chambers took 61st, Priscila Rodriguez Sevilla took 73rd, Laura Watkins dropped over two-seconds to take 76th, Katie Fox took 79th, and Izzy Filipek took 95th with a new best time.

In the boys' 500-yard freestyle event, Matthew Gaines showed up big for his third race of the day to take second place overall out of 32 athletes with a time of 4:41.15 which is a new season best time. Jack O'Connor was within an arm's reach of the state qualifying time but missed it by about ½ second to take 17th place, but his time does mark a new personal best of 5:20.53.

In the girls' 500-yard freestyle, Lauren Jonsson does her job and takes fifth place out of 39 athletes with a time of 5:22.08. Libby Jones dropped almost three-seconds to take 16th, Morgan Young takes 34th place and Izzy Filipek takes 36th.

The boys' 200-yard freestyle A-relay (Michael O'Connor, Gabe Montes, Konata Ford, Aiden Goodnight) took 22nd out of 44 relay teams with a time of 1:40.97.

The girls' 200-yard freestyle A-relay (Emma GUy, Delaney Goodell, Grace Ghent, Claire Kerber) took 12th out of 52 relay teams with a time of 1:51.63. The C-relay (Anna Kerber, Sydney Forbes, Izzy Filipek, Caitlin-Rose Burke) took 31st, the B-relay (Sydney Chambers, Olivia Cash, Rachel Henderson, Adyson LeeMaster) took 33rd, and the D-relay (Amelia Duffner, Adi Avishai, Paige Jaeger, Priscila Rodriguez Sevilla) took 40th.

Billy Blood has another solid performance in the 100-yard backstroke event by taking 16th out of 49 athletes with a time of 58.71. Nick DiPonzio swims a new best time and finishes just after Blood in 17th.

Eva Medici continues to swim well in her 100-backstroke event and takes 16th overall out of 50 athletes. Libby Jones takes 26th, Sydney Chambers takes 40th, and Emma Solomon takes 43rd.

In the boys' 100-yard breaststroke, Konata Ford takes 12th place out of 51 athletes with a season best time of 1:04.75. Gabe Montes takes 20th, John Empoliti drops time and takes 37th.

In the girls' 100-yard breaststroke, Jayla Brown has another awesome swim and takes second place out of 56 athletes with a time of 1:09.59. Grace Ghent continues to get better and better and drops almost a full second to be within almost ½ second of the state qualifying time. Her performance earned her 18th overall. Caitlin-Rose Burke dropped almost three-seconds and took 33rd, and Adyson LeeMaster took 40th.

The boys' 400-yard freestyle relay, Matthew Gaines topped off his day with a state qualifying leadoff leg of the relay with a time of 48.68. Nick DiPonzio, Billy BLood and Jack O'Connor all had splits that clocked below 54-seconds to shave off almost four seconds from their best time this season to finish in 3:28.46. Their performance earned them 10th out of 33 teams.

The girls' team also had a great performance. The 400-yard freestyle A-relay (Jayla Brown, Lauren Jonsson, Emma Guy, Brooke McLain) took 6th overall with a time of 3:53.44. Jayla Brown's leadoff leg improves her state qualifying time to a 55.75.  The B-relay (Libby Jones, Morgan Young, Rachel Henderson, Olivia Cash) took 19th, the C-relay (Sydne Forbes, Izzy Filipek, Emma Solomon, Sydney Chambers) took 29th, and the D-relay (Amelia Duffner, Paige Jaeger, Adi Avishai, Laura Watkins) took 34th.

Preview

The Bears look to next week where they will host Milton and South Forsyth on Friday, December 21st at 8:15 PM at the Cumming Aquatic Center. Divers will compete first and swimmers will follow immediately after. Diver will compete on January 5th at the Cumming Aquatic Center for the Lambert Dive Invitational.

After Winter Break, the Bears will co-host, with Northview, Fulton County Championships on January 10th at West Gwinnett Aquatic Center. Diving will take place at 2:00 PM and swimming will start immediately after, no earlier than 4:00 PM.