Inaugural County Line Cup Meet End with a Win for Forsyth but Cambridge Girls' Take Top Score
Friday and Saturday, November 19-20, marked the first of hopefully an annual match-up between Forsyth County swim and dive programs against Fulton. The large meet was an opportunity to have some friendly competition between the two counties and turned out to be a long but very fun match-up. Forsyth schools took the trophies home as the combined score for the Forsyth teams topped the Fulton schools, but the Cambridge girls managed to snag the top score above even 7A schools in attendance.
Girls Team Scores
Cambridge - 280
South Forsyth - 255
West Forsyth - 201
Forsyth Central - 176
Denmark - 156
Centennial - 83
East Forsyth - 65
Chattahoochee - 58
North Forsyth - 49
Alpharetta - 39
Milton - 19
Pinecrest - 6
Boys Team Scores
South Forsyth - 199
West Forsyth - 186
Milton - 176
Denmark - 136
Centennial - 132
Forsyth Central - 127
Alpharetta - 122
Cambridge - 117
Chattahoochee - 70
North Forsyth - 53
East Forsyth - 22
Pinecrest 21
Diving
The County Line Cup started on Friday night with the 6-dive event. The meet was great competition as the best from both counties came to scope out the competition for state. At the end of the night, all of the five divers representing Cambridge finished in the top 10!
Brooklyn Petit has been such a great addition to the dive program. Her gymnastic background, technique, and overall power on the boards is evident. She has managed to put up a state qualifying score in all three meets she has been in for the Bears and that earned her third place out of 24 divers. Captain Emilija Ragaine also put on an amazing performance with a score that never went below a 6 for each of her dives. Her performance earned her fourth place with another state qualifying performance. Julia Versluis saw significant improvement at the end of last season and she has just continued to improve this year. Incredibly solid dives and high levels of difficulty earned her sixth place overall. Versluis has already qualified for state and her performance last night also was a qualifying score. Addy Woods put up her best performance this season and even added in a new very difficult dive to her routine. Taking the risk and raising her degree of difficulty earned her eighth place overall and her coveted state qualifying score. She is the fourth diver to earn a state qualifying score this season. Lilah Versluis has been another great addition to the program. Every meet she gets better and she's going to be an incredible contributor in the years ahead. Her performance earned her ninth place. All together, the divers contributed 37 points to give the Bears a head start going into the swim portion of the meet on Saturday!
Swimming
The swimmers came onto a very crowded deck, ready to put in the time that day. It was going to be a long meet, so they got comfortable and made their plans on how to stay focused, energized and fueled for the long day ahead.
The meet started off with a lot of excitement! In the boys 200-medley relay, Michael O'Connor kicked off the relay in backstroke and had the Bears in fourth place. Oleg Kolesnikov dove in for the breaststroke leg and swam an incredible 27.72 split to pull the Bears all the way to second place. Ben Grottle took on the butterfly stroke and by the time he touched the wall with a split of 24.53, the Bears had pulled to first place. The freestyle leg was swam by Gavin Grann and is always the most competitive leg of the race. Grann tried to hold on to the Bears' narrow lead but was out-touched even with Grann swimming a personal best split for his leg. The Bears took third in the race with a time of 1:43.25, which is three-seconds faster than their prior state qualifying time this season. The B-relay (Alex O'Connor, Aaron Grann, Gavin Schoeling, Dylan Brousseau) took second in their heat and ninth place overall, and the C-relay (Matthew Harper, Yan Berezitsky, Elijah Edison, Raj Malik) took 8th in their heat and 21st overall.
The girls continued the excitement in their relay! Jennifer Griner took on the backstroke event and we were tied for first. Jamie Walsh took on breaststroke and we were just slightly trailing in second place. Claire Kerber jumped in to take on butterfly and flew the Bears into first place in the first 25 and extended to full body length lead coming into the wall. Sister Kate Kerber finished the Bears off in freestyle, extending the lead and sailing into first place. The girls' medley relay has been an event made of gold. The girls' medley relay has yet to be defeated and has held the gold medal at state for the last two years. The girls hope to maintain that status moving forward. The B-relay (Olivia Skinner, Camille Brown, Jessie Hernandez, Abby Harber) took first in their heat and eighth place overall. Closing following the B-relay was the C-relay (Molly Thompson, Taylor Minnich-Trapino, Emma Solomon, Ana-Clare Grann) in third in their heat and 20th overall.
In the boys 200-freestyle, Michael O'Connor took fifth in the final heat of the event and took sixth overall. Dylan Brousseau took second in his heat which earned him 12th overall. Yan Berezitsky took second in his heat and took 13th overall, and Matthew Harper took third in his heat and earned 18th overall.
