Girls Claim Runner-Up Spot at Metro Championships, Boys Finish Top 10
Metro Championships, hosted by the Westminster School, was the last regular season competition for the Bears this season. This is the last chance for athletes to qualify for the state team before the two weeks of final preparations leading up to Georgia Tech the first weekend of February. With COVID and other factors providing various levels of uncertainty, the athletes showed up on Friday and Saturday (Jan. 21-22) ready to take advantage of this last opportunity. They certainly did not disappoint.
Final Results (out of 30 teams):
Girls Team - 2nd Place (180 Points)
Boys Team - 9th Place (40 Points)
The host team took first in both the girls and boys team scores.
Diving
On Friday afternoon and evening, the Bears competed in the diving competition. Representing Cambridge were seniors Emilija Ragaine and Adeline Woods, junior Julia Versluis, and freshman Brooklyn Petit. This meet is notorious for scoring tough and giving the athletes the best possible exposure to the technical scoring that will take place at the state meet. In addition, the level of competition is extremely high, so athletes get a good opportunity to see how they stack up against the best divers in the area from everywhere from private to public schools.
After taking a little bit of time to warm up to the boards and the competition, Brooklyn Petit really nailed the back half of her dive routine. She got in the rhythm and earned many 8s on her final dives. Petit earned fourth place overall. Next was Emilija Ragaine who had a solid performance throughout and that earned her eighth place overall. Petit and Ragaine both scored valuable points for the Bears to contribute to the swim score the following day. Julia Versluis had a couple dives where she was out of rhythm but really nailed the ones she needed. She earned 16th place overall with her last dive being a very challenging 2.7 twister. Addie Woods took 19th after having some trouble with her back but managing to pull through and nail a number of her dives with extremely high scores. There were 27 divers in total that attended the girls competition. These four will represent Cambridge at the state meet next month.
Swimming
On Saturday afternoon, the Bears showed up for a long meet with very tough competition. There were a number of athletes that had yet to qualify for state and this was the final opportunity so tensions were also high among swimmers to make today count.
The girls medley relay started off the meet with a strong performance. Sophie Brison kicked things off with her backstroke leg, followed by Caroline Gaines in breaststroke, Claire Kerber in fly, and Kate Kerber in free. Going up against the Westminster team, the Bears fell short but dropped their best time of the season to set them up nicely for state. Westminster swam an All-American consideration time and set a new pool record with their performance. The Bears are now seeded with a 1:51.42 time for state.
The boys also had a great performance! Aaron Grann swam the backstroke leg, followed by Oleg Kolesnikov in breaststroke, Gavin Schoeling in fly, and Gavin Grann in freestyle. All boys swam personal best splits and took third place overall.
In the girls 200-freestyle, Claire Kerber took 11th, Samantha Hamilton took 12th, Paige Jaeger took 19th, and Emma Solomon took 30th. Solomon swam a new personal best time by five-seconds and won her heat.
In the boys event, Gavin Schoeling took 21st with a new best time and Matthew Harper took 29th.
In the girls 200-individual medley, Sophie Brison claimed the gold by winning the event with a time of 2:05.45, almost 10-seconds ahead of the second-place finisher. Jennifer Griner took fifth, Jamie Walsh took 11th, and Amelia Duffner took 17th.
For the boys, Zach Andersen dropped over three-seconds from his time to win his heat and take seventh place overall. Elijah Edison took 21st place.
In the girls 50-freestyle, Abby Harber took 15th place overall and claimed her first individual state qualifying time of 26.39. Sydney Forbes swam a new best time, but missed the state qualifying time by 1/10th of a second. Phoenix Koontz also dropped time and took 32nd place overall. Lastly, Ana-Clare Grann swam a new best time and took 40th overall.
In the boys event, Gavin Grann took 18th overall with a new best time, but missed the state qualifying time by eight one-hundredths of a second. Oleg Kolesnikov took 27th overall, Ryan Robertson took 56th, and Elijah Edison took 57th.
In the girls 100-butterfly, Claire Kerber claimed seconds place, followed immediately by sister Kate Kerber in third with a new best time. Emma Solomon took second in her heat and 21st overall in her last high school event. Amelia Duffner took 24th overall in her last high school event.
In the boys event, Gavin Schoeling swam a new best time by over a full second and won his heat. He took 16th place overall. Dylan Brousseau took 20th overall, and Matthew Harper took 26th overall.
