On Saturday, Cambridge took on last year's state champions, Centennial High School, and Northview High School in the first official meet of the season. At the end of the day, Cambridge claimed top scores for the girls team with the boys falling just short in both contests but contributing important points to gain the overall combined team score wins over both teams. The day provided a great preview of the season to come and great team state championship aspirations.
Combined Team Scores
Cambridge 347 Northview 177
Cambridge 308 Centennial 232
Girls Team Scores
Cambridge 224 Northview 31
Cambridge 181 Centennial 101
Boys Team Scores
Cambridge 123 Northview 146
Cambridge 127 Centennial 131
OVERVIEW
The day started out with four first place finished by the Bears. The boys medley relay (Matthew Gaines, Gabe Montes, Aiden Goodnight, John Empoliti) took first overall with a time of 1:47.85, which is a state qualifying time. The girls team followed up in similar fashion with the A-relay (Sophie Brison, Jayla Brown, Eva Medici, Brooke McLain) touching the wall with a time of 1:56.32. The time also easily qualifies them for the state meet. The B-relay (Libby Jones, Grace Ghent, Olivia Skinner, Emma Guy) finished third, and the C-relay (Sydney Chambers, Sydney Forbes, Laura Watkins, Samantha Hamilton) took fourth.
The winning streak continued with senior Matthew Gaines in the 200-yard freestyle event easily touching in first with an almost 10-second lead and a time of 1:50.41, another state qualifying performance. Freshman Sophie Brison easily also took first place with a time of 2:00.07, which was over 16-seconds before the second place finisher. Her time easily qualifies her for state as well.
Aiden Goodnight is the first Cambridge swimmer to finish the 200-IM in fourth place, and Samantha Hamilton finishes in second place overall for the girls team. Hamilton was followed by her teammates Libby Jones in third, Olivia Skinner in fourth, and Laura Watkins in fifth.
Brooke McLain claims another first place finish for the Bears in the 50-yard freestyle with a time just off the state cut. Teammate Emma Guy touches in second place, Olivia Cash in fourth, Jayci Brown in sixth, and Priscila Rodriguez in seventh.
In the 100-yard butterfly, Gabe Montes had a solid performance to take second place overall with a 58.71, which is just off the state qualifying time. Aiden Goodnight took fourth and Dylan Brousseau took fifth. For the girls, Eva Medici took second with a time of 1:07.73, followed by a stream of Cambridge girls. Laura Watkins took third, Emma Solomon took fourth, Anna Kerber took fifth, and Natalie Johnson took sixth.
In the 100-yard freestyle, Jayla Brown touched at the same time as a top Centennial swimmer for first place and a state qualifying time. Brooke McLain took third, Sydney Forbes took fourth, Emma Guy took fifth, Grace Ghent took sixth, and Paige Jaeger took seventh.
In the boys 500-yard freestyle, Matthew Gaines had another substantial victory. Gaines touched the wall with a state qualifying time of 4:53.06, which was almost a full minute before the next athlete touched the wall. John Empoliti took third. Libby Jones took third in the event, followed by Sydney Forbes in fourth and Olivia Skinner in fifth.
In the boys 200-yard freestyle relay, the boys team (Dylan Brousseau, Abhi Malik, Oleg Kolesnikov, Harrison Cottick) took first. The girls A-relay (Grace Ghent, Emma Guy, Libby Jones, Samantha Hamilton) took second, followed by the B-relay (Jayci Brown, Olivia Cash, Sydney Chambers, Phoenix Koontz) took third.
In the 100-yard backstroke, John Empoliti took first with a time of 1:03.14. The girls equally dominated the event with freshman Sophie Brison leading the group by a full pool length and a time of 59.82, a state qualifying time. Eva Medici followed up in second place, Sydney Chambers took third, Olivia Cash took fifth, Paige Jaeger took sixth, Daniella Ryzhkov took seventh.
The boys 100-yard breaststroke was led by senior Gabe Montes who took first with a time of 1:04.78, easily qualifying for state. The girls also dominated the event with Jayla Brown touching in first with a state qualifying time of 1:10.33. Grace Ghent took third, Samantha Hamilton took fourth, Jayci Brown took fifth, Emma Solomon took sixth.
In the last event of the day, the boys team led the pack by over eight-seconds with the A-relay (Matthew Gaines, John Empoliti, Aiden Goodnight, Gabe Montes) touching with a time of 3:40.31. The girls also won the event with the A-relay (Sophie Brison, Eva Medici, Brooke McLain, Jayla Brown) also swimming a state qualifying time of 4:02.08. The Cambridge relay squads continued to touch in the following finishes with the B-relay (Sydney Forbes, Olivia Cash, Olivia Skinner, Anna Kerber) taking second, and the C-relay (Laura Watkins, Daniella Ryzhkov, Morgan Young, Phoenix Koontz) taking third.
Overall the teams had incredibly solid performances and look forward to the match up with Wesleyan on Friday afternoon, Nov. 15th at 5:00 PM at Wesleyan. Following the match up, Cambridge will host two meets at Cumming Aquatic Center against other teams in the area including Roswell, North Forsyth, Riverwood, and North Springs.
Come and support your Bears as they prepare for February's state championship battle for the rings!