For the girls, Claire Kerber, Jessie Hernandez and Olivia Skinner took on the fastest heat of the event. Kerber held a comfortable lead throughout the event and increased her lead by the end to touch in first with a time of 2:02.29 which is a new state qualifying time for the season. Her time earned her second place in the event overall. Hernandez took sixth in the head with a time just off the state qualifying time and it earned her eighth place overall. Skinner took 9th in the heat and it earned her 12th overall in the event. Paige Jaeger took third in her heat and took 14th overall, and Sydney Forbes took third in her heat and took 15th overall.
In the boys 200-individual medley, Ben Grottle improved his best time in the final heat of the event by taking second overall with a time of 2:02.26, which very comfortably qualifies him for state. Alex O'Connor was in the same heat at Grottle and he finished in ninth in the heat and 13th overall just off the state qualifying time. Gavin Schoeling took second in his heat and finished 15th overall.
The girls stacked the final heat of the 200-IM. Going into the event, the girls team was trailing in the overall team score in third place and this event was going to change all of that. Kate Kerber led the heat with a slight lead in butterfly, a slightly larger lead in backstroke, propelled forward in breaststroke and sealed the deal in freestyle. Kerber comfortably came in first with a time of 2:14.08, qualifying her for state. Teammate Jennifer Griner propelled forward in the last two legs of the event to overcome the second place swimmer to out-touch and steal second for herself with a state qualifying time of 2:16.33. Jamie Walsh put up an amazing performance as well and took fourth in the event also with a state qualifying time. Three swimmers. Three state qualifiers. Three in the top five. This event propelled the Bears well ahead of the rest of the teams to solidify a first place position that the Bears will hold on to for the rest of the meet.
In the boys 50-freestyle, Oleg Kolesnikov took 9th in his event and 14th overall. Raj Malik took 6th in his heat and 65th out of 74 athletes in the event.
In the girls 50-freestyle, Abby Harber and Samantha Hamilton competed in the final heat of the event. With a fifth place finish in the heat, Harber took sixth in the event overall. Hamilton took seventh in the heat and took 10th overall. Ana-Clare Grann took fourth in her heat and 34th overall. Taylor Minnich-Trapino took ninth in her heat and 44th overall. Molly Thompson took fourth in her heat and 51st overall. Sela Guy took second in her heat and 73rd overall out of 99 competitors.
At the break for the meet, the girls were leading the girls' competition with 140 points, over South Forsyth who trailed with 86 points in second place. The boys' team was sitting in seventh overall.
In the boys 100-butterfly, Dylan Brousseau took first in his heat with a new personal best time of 1:00.89 and that earned him 14th overall. Gavin Schoeling took third in his heat with a new best time by almost three seconds, which earned him 16th overall. Matthew Harper took on the event for the first time and earned fourth in his heat and 23rd overall. Elijah Edison also took on the event for the first time and took seventh in his heat and 30th overall.
In the girls 100-butterfly, the girls were once again stacked in the fastest heat of the event. Claire Kerber, Jennifer Griner and Camille Brown snagged a spot in the top heat. With a seemingly easy go, Kerber sailed into first a new best time this season of 59.12, qualifying for state. Jennifer Griner also finished with a state qualifying time of 1:03.43 which earned her fourth in the heat and fourth overall. Camille Brown finished in fifth in her heat and sixth overall, just missing the state qualifying time of .04 seconds. Emma Solomon took second in her heat and finished in 21st overall.
In the boys 100-freestyle, Zach Andersen won his heat by swimming a new best time. He earned 18th overall. Gavin Grann swam a new best time as well and finished seventh in his heat, 19th overall. Raj Malik improved his time by a full second, took seventh in his heat and finished in 53rd overall.
In the girls 100-freestyle, Sydney Forbes was the top finisher for the Bears. She took fourth in her heat and finished in 13th overall. Paige Jaeger pushed a final sprint to the wall and finished in sixth in her heat and 16th overall. Abby Harber finished right behind Jaeger with an eighth place heat finish and 18th overall. Emma Solomon finished in seventh in her heat and 36th overall. Sela Guy finished second in her heat and 55th overall. Abigail Marzullo finished in fourth in her heat and 56th overall.
In the boys 500-freestyle, Alex O'Connor competed in the top heat. Taking seventh place in his heat earned him seventh place overall. Yan Berezitsky won his heat with a new best time by almost 5.5-seconds, he claimed 11th overall.
