Bears Swim/Dive Team Continues Undefeated Season Against Region Powerhouses, Friday, Nov. 22nd

Bears Swim/Dive Team Continues Undefeated Season Against Region Powerhouses, Friday, Nov. 22nd

On Friday night, November 22nd, Cambridge hosted Alpharetta, North Forsyth and North Springs at Cumming Aquatics Center for their first home meet of the season. With combined team score and the girls team score, Cambridge remains undefeated after the challenging night of competition. Not only did the team come away with a win, they had 25 individual state qualifying swims and 6 relay state qualifying performance. As if that wasn't good enough, Cambridge also crushed 2 individual school records and one relay school record. 

Combined Team Scores
Cambridge - 1190
Alpharetta - 1074
North Forsyth - 756
North Springs - 521 

Girls Team Scores
Cambridge - 645
Alpharetta - 525
North Forsyth - 397
North Springs - 243 

Boys Team Scores
Alpharetta - 549
Cambridge - 545
North Forsyth - 359
North Springs - 278 

The meet starting with the diving event. Cambridge's dive program has grown substantially and had 12 divers competing on Friday evening. For the boys team, Maddox Riddick took first place with a score of 179.70, followed by teammate Brendan Hunt with a score of 153.85. Jack Oblen, in his second dive competition of his career, took fourth with a score of 143.95. For the girls team, Kate McKay took the top score of 184.40, followed by teammate Noor El-Gazairly in second. Emilija Ragaine took fourth, Addy Woods took sixth, Gracie Counsell seventh, Camila Montes took eighth, Hana El-Gazairly took tenth, Malaika Murlidhar took 12th nd Margeaux Messier took 13th. Cambridge's dive program contains a lot of talent and the competition for the top four to go to state will be a tough one for the girls.

After the conclusion of the dive portion, the meet began the swim portion. Cambridge came out strong with the boys A-medley relay (Matthew Gaines, Gabe Montes, Billy Blood, Ben Grottle) taking third and swimming a state qualifying time of 1:43.46 and also breaking last year's school record. Last week at Wesleyan, the A-medley relay (Ben Grottle, Gabe Montes, Billy Blood, Michael O'Connor) broke the school record with a time of 1:42.62 as well. The girls' A-medley relay team (Sophie Brison, Jayla Brown, Claire Kerber, Abby Grottle) followed suit with a state qualifying time of 1:50.38 which crushed the school record by five seconds! They easily took first in the event with a lead of over 10-seconds. The B-relay (Libby Jones, Grace Ghent, Camille Brown, Sydney Forbes) took third.

In the boys 200-yard freestyle event, Matthew Gaines fought hard and came in second with a state qualifying time of 1:49.85. Jack O'Connor touched the wall just shy of a state qualifying time but grabbed fourth place points for the Bears. In the girls event, Jayla Brown swam a state qualifying time of 2:05.29 and took third place. Libby Jones took fourth with a personal best time.

In the boys 200-yard individual medley, Gabe Montes swam a great race to finish in second and make a new state qualifying time of 2:06.47. Montes was followed by Michael O'Connor who touched at the exact time required for state of 2:12.00 anf fourth place. For the girls team, Abby Grottle swam a great race with a heavy lead over the competition for a new state qualifying time of 2:11.48. Following close behind was teammate Claire Kerber in third place with a state qualifying time of 2:19.68.

In the boys 50-yard freestyle, Aiden Goodnight took eighth. For the girls team, Emma Guy touched in second just off the state qualifying time and Brooke McLain took third also just off the state qualifying time.

In the boys 100-yard butterfly, Ben Grottle smoked the rest of the competition by touching the wall in 54.69, which crushed the school record that he set last year and very easily qualifies Grottle for state. Teammate Billy Blood took second with a state qualifying time of 56.02, and Jack O'Connor took third with a state qualifying time of 57.28. Butterfly continued to be a good event for the Bears as Claire Kerber took first for the girls with a state qualifying time of 59.49. Camille Brown also qualified for her first state individual event with a time of 1:04.84. Brown's time earned her fourth place points. Libby Jones took fifth and Eva Medici took sixth.

In the boys 100-yard freestyle, John Empoliti swam a new personal best time of 56.16 to take sixth place. For the girls, the 100-free proved to be a very strong event. Abby Grottle blew away the competition by taking first with a time of 54.41. Teammate Emma Guy took second with a new state qualifying time of 57.88. Brooke McLain took third, and Grace Ghent took fourth.

In the 500-yard freestyle, Matthew Gaines easily took first with a state qualifying time of 4:47.41. For the girls, Sophie Brison also won the event by a substantial margin with a time of 5:18.65. Anna Kerber took third.

In the boys 200-yard freestyle relay, the Bears took fourth with a state qualifying time of 1:37.75 (Jack O'Connor, Aiden Goodnight, Gabe Montes, Michael O'Connor). For the girls, Cambridge had to settle for second and a state qualifying time of 1:48.27.

In the boys 100-yard backstroke, Ben Grottle once again leaves the competition far behind and touches the pads with a state qualifying time of 55.05. Teammate Billy Blood takes third with a state qualifying time of 58.62 and Michael O'Connor grabs his second state qualifying time of the night with a 59.74. For the girls, backstroke proved to also be a strong point. Sophie Brison touches the wall in first place over five-seconds ahead of the second-place finisher with a state qualifying time of 58.06. Her time also crushed the school record by over two-seconds. Eva Medici grabbed her first individual state qualifying time of the season by taking third in a time of 1:05.81.

In the 100-yard breaststroke, Gabe Montes shaves off a little bit of time to finish in third with a state qualifying time of 1:04.16. For the girls, Jayla Brown took second with a state qualifying time of 1:10.39 followed by Grace Ghent in third with her first individual state qualifying time of the season of 1:14.20. Camille Brown just missed the state cut, but took fourth place.

In the last event of the evening, the Bears swept the competition. The boys A-relay (Matthe Gaines, Billy Blood, Jack O'Connor, Ben Grottle) took first with a state qualifying time of 3:22.78, which was over seven-seconds before the next relay finisher. Matthew Gaines swam a state qualifying leadoff leg with a time of 49.07. For the girls team, the A-relay (Abby Grottle, Jayla Brown, Claire Kerber, Sophie Brison) finished 20-seconds (yes, 20-seconds) before the second place finisher for a state qualifying time of 3:40.26. Abby Grottle's leadoff leg (53.98) bested her earlier state qualifying time in the 100-free. The B-relay (Eva Medici, Grace Ghent, Emma Guy, Brooke McLain) took third.

The Bears look to keep up the momentum with their meet on Monday, November 25th against Roswell, Rivers Academy, and Riverwood. The Bears host the meet at Cumming Aquatic Center starting at 11:00 AM. Diving will start the meet and swimming will start approximately 45-minutes later, immediately following dive.

Come and support your Bears!