On Friday and Saturday, December 17-18, Cambridge swim and dive competed in the Madeline Jude Brown Meet of Champions at Marist.
Madeline Brown was a swimmer at Marist and then at Emory that tragically lost her life, so Marist and the Brown family host a meet every year in her memory. It's always a great competition before winter break for athletes to be among some very significant talent in preparation for championship season next month. Due to COVID precautions and the size of the meet, the invitational was held in two sessions. Cambridge competed in the first session with half of the teams. Results were only posted following the completion of the second session. The times and places below are within the session the Bears participated in and then overall once both sessions were combined for the final results.
Girls Team Results: Third Place
Boys Team Results: Tenth Place
Combined Team Results: Fifth Place
Diving
On Friday, four Cambridge divers competed in the very large competition. Captain Emilija Ragaine, Addy Woods, Julia Versluis and Brooklyn Petit represented the Bears. Only four were allowed to attend from each school and these were the top four scorers for the Bears. With a long meet format, competition becomes even more challenging. At the end of the night, Brooklyn Petit was the top finisher for the Bears with a fourth place overall finish out of 35 girls. Addy Woods took seventh, Emilija Ragaine took eighth, and Julia Versluis took 12th. Great job, Bears!
Swimming
To start off the meet, the boys 200-medley relay (Michael O'Connor, Oleg Kolesnikov, Jack O'Connor, Gavin Grann) took fourth in the session and fifth overall out of the two sessions. The B-relay (Aaron Grann, Yan Berezitsky, Gavin Schoeling, Matthew Harper) took 13th in the session and 22nd between the two sessions.
The girls, as usual, put on a great show to kick off their portion of the meet. The A-relay (Sophie Brison, Caroline Gaines, Claire Kerber, Kate Kerber) took first in the session with a time of 1:52.92. They ended up taking third overall in the meet to Lambert (setting a new meet record) and Marist in second. The B-relay (Olivia Skinner, Jamie Walsh, Camille Brown, Abby Harber) took eighth in the session and 13th overall. The C-relay (Molly Thompson, Taylor Minnich, Emma Solomon, Sela Guy) took 13th in the session and 26th overall.
In the boys 200-freestyle, Gavin Schoeling took 20th (33rd in the whole meet) and Matthew Harper took 21st in the session (35th overall) with a new personal best time by over four-seconds.
For the girls, Claire Kerber took seventh in the session (12th overall) with a state qualifying time, Samantha Hamilton took eighth in the session (13th overall), and Paige Jaeger took 13th in the session (20th overall) with a new personal best time by two-seconds.
In the boys 200-individual medley, Jack O'Connor took tenth in the session (19th overall) and Alex O'Connor took 12th in the session (21st overall).
In the girls event, Sophie Brison won the session with a state qualifying time of 2:10.22. Her time also earned her the goal in the event overall for the whole meet. Caroline Gaines finished in fourth in the session (6th overall) with a new best time. Gaines and Brison both had state qualifying times. Kate Kerber took eighth in the session (10th overall) and Amelia Duffner took 16th in the session (23rd overall) with a new best time.
In the boys 50-freestyle, Aaron Grann took 30th (54th overall), Zach Anderson took 33rd (62nd overall), Dylan Brousseau took 35th (69th overall), Ryan Robertson took 56th (111th overall), and Raj Malik took 62nd (123rd overall).
In the girls event, Sydney Forbes took ninth (16th overall), Abby Harber took 13th (24th overall), Phoenix Koontz took 26th (51st overall), Emma Solomon took 36th (68th overall), Ana-Clare Grann took 37th (70th overall), Taylor Minnich took 40th (76th overall), Abigail Marzullo took 62nd (115th overall) and Sela Guy took 63rd (116th overall).
In the boys 100-butterfly, Jack O'Connor took 11th (19th overall), Gavin Schoeling took 18th (29th overall) and Dylan Brousseau took 20th (31st overall).
In the girls 100-butterfly, Claire Kerber wins the session event and the overall event for the meet with a state qualifying time of 59.74. Kate Kerber took sixth in the session (10th overall), and Camille Brown took ninth (14th overall).
