Cambridge Sweeps Centennial in January 9th Meet
Overall Team Score
Cambridge - 1413
Centennial - 1042
Boys Team Score
Cambridge - 494
Centennial - 391
Girls Team Score
Cambridge - 919
Centennial - 651
On Saturday, January 9th, Cambridge competed against Centennial in a dual meet at Dynamo Swim Center. Centennial, the girls state champion in 2019, has consistently supported quality athletes and they showed exactly that on Saturday, but the Bears were able to come up big with some races that allowed them to sweep the meet as they make their way into the last month before the state meet.
To start off the meet, the boys' A-medley relay (Michael O'Connor, Oleg Kolesnikov, Billy Blood, Ben Grottle) took second with a time of 1:48.89. The B-relay (Zach Andersen, Abhi Malik, Aiden Goodnight, Alex O'Connor) took third. The boys' relay team has already qualified for the state championship meet.
The girls' team dominated the medley relay event. The A-medley relay (Kate Kerber, Jayla Brown, Claire Kerber, Emma Guy) took first with a time of 2:00.78, followed immediately by the B-relay (Eva Medici, Grace Ghent, Kathryn Suplee, Samantha Hamilton) in second place, and the C-relay (Olivia Skinner, Jamie Walsh, Camille Brown, Jessica Hernandez) in third. The D-relay (Emma Solomon, Amelia Duffner, Laura Watkins, Anna Filipek) took fifth. The girls' medley relay has already qualified for the state championship meet. Last year they took the gold medal and hope to do the same this year.
In the boys' 200-freestyle event, Billy Blood took second place with a time of 1:57.09. Jack O'Connor took third, followed by Aiden Goodnight in fourth.
In the girls' 200-freestyle event, Emma Guy took second place with a time of 2:06.65 which qualified her for her third individual state event. Olivia Skinner touched in third just off the state qualifying time, followed by Anna Filipek in fourth and Phoenix Koontz in fifth.
Another event that the Bears dominated was the girls' 200-individual medley event. Freshman Jamie Walsh came up big with a first place finish and her second individual state qualifying event with a time of 2:22.78. Jayla Brown took second place, Kate Kerber took third, and Claire Kerber took fourth.
For the boys' 50-freestyle, Ben Grottle dominated the event with a first place finish in 23.96. Zach Andersen took fifth place, Matthew Harper took sixth place and Nick Feliciani took eighth place.
In the girls' 50-freestyle event, Abby Harber took second place with a time of 27.20, followed by Sydney Forbes in fourth place, Paige Jaeger in sixth place, Laura Watkins in seventh place, Jayci Brown in eighth place, Emma Solomon in ninth place.
In the boys' 100-butterfly, Aiden Goodnight took second with a time of 59.01 followed by Michael O'Connor in third.
For the girls' team, once again, the Bears dominated. Claire Kerber took first with a time of 1:02.37, followed by Kathryn Suplee in second, Camille Brown in third, and Eva Medici in fourth.
In the boys' 100-freestyle, Billy Blood took second with a time of 53.62. Abhi Malik took fifth, Matthew Harper took eighth, and Nick Feliciani took ninth.
For the girls' event, Sydney Forbes took second place and clocked her first individual state qualifying time of 58.45. Paige Jaeger took third, Grace Ghent took fourth, Abby Harper took fifth, Phoenix Koontz took sixth, Jayci Brown took eighth, Laura Watkins took ninth, Izzy Filipek took tenth, Amelia Duffner took 13th, and Emma Solomon took 14th.
In the boys' 500-freestyle event, Alex O'Connor took second with a time of 5:37.00 followed by Oleg Kolesnikov in third.
For the girls' event, Jessica Hernandez took second with a time of 5:39.34, followed by Kate Kerber right behind her in third, Anna Filpek in fourth and Izzy Filipek in fifth.
For the boys' 200-freestyle event, the boys' A-relay (Alex O'Connor, Jack O'Connor, Oleg Kolesnikov, Aiden Goodnight) took second place with a time of 1:44.13, followed by the B-relay (Zach Andersen, Abhi Malik, Matthew Harper, Nick Feliciani) in third.
The girls' 200-freestyle A-relay (Samantha Hamilton, Emma Guy, Kathryn Suplee, Eva Medici) took second narrowly to Centennial's A-relay with a time of 1:47.81. The B-relay (Abby Harber, Sydney Forbes, Paige Jaeger, Grace Ghent) took third, the C-relay (Phoenix Koontz, Olivia Skinner, Jamie Walsh, Camille Brown) took fourth, and the D-relay (Amelia Duffner, Anna Filipek, Laura Watkins, Izzy Filipek) took fifth.
In the boys' backstroke event, Ben Grottle clocked another first place finish with a time of 58.31. Jack O'Connor finished right behind him in second place, with Zach Andersen taking fourth place and Abhi Malik taking fifth.
In the girls' backstroke event, Olivia Skinner came up with a big win in 1:07.60, just off the state qualifying time. Jessica Hernandez took second place, and Samantha Hamilton took third. Amelia Duffner took sixth.
In the boys' 100-breaststroke, Oleg Kolesnikov took second with a time of 1:11.19, followed by Michael O'Connor in third.
For the girls, Jayla Brown took second with a time of 1:10.34, followed by Grace Ghent in third and Jamie Walsh in fourth, both just off the state qualifying time. Camille Brown took seventh.
In the boys' 400-freestyle event, the boys' A-relay (Ben Grottle, Billy Blood, Jack O'Connor, Michael O'Connor) easily took first place with a time of 3:37.91.
The girls followed suit, also taking first place with the A-relay (Jayla Brown, Kate Kerber, Claire Kerber, Emma Guy) with a time of 3:52.03. The B-relay (Kathryn Suplee, Samantha Hamilton, Jessica Hernandez, Abby Harber) took third, and the C-relay (Sydney Forbes, Eva Medici, Phoenix Koontz, Paige Jaeger) took fourth.
Due to COVID restrictions and limitations, end of season championships meets have had to be cancelled, so this was the last meet the whole Bears team will be together for. On January 23rd, some members of the team will participate in a last chance meet for state qualification at Dynamo along with swimmers from Alpharetta, Milton, Johns Creek, Centennial, and Chattahoochee. The following week, about half of the team will participate in an end of season meet while state athletes will rest for the championship meet at the beginning of February.
The dive team will travel to Cumming Aquatic Center on Friday, January 15th to participate in the North Forsyth Invite and then have a last chance to dive before state at the Cambridge Dive Invite on January 29th at Cumming Aquatic Center.
Only a few chances left to see the Bears in action before they travel to Georgia Tech to defend their title!
Here's the recording of the Cambridge v. Centennial Meet from the livestream event: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUfnYerNuNg
Go Bears!