On Friday, December 21st, Cambridge hosted Milton and South Forsyth at Cumming Aquatic Center. While many had notable performances, the Bears fell short against Milton and South Forsyth. 

Girls' Team Scores
South Forsyth 259
Cambridge 231
Milton 141 

Boys' Team Scores
South Forsyth 243.5
Milton 223.5
Cambridge 122 

Combined Team Scores
South Forsyth 502.5
Milton 364.5
Cambridge 353

Diving

The meet started with the dive program. For the boys, Maddox Riddick completed a number of dives with very high levels of difficulty and earned high scores, but came just short of the required 200 points for state qualifying. Riddick took third with teammate Brendan Hunt taking fifth. Hunt is making great progress and showing improvement every week with his increasingly challenging routines. Both boy competitors have been valuable contributors to the program at these tight meets.

On the girls' side, Cambridge swept all top spots. Sophomore Kate McKay had a great routine and topped her previous 6-dive high score by taking first with a score of 215.05. Haley Copeland took second with 180.85, Noor El-Gazairly took third with 179.95, Michaela Prevallet took fourth with 175.35 and Camila Montes took fifth with 162.00. South Forsyth divers had to settle for sixth and seventh. Prevallet and Montes are looking to have great 11-dive performances at the meet on January 5th and join the others at the state meet.

Swimming

To start off the swim competition, the boys' 200-yard individual medley (John Empoliti, Gabe Montes, Aiden Goodnight, Abhi Malik) took fifth. The girls' A-relay (Lauren Jonsson, Grace Ghent, Claire Kerber, Emma Guy) took second, the B-relay (Libby Jones, Camille Brown, Delaney Goodell, Eva Medici) took fifth, the C-relay (Emma Solomon, Adyson LeeMaster, Laura Watkins, Rachel Henderson) took ninth, and the D-relay (Sydney Forbes, Katie Fox, Izzy Filipek, Adi Avishai) took 12th.

In the 200-yard freestyle event, on the boys' side, Nick DiPonzio took third with an improved time of 1:56.23. On the girls' side, Rachel Henderson took 11th, Anna Kerber took 12th, Priscilla Rodriguez Sevilla took 14th, Amelia Duffner took 16th, and Katie Fox took 17th.

In the 200-yard individual medley event, on the girls' side Jayla Brown took third, Libby Jones took seventh, Delaney Goodell took eighth, Laura Watkins took 11th, Adi Avishai took 13th, and Izzy Filipek took 14th.

In the 50-yard freestyle event, Aiden Goodnight took seventh with an improved time, with teammate Konata Ford taking eighth. Harrison Cottick took 17th. On the girls' side, Claire Kerber took third with a 26.87, just off the state qualifying requirement. Brooke McLain took fourth, Emma Guy took sixth, Eva Medici took 11th, Caitlin-Rose Burke took 12th, Sydney Forbes took 14th, and Katie Fox took 18th. 

In the 100-yard butterfly, Ben Grottle has an amazing performance and clocks a 55.09 which breaks the school record that has stood since the 2015-2016 season set by Jake Todd. Grottle took first in the event. Gabe Montes took fifth and Aiden Goodnight took fifth. On the girls' side, Abby Grottle follows her brother by also breaking the existing school record (that she had set last season) by over a second and a half to touch the wall in 59.16. Grottle takes first in the event. Lauren Jonsson also drops time to touch in 1:02.49 and takes third in the event. Delaney Goodell takes 10th, Laura Watkins takes 13th, Rachel Henderson takes 14th, and Emma Solomon takes 15th.

In the 100-yard freestyle event, Nick DiPonzio takes fourth, John Empoliti takes seventh, Konata Ford takes eighth. The girls had a great showing with Jayla Brown taking first, followed by Emma Guy touching the wall with a time of 57.90, which qualifies her for state for the second year in that event. Brooke McLain takes fourth, Claire Kerber takes fifth, Grace Ghent takes seventh, Camille Brown takes eighth, Adyson LeeMaster takes 12th, Caitlin-Rose Burke takes 13th, and Sydney Chambers takes 14th.

In the 500-yard freestyle, Abhi Malik takes 8th and Harrison Cottick takes ninth. For the girls, Anna Kerber drops about 30-seconds to take fifth, Sydney Forbes takes eighth,

In the 200-yard freestyle relay, the boys' A-relay (Ben Grottle, Aiden Goodnight, Konata Ford, Nick DiPonzio) took third. For the girls' team, the A-relay (Abby Grottle, Jayla Brown, Claire Kerber, Brooke McLain) takes first with a new best time for the season of 1:44.25. Grottle's leadoff leg was a state qualifying time. The B-relay (Emma Guy, Delaney Goodell, Grace Ghent, Camille Brown) took fourth, the C-relay (Caitlin-Rose Burke, Sydney Chambers, Anna Kerber, Adyson LeeMaster) took nineth, and the D-relay (Amelia Duffner, Priscilla Rodriguez Sevilla, Adi Avishai, Emma Solomon) took 14th.

In the boys' backstroke, Ben Grottle takes second with a new better state qualifying seed time of 56.54. For the girls' team, Abby Grottle takes second with a new school record of 1:00.68. Lauren Jonsson took third with a new better state qualifying seed time of 1:01.95. Eva Medici took eighth, Libby Jones took 10th, Adi Avishai took 17th, and Emma Solomon took 18th.

In the 100-yard breaststroke, Gabe Montes took second, John Empoliti took sixth, and Abhi Malik took 10th. For the girls' team, Grace Ghent took third, Camille Brown took seventh, Sydney Chambers took ninth, Amelia Duffner took 12th, Adyson LeeMaster took 13th, and Priscilla Rodriguez Sevilla took 17th.

In the last event of the day, the boys' 400-yard freestyle relay (Ben Grottle, Gabe Montes, Konata Ford, Nick DiPonzio) took third. Ben Grottle swam a state qualifying time in the 100-yard freestyle with the leadoff leg of the relay of 51.73. The girls' team had the A-relay (Abby Grottle, Lauren Jonsson, Brooke McLain, Jayla Brown) easily take first with a time of 3:52.42. Abby Grottle's leadoff leg was state qualifying and also set a new school record in the 100-yard freestyle. The B-relay (Libby Jones, Rachel Henderson, Anna Kerber, Sydney Chambers) took seventh, the C-relay (Caitlin-Rose Burke, Sydney Forbes, Katie Fox, Eva Medici) took eighth, and the D-relay (Amelia Duffner, Laura Watkins, Priscilla Rodriguez Sevilla, Izzy Filipek) took 11th.

Preview

On Saturday, January 5th, the divers will compete at Cumming Aquatic Center for the Lambert Dive Invitational. This will be a great opportunity for divers wanting to qualify for state to do so.

The swimmers and divers will co-host the Fulton County Championship meet at West Gwinnett Aquatic Center on Thursday, January 10th. The Bears are hoping to outperform Alpharetta and get close to Johns Creek to bring home a trophy.

Come support your Bears in the new year!