In the boys 100-freestyle, Michael O'Connor took seventh (14th overall), just missing the state qualifying time by a tenth of a second with a time of 52.11. Oleg Kolesnikov took tenth (17th overall) with a new personal best time, Gavin Grann took 20th (30th overall), Zach Andersen took 29th (46th overall), Yan Berezitsky took 37th (56th overall), Matthew Harper took 40th (63rd overall), Ryan Robertson took 53rd (91st overall), and Raj Malik took 62nd (108th overall).
In the girls 100-freestyle, Samantha Hamilton took ninth (13th overall), less than a tenth of a second off the state qualifying time. Sydney Forbes took 12th (17th overall), Paige Jaeger took 13th (18th overall) with a new best time, Abby Harber took 24th (36th overall), Phoenix Koontz took 26th (41st overall), Molly Thompson took 38th (64th overall), Sela Guy took 57th (100th overall), and Abigail Marzullo took 60th (103rd overall).
In the girls 500-freestyle event, Caroline Gaines took fourth place in the session (seventh overall), Jamie Walsh took fifth in the session (ninth overall), and Olivia Skinner took tenth (18th overall).
In the boys 200-freestyle relay, the A-relay (Oleg Kolesnikov, Dylan Brousseau, Zach Andersen, Alex O'Connor) took eighth in the session (14th overall), and the B-relay (Yan Berezitsky, Gavin Schoeling, Ryan Robertson, Raj Malik) took 18th in the session (32nd overall).
For the girls, the A-relay (Paige Jaeger, Samantha Hamilton, Sydney Forbes, Abby Harber) took fourth in the session (sixth overall), the B-relay (Emma Solomon, Phoenix Koontz, Ana-Clare Grann, Amelia Duffner) took 12th in the session (24th overall), and the C-relay (Sela Guy, Molly Thompson, Taylor Minnich, Abigail Marzullo) took 15th in the session (31st overall).
In the boys 100-backstroke, Michael O'Connor took fourth with a state qualifying time of 56.06 (seventh overall). Alex O'Connor took tenth (16th overall), Aaron Grann took 12th (19th overall), and Gavin Grann took 15th (28th overall).
In the girls 100-backstroke, Sophie Brison took the win in the session and in the meet overall with a time of 57.38, which was also a new meet record. Olivia Skinner took eighth in the session (18th overall), Ana-Clare Grann took 15th in the session (32nd overall), and Molly Thompson took 17th (36th overall).
In the boys 100-breaststroke, Oleg Kolesnikov had a great race to swim a new best time of 1:01.43, which is two-tenths of a second from the school record. His time earned him second place in the session (fourth overall). Yan Berezitsky took 18th in the session (28th overall).
In the girls last individual event of the night, Jamie Walsh took eighth (12th overall), Camille Brown took ninth (14th overall), and Amelia Duffner took 15th (25th overall).
In the final boys event of the day, the A-relay for the 400-freestyle relay (Michael O'Connor, Jack O'Connor, Alex O'Connor, Gavin Grann) took ninth (14th overall). The leadoff leg for Michael was a state qualifying time of 51.84, which is O'Connor's second state qualifying event this season. The B-relay Dylan Brousseau, Zach Andersen, Aaron Grann, Matthew Harper) took 12th (22nd overall).
In the girls final event, the A-relay (Sophie Brison, Kate Kerber, Claire Kerber, Caroline Gaines) certainly wanted to go out with a bang! Kate Kerber kicked off the relay and had the girls with a slight lead coming into the second lane. Gaines tried to maintain the lead but four school were narrowing in and when the third leg entered, it was anyone's race. Claire Kerber went out as hard as she could to try to pick up ground and in the final 35 yards of the race, pulled ahead of the Brookwood team who was holding the lead. It was up to Brison to close the deal. Brison entered with a slight lead and by the time she turned to start the back half of her race, she was in the lead by about half a body length. Brison finished the race with almost a full body-length lead with her 51.82 split for her leg of the race. The time not only earned the first place finish in the session but also in the whole meet. It was a very exciting way to end the meet! The B-relay (Sydney Forbes, Samantha Hamilton, Jamie Walsh, Camille Brown) took sixth in the session (10th overall).
The swim Bears will race next with Fulton County Championships on January 6th at West Gwinnett Aquatic Center. The dive Bears will compete at a Cambridge-hosted dive invitational on December 29th at Cumming Aquatic Center.
Come and cheer them on at 9 AM on the 29th!
