The Bears traveled to Cumming Aquatic Center on December 2nd and 3rd to compete in the Central Forsyth Holiday Invitational. At the end of the day, the Bears walked away with two titles. For the second year in a row, the Bears won the combined team score winning title and the boys team title. The girls team took third place.
On Friday evening, the divers took to the boards. With over 50 divers participating in competition that evening, there was a lot of talent on display. At the end of the night, Brooklyn Petit took first place and Lilah Versluis took second. Petit and Versluis had their best performances of the season with their agenda that night. With the Bears securing both top positions and senior Karsyn Warden scoring in 11th place, the Bears headed into the swim competition with a significant point lead.
On Saturday, the Bears started off with the medley relay. For the boys, the A-relay (Cale Coleman, John Murphy, Gavin Schoeling, Gavin Grann) took third overall. The B-relay (Elijah Edison, Ian Grann, Matthew Harper, Bryson Mynatt) took seventh. For the girls team, the A-relay (Molly Thompson, Hayden Whalen, Audrey Lampa, Mihika Ayyagari) took 11th.
In the boys 200-freestyle, Yan Berezitsky took fifth place with a substantial time drop of over eight-seconds. Aneesh Ayyagari took 12th.
In the boys 200-individual medley, Zach Andersen took third and Elijah Edison took sixth with a significant time drop from last season of over 14-seconds. For the girls, Olivia Skinner took the win in the event with a state qualifying time of 2:22.99.
In the boys 50-freestyle, Gavin Grann took second with an improved state qualifying time of 23.18. John Murphy took 18th with an improved time, Bryson Mynatt took 27th with an improved time, Tate Robinson and Ian Grann took 37th with a tie in time, Pranav Kolathaya in 40th, Grey Donner took 53rd with an improved time, and Aneesh Ayyagari took 55th. In the girls 50-freestyle, Abby Harber took fifth, Ana-Clare Grann took 23rd, Molly Thompson took 38th, Hayden Whalen took 44th, Sela Guy took 63rd, and Abigail Marzullo took 64th.
In the boys 100-butterfly, Gavin Schoeling took second with a state qualifying time of 57.30. Matthew Harper had an over two-second time drop to take ninth place. In the girls event, Samantha Hamilton took second place with a new best time, and Hayden Whalen took fifth.
In the boys 100-freestyle, Zach Andersen took 12th place, Ryan Robertson took 22nd with a new best time, Bryson Mynatt took 24th with a new best time, Tate Robinson took 30th with an improved time, Pranav Kolathaya took 43rd, and Grey Donner took 46th. For the girls, Abby Harber won the event overall, Audrey Lampa took ninth with a new best time, Molly Thompson took 21st, Mihika Ayyagari took 34th with a new best time, and Sela Guy took 48th.
In the boys 500-freestyle, Cale Coleman plowed over the competition to take first with a state qualifying time of 5:04.84. Gavin Grann took second with an over 10-second time drop. For the girls, Samantha Hamilton also took gold in this event with a time of 5:51.78 which was an over 15-second time drop from the last time she swam it.
In the boys 200-freestyle relay, the A-relay (Zach Andersen, Aaron Grann, Matthew Harper, Yan Berezitsky) took third and the B-relay (Ryan Robertson, Tate Robertson, Bryson Mynatt, Aneesh Ayyagari) took 11th. For the girls, the A-relay (Abby Harber, Olivia Skinner, Ana-Clare Grann, Samantha Hamilton) took second and the B-relay (Audrey Lampa, Mihika Ayyagari, Molly Thompson, Hayden Whalen) took 10th.
In the boys 100-back, Aaron Grann took fifth and Ryan Robertson took ninth with a new best time. For the girls, Olivia Skinner won the event with an almost two-second time drop and her second state qualifying time of the day! Audrey Lampa took 10th with a new best time, Ana-Clare Grann took 12th, and Abigail Marzullo took 19th with a new best time.
In the boys 100-breast, Yan Berezitsky continued his good day with an over two-second time drop and a win in the event as a whole. Aaron Grann took fourth, Cale Coleman took sixth, Gavin Schoeling took 13th with a new best time, John Murphy took 14th, Elijah Edison took 17th with a new best time, and Ian Grann took 21st. For the girls, Mihika Ayyagari took 25th with a new best time.
In the final event of the day, the boys 400-freestyle A-relay (Gavin Schoeling, Gavin Grann, John Murphy, Cale Coleman) took first overall. The B-relay (Elijah Edison, Yan Berezitsky, Aaron Grann, Zach Andersen) took 4th and the C-relay (Pranav Kolathaya, Ian Grann, Grey Donner, Aneesh Ayyagari) took 10th. For the girls, the A-relay (Abby Harber, Olivia Skinner, Ana-Clare Grann, Samantha Hamilton) took third overall.
The Bears will travel to Cobb Aquatic Center next weekend for the Blue Devil - Spartan Invitational and then to Marist for the Madeleine Jude Brown Meet of Champions on December 16th and 17th. After December, the Bears will begin championship season with their final three regular season meets before heading to the state meet in February!
Come and cheer on your Bears!
