Girls Hold onto Fulton County Champion Title for the Fourth Year; Combined Team Ends with Highest Score in Program History
On Thursday, January 5th, Cambridge participated in the annual Fulton County Championship meet at West Gwinnett Aquatic Center. Teams participating ranged from 5A to 6A teams and is always a meet with fast times and friendly rivalry. The girls' team ended the night dominating the girls competition, the boys took fifth, and combined the program finished in third behind Johns Creek (6A) and Alpharetta (6A) which is the highest the team has ever performed with their combined score.
The divers competed first in the afternoon. Brooklyn Petit claimed the championship title last year, and had another great performance this year and finished as runner up. Lilah Versluis also performed extremely well and took third. Hana El-Gazairly took fifth and Karsyn Warden took seventh. Petit, Versluis and El-Gazairly had state qualifying performances but all three have already been state qualifiers this season.
The swim events began with the 200-medley relay. For the boys, the A-relay (John Murphy, Yan Berezitsky, Gavin Schoeling, Jax Jackson) took ninth and the B-relay (Ryan Robertson, Elijah Edison, Matthew Harper, Bryson Mynatt) took 11th. For the girls, the A-relay (Sophie Brison, Caroline Gaines, Kate Kerber, Jennifer Griner) swam a new best time this season of 1:51.65 and won the event by a long stretch. To say this relay dominated the competition is an understatement. This is the fourth year that the girls have taken gold in this event. The B-relay (Olivia Skinner, Alana Drevet, Jamie Walsh, Abby Harber) took sixth.
In the boys 200-freestyle, Gavin Schoeling took 13th, Elijah Edison took 18th, Matthew Harper took 19th, and Maor Bigio took 25th. Edison dropped about four-seconds to have a new best time. For the girls, Sophie Brison comfortably won the event by a significant margin with a time of 1:54.94, which was a new top time this season but we will see Brison potentially swimming this again and going even faster later this season. Olivia Skinner took seventh with another state qualifying time, followed by Samantha Hamtilon also with a state qualifying time. Hayden Whalen took 16th.
In the boys 200-individual medley, Zach Andersen swam a new best time of 2:11.57, which also clocked his first individual state qualifying time. Gavin Grann just barely missed the state qualifying time, but took 11th with a new best time by about 13-seconds! For the girls, Jennifer Griner took second with a new best time of 2:16.28, followed by Jamie Walsh also with a new best time in third. Molly Thompson took 15th and Audrey Lampa took 16th.
In the boys 50-freestyle, Cale Coleman took third, dropped a small amount of time to finish in 22.46. This is the first time a Cambridge boy has finished in the top three in the event. Bryson Mynatt also went a new personal best and took 35th and Ryan Robertson went a new personal best and took 43rd. For the girls, Abby Harber took seventh place and clocked her first state cut of the season with a time of 26.48. Ana-Clare Grann took 23rd.
In the boys 100-butterfly, Gavin Schoeling took 10th, Jax Jackson went a new best time and took 12th, John Murphy went a new best time and took 13th, Aaron Grann took 15th, Matthew Harper took 23rd, and Moar Bigio took 24th. For the girls, Kate Kerber took the championship title with a new best time for the season of 57.80. Samantha Hamitlon also swam a new best time and took 12th, Audrey Lampa took 18th, and Hayden Whalen took 23rd.
In the boys 100-freestyle, Cale Coleman took 5th and Bryson Mynatt took 29th with a new best time. For the girls, Abby Harber clocked her second state cut with a time of 58.10 and took 10th place overall. Alana Drevet went a season best time and took 14th, Liel Bigio took 32nd, Molly Thompson took 38th and Sela Guy took 50th.
In the boys 500-freestyle, Jax Jackson took 6th with a new best time that was a half-second from the state qualifying time. Jackson hopes to shave off that necessary time to get to compete in the event again at state. For the girls, the Bears swept the event. Kate Kerber claimed her third gold of the day by winning the event with a new best time of 5:12.33. Jennifer Griner touched right after Kerber and took second place with a new best time of 5:23.56. Olivia