On Thursday, January 13th, Wesleyan hosted the Bears and Lovett at their home pool. The Bears were slightly short-staffed and were challenged by the fast pace of the meet and the short staffing of athletes, so at the end of the night, the Bears fell just shy of the points they needed to claim the win. All three teams battled one another for each race and ended with an incredibly close competition. It was a great experience for the Bears at a great facility.

Combined Team Scores

Lovett – 440
Cambridge – 421
Wesleyan – 414

Girls Team Scores

Lovett – 236
Cambridge – 207
Wesleyan – 194 

Boys Team Scores

Wesleyan – 220
Cambridge – 214
Lovett – 204

The boys kicked off the meet with the 200-medley relay. The A-relay (Jack O'Connor, Oleg Kolesnikov, Zach Andersen, Alex O'Connor) took third with a time of 1:48.62. The B-relay (Aaron Grann, Yan Berezitsky, Gavin Schoeling, Dylan Brousseau) touched immediately after in fourth place. 

The girls team A-medley relay (Olivia Skinner, Jamie Walsh, Kate Kerber, Abby Harber) took third with a time of 2:01.41. The B-relay (Ana-Clare Grann, Camille Brown, Emma Solomon, Phoenix Koontz) took fifth and the C-relay (Molly Thompson, Taylor Trapino, Amelia Duffner, Abigail Marzullo) took seventh.

In the boys 200-freestyle, Gavin Grann swam a new personal best and took second place. Alex O'Connor touched next in third and Yan Berezitsky took fifth.

For the girls, Olivia Skinner took second, Paige Jaeger took third, and Samantha Hamilton took fourth.

In the 200-individual medley, Ben Grottle claimed the win easily sailing into first with an over three-second buffer from the next athlete. Zach Andersen took third.

In the girls 200-IM, Kate Kerber gave the Bears the sweep in the event by claiming first place also in the event. She also claimed a three-second buffer over the next competitor. Jamie Walsh took fourth.

In the boys 50-free, Aaron Grann took ninth, Gavin Schoeling took 13^th, Matthew Harper took 14^th, Elijah Edison took 17^th, and Raj Malik took 21^st.

For the girls, Sydney Forbes took third overall, Abby Harber took fifth, Ana-Clare Grann took 14^th with a new best time, Phoenix Koontz took 15^th, Emma Solomon took 16^th, Amelia Duffner took 17^th, Taylor Trapino took 18^th, Molly Thompson took 19^th, and Abigail Marzullo took 21^st with a new best time.

Swimming took a break so the dive competition could commence. The Bears were represented by Julia Versluis, Hana El-Gazairly, Lilah Versluis, and Malaika Murlidhar. The divers put up some great performances and had solid scores throughout. Hana El-Gazairly earned the top score for the Bears and took 2^nd place overall with one of her best scores of the season (218.55). Julia Versluis took fourth place, Lilah Versluis took fifth and Malaika Murlidhar took 12^th.

The swimming events picked up with the boys 100-butterfly. Dylan Brousseau took second place, Gavin Schoeling took third, and Matthew Harper took sixth.

For the girls, Kate Kerber claimed her second individual event win by winning the 100-butterfly by an incredibly nine-second lead. Amelia Duffner took fifth with a new best time.

In the boys 100-freestyle, Gavin Grann took third, Oleg Kolesnikov took sixth, Jack O'Connor took 10^th, Dylan Brousseau took 15^th, and Elijah Edison took 17^th with a new best time.

For the girls' team, Sydney Forbes took sixth place, Abby Harber took eighth, Samantha Hamilton took ninth, Phoenix Koontz took 11^th, Emma Solomon took 13^th, and Molly Thompson took 14^th.

In the boys 500-freestyle, Zach Andersen swam a new personal best by over 15-seconds to take second place, and Yan Berezitsky also dropped about five-seconds to take third place. Jack O'Connor took fourth.

For the girls, Camille Brown took second place and Jamie Walsh took third.

In the boys 200-freestyle relay, the A-relay (Ben Grottle, Oleg Kolesnikov, Gavin Grann, Alex O'Connor) took second place with a time of 1:35.88, a new best time for the season. The B-relay (Matthew Harper, Elijah Edison, Raj Malik, Gavin Schoeling) took seventh.

For the girls, the A-relay (Sydney Forbes, Paige Jaeger, Samantha Hamilton, Abby Harber) took second, the B-relay (Olivia Skinner, Phoenix Koontz, Ana-Clare Grann, Taylor Trapino) took fifth, and the C-relay (Amelia Duffner, Abigail Marzullo, Emma Solomon, Molly Thompson) took seventh.

Ben Grottle claimed his second win of the night with the 100-back. Alex O'Connor took second.

Olivia Skinner completed the sweep of the 100-back by taking first in the 100-back. Ana-Clare Grann took fourth.

Oleg Kolesnikov won the 100-breast by six-seconds. Aaron Grann swam a new personal best and took second place. Raj Malik took ninth.

In the girls 100-breast, Camille Brown took fifth, Taylor Trapino took eighth, and Abigail Marzullo took ninth with a new best time.

In the last event of the night, the boys 400-freestyle relay (Ben Grottle, Jack O'Connor, Gavin Grann, Alex O'Connor) took second place. The B-relay (Dylan Brousseau, Aaron Grann, Yan Berezitsky, Zach Andersen) took fourth. The C-relay (Elijah Edison, Matthew Harper, Raj Malik, Gavin Schoeling) took seventh.

For the girls, the A-relay (Kate Kerber, Sydney Forbes, Samantha Hamilton, Jamie Walsh) touched in first but unfortunately were called for an early take-off and were disqualified. The B-relay (Paige Jaeger, Camille Brown, Phoenix Koontz, Amelia Duffner) took fourth.

The Bears are looking forward to their last regular season competition with the Metro Championships next Friday and Saturday, January 21-22. Divers will compete on Friday and swimmers on Saturday. After that, the Bears have two weeks to polish up and prepare for the state championships!