On Friday, November 15th, Cambridge traveled to Wesleyan and showed up big against a strong program. At the end of the night, all six relays swam state qualifying times, 17 individual state qualifying swims were completed, and the dive team secured significant points and occupied top places in their respective competition.
Combined Team Score
Cambridge 400
Wesleyan 219
Girls Team Score
Cambridge 233
Wesleyan 81
Boys Team Score
Cambridge 167
Wesleyan 138
Cambridge came out strong in the match up by claiming the winning finish in the first six events of the meet. The boys' medley relay (Ben Grottle, Gabe Montes, Billy Blood, Michael O'Connor) touched in first with a new season best state qualifying time of 1:46.62. The girls' medley relay (Eva Medici, Grace Ghent, Claire Kerber, Abby Grottle) took first with a state qualifying time of 1:57.83. The B-relay (Libby Jones, Camille Brown, Samantha Hamilton, Emma Guy) took second, and the C-relay (Sydney Chambers, Sydney Forbes, Laura Watkins, Anna Kerber) took third.
In the boys' 200-yard free, Ben Grottle finished body-lengths ahead of the crowd with a state-qualifying time of 1:49.38. Teammate Billy Blood touched in second with a state-qualifying time of 1:53.69. Aiden Goodnight took fourth. For the girls' team, Abby Grottle finished 15-seconds before the second-place finisher with a state-qualifying time of 1:55.57. Eva Medici took second, Morgan Young took fourth, and Anna Kerber took fifth.
In the 200-yard individual medley, John Empoliti led the pack and touched in first. Abhi Malik took third. For the girls' team, Claire Kerber finished 13-seconds before the next finisher with a state-qualifying time of 2:21.18. Samantha Hamilton took second, Olivia Skinner took fourth and Laura Watkins took fifth.
In the 50-yard freestyle, Harrison Cottick took third. For the girls' team, Brooke McLain was second into the wall to finish just off the state-qualifying time, followed by teammates Emma Guy in third, Daniella Ryzhkov in fourth, and Olivia Cash in fifth.
Swimming took a break for the dive competition. With some of their best performances to date, the Bears had an outstanding showing. For the boys' team, Maddox Riddick finished in second place with a score of 212.40, followed by Brendan Hunt in fourth, and the newest addition to the team Jack Oblen taking sixth. On the girls' side, the Bears swept the competition! Kate McKay finished in first with a score of 233.35, followed by Emilija Ragaine in second, Noor El-Gazairly in third, and Margeaux Messier in fourth. Camila Montes, joining us from the state championship cross country team, took sixth in her first meet back.
Back in action, swim took control of the meet once again. Billy Blood started the boys' team off in the 100-yard butterfly with a first place finish and a state-qualifying time of 56.23. Jack O'Connor followed up in second place also with a state-qualifying time of 57.49. Gabe Montes touched the wall in third less than two-tenths of a second off the state-qualifying time. Aiden Goodnight took fifth. On the girls' side, Claire Kerber touched the wall in first with a state-qualifying time of 1:01.84, followed by first-time state-qualifier Libby Jones with a time of 1:04.88. Camille Brown took third.
In the 100-yard freestyle, Jack O'Connor took second just off the state qualifying time, followed by Harrison Cottick with a personal best time. For the girls' team, Brooke McLain finished in first with a state-qualifying time of 58.34 and Emma Guy finished in second. Grace Ghent took fourth, Sydney Forbes took fifth, Jayci Brown took sixth, Sydney Chambers took seventh, and Morgan Young took eighth.
In the 500-yard freestyle, Ben Grottle blew away the competition. He lapped the competition and finished with a state-qualifying time of 4:47.04. Michael O'Connor took second also with a state-qualifying time of 5:09.61. For the girls' team, Abby Grottle also blew away the competition and easily sailed into first with a state-qualifying time of 5:02.42. Teammate Eva Medici took second.
In the 200-yard freestyle relay, the boys' team took second (John Empoliti, Jack O'Connor, Michael O'Connor, Aiden Goodnight) and the B-team took third (Dylan Brousseau, Harrison Cottick, Abhi Malik, Oleg Kolesnikov). For the girls' team, Cambridge out-touched Wesleyan to take first place (Emma Guy, Libby Jones, Grace Ghent, Brooke McLain) with a state-qualifying time of 1:50.09. The B-team (Olivia Cash, Samantha Hamilton, Camille Brown, Sydney Forbes) took third, and the C-team (Morgan Young, Sydney Chambers, Jayci Brown, Olivia Skinner) took fourth.
In the 100-yard backstroke, Michael O'Connor finished less than a tenth of a second off the state qualifying time in first place with a time of 1:00.06. John Empoliti took second. For the girls' team, Libby Jones took first, Sydney Chambers took second, Emma Solomon took third, and Jayci Brown took fourth in a big Cambridge sweep.
In the 100-yard breaststroke, Gbe Montes easily took first with a state-qualifying time of 1:04.45. Oleg Kolesnikov took second. Grace Ghent also easily took first with a time of 1:16.19, followed by another Cambridge sweep of Camille Brown in second, Sydney Forbes in third, and Olivia Cash in fourth.
In the last event of the day, the boys' 400-free relay (Billy Blood, Jack O'Connor, Gabe Montes, Ben Grottle) out-touched Wesleyan to take first with a state-qualifying time of 3:27.25. The girls' team followed suit with a first place finish (Abby Grottle, Brooke McLain, Eva Medici, Claire Kerber) and state-qualifying time of 3:54.15. The B-team (Olivia Cash, Olivia Skinner, Anna Kerber, Jayci Brown) took third, the C-team (Phoenix Koontz, Daniella Ryzhkov, Emma Solomon, Amelia Duffner) took fourth and the D-team (Adi Avishai, Cayley Brock, Kelly Gaines, Abigail Marzullo) took fifth.
Cambridge will host Alpharetta, North Springs and North Forsyth on Friday, November 22nd at Cumming Aquatic Center. Diving begins at 8:00 PM with swimming starting immediately after.
On Monday, November 25th, Cambridge will host Roswell, Riverwood and the Rivers School at 11:00 AM at Cumming Aquatic Center.
Come support your Bears as they push for an undefeated season!