In the girls 100-freestyle, Abby Harber once again didn't show up to fall short. She finished in 11th and clocked her second state qualifying time of 58.03. Paige Jaeger took 15th, but came four one-hundredths short of the state qualifying time. Sydney Forbes took 18th, and Samantha Hamilton took 21st.
In the boys event, Gavin Grann clocked his first individual state qualifying time of 51.30 and claimed 10th place. Dylan Brousseau took 29th in his final high school event. Ryan Robertson took 40th, matching his best time.
In the girls 500-freestyle, Kate Kerber had an amazing performance and dropped 10-seconds to take 2nd place with a new best time of 5:16.25. Teammate Jennifer Griner pulled up right behind Kerber to claim third place with a new best time. Olivia Skinner took 10th overall and won her heat, dropping her time. Phoenix Koontz took second in her heat and claimed 20th overall.
The only competitor for the boys team was Yan Berezitsky and he took third in his heat and 13th place overall.
In the girls 200-freestyle relay, Sydney Forbes started them off, Samantha Hamilton followed up, Caroline Gaines came next and then Jennifer Griner finished up. They took third overall and claimed a new best time of the season of 1:44.01.
For the boys relay, after a technical error got them off late, Gavin Schoeling tried to catch them up, followed by Matthew Harper, Dylan Brousseau and Zach Andersen. The boys claimed 14th place overall.
In the girls 100-backstroke, all four competitors bested their times. Sophie Brison, after being beaten in her opening leg of the medley relay, wanted revenge on the Midtown swimmer. She went out with a fury and shaved off over 1.5-seconds from her time to touch in 55.74 and claim the gold in her second individual event of the night. Following not far behind was Caroline Gaines. Gaines dropped over two-seconds from her best time to claim 5th place overall. Olivia Skinner was able to solidify her spot on the state roster with a 1.05.90 finish, her first individual state cut of the season. Her time earned her 12th place. Ana-Clare Grann dropped over three-seconds from her time to take 22nd place.
In the boys event, Aaron Grann dropped a half-second from his time to take 8th place overall and narrowly miss the state qualifying time. Zach Anderson shaved off two-tenths of a second to take 13th overall.
In the last individual event of the night, Caroline Gaines was the first finisher for the Bears. After riding most of the race in the middle of the pack, Gaines makes a push in the last 25-yards of the race to launch herself into second place and drop almost two-seconds from her time. Jamie Walsh took 10th, and Taylor Minnich-Trapino took 28th. Molly Thompson was unfortunately disqualified from the event for an illegal turn.
In the boys event, Oleg Kolesnikov certainly put on a show. Chasing the school record all season, Kolesnikov only needed to shave off about two-tenths of a second to make it. Instead of just shaving off what he needed to, Kolesnikov had the performance of his career. Not only did he drop time, but he was the first Cambridge swimmer in history to break a minute in the 100-breast. Kolesnikov took third overall with a new school record of 59.91, dropping over a second and a half from his best time. Aaron Grann also had an amazing race and swam a new best time, but unfortunately was seven-tenths of a second off the state qualifying time. His performance earned him 15th overall. Yan Berezitsky took second in his heat and 21st overall. Raj Malik was unfortunately disqualified from the event for an illegal turn.
In the final event of the night, the girls 400-freestyle relay made a last minute change. In order to give Paige Jaeger one more chance to qualify in the 100-freestyle, Claire Kerber gave up her spot on the relay for Jaeger could lead off and get a chance to qualify. Jaeger was determined not to let this opportunity go to waste. With the race of her life, Jaeger got her cut with a split of 57.83, dropping almost a full second from earlier in the meet. Jennifer Griner took over after Jaeger in the relay, followed by Kate Kerber and finished up with Sophie Brison. The Bears touched in second, but due to an early take-off from Westminster, the Bears claimed first place in the event.
In the boys event, Oleg Kolesnikov swam a personal best time in the leadoff position, followed by Aaron Grann, Zach Andersen, and finished off by Gavin Grann swimming a personal best split of 50.81. The boys finished in 10th overall.
After an incredibly exciting meet, the Bears walked away with 28 new best-time swims, 12 new or improved state qualifying times, and one new school record. The Bears are pumped and excited to embark on final preparations for the State Meet in a couple weeks, but were able to enjoy and celebrate in this final full-squad competition with all teammates.