In the girls 500-freestyle, Kate Kerber, Jamie Walsh and Jessie Hernandez all competed in the top heat. Kate Kerber took an early lead and held it through the whole event and even lapped some of the swimmers by the end of her race. She finished with a state qualifying time of 5:26.34. Jamie Walsh swam an incredibly solid race and finished in third in her heat and third overall with a state qualifying time of 5:34.60. Jessie Hernandez finished in fifth in her heat and fifth overall.
In the boys 200-yard freestyle relay, Alex O'Connor, Oleg Kolesnkov, Zach Andersen and Dylan Brousseau took on the top relay for the Bears. Finishing in seventh in their heat earned them ninth overall. The B-relay was made up of Matthew Harper, Raj Malik, Yan Berezitsky, and Elijah Edison. They took third in their heat and finished in 18th overall.
In the girls 200-yard freestyle relay, Samantha Hamilton, Abby Harber, Sydney Forbes, and Paige Jaeger fought for a top finish for the Bears. Trailing in third for most of the event, the last two legs of the race was able to push hard enough to out-touch Central Forsyth to steal second place and set a new state qualifying time for the event. The B-relay was made up of Moly Thompson, Taylor Minnich-Trapino, Ana-Clare Grann and Olivia Skinner. They fought hard until the very end and finished in second in their heat to take 13th place overall.
In the boys 100-backstroke event, Ben Grottle put on a show with his second place finish. With a time of 53.17, he qualified for state and set a new school record in the event, besting the time set last year by Billy Blood. Michael O'Connor took ninth place in the heat and finished in ninth overall with a state qualifying time of 58.82. Aaron Grann took first in his heat and finished in 14th overall. Zach Andersen took seventh in his heat and 19th overall with a new best time. Gavin Grann took eighth in his heat and finished in 20th overall with a new best time by over two seconds. Elijah Edison took third in his heat and finished in 33rd overall.
In the girls 100-backstroke event, Olivia Skinner took fourth in her heat and finished in ninth overall. Samantha Hamilton took ninth in her heat and 17th overall. Ana-Clare Grann took eighth in her heat and finished in 35th overall. Molly Thompson finished in second in her heat and 36th overall.
In the last individual event of the night, the boys 100-breaststroke had Oleg Kolesnikov in the final heat. With a hard-fought race among the top three athletes, Kolesnikov got out-touched at the end to take third in the heat and in overall standing with a state qualifying time of 1:02.90. Aaron Grann took fifth in his heat and finished in 17th overall with a new best time.
In the girls 100-breaststroke, Camille Brown competed in the final heat and dropped almost 1.5-seconds to take fifth overall with a new state qualifying time of 1:14.98. Taylor Minnich-Trapino took second in her heat and 15th overall with a new best time by almost two seconds. Abigail Marzullo took first in her heat and 29th overall.
In the last event of the night, the boys 400-freestyle A-relay was made up of Ben Grottle, Gavin Grann, Michael O'Connor, and Zach Andersen. Grottle started off the group to sit in second place with a state qualifying lead-off leg of 50.75, Grann tried to maintain the very tight pack of teams that were trailing Centennial after the first leg. O'Connor pushed the team away with the other top teams as they caught up to Centennial to further compact the race. It was down to the last leg for about five teams all at the top of the pack. In the end, the Bears took fourth with a new improved state qualifying time of 3:32.75. The B-relay was made up of Aaron Grann, Gavin Schoeling, Matthew Harper, and Yan Berezitsky. The team took fourth in their heat and 12th overall.
The very last event belonged to the girls 400-freestyle relay. It was Cambridge and South Forsyth battling for first. Kate Kerber started the girls off with the first leg in state qualifying fashion with a time of 56.23, followed by Samantha Hamilton, Jennifer Griner and then Claire Kerber. The girls fought as hard as they could but they could not close the gap at the end. Finishing with a time of 3:47.55, the girls took second place, but scored enough points to maintain their overall score domination over South Forsyth at the end of the meet. The B-relay was made up of Jessica Hernandez, Sydney Forbes, Paige Jaeger, and Camille Brown. Hernandez kicked off the relay with a state qualifying time of 58.35 and the group dominated from there. The girls took first in their heat and sixth overall. The C-relay (Jamie Walsh, Ana-Clare Grann, Abigail Marzullo, Sela Guy) took third in their heat and 17th overall.
The Bears will host Riverwood and River Academy on Monday, Nov. 22nd at Cumming Aquatic Center. Diving will begin at 10:30 AM followed immediately by the swimming events.
Come cheer on your Bears!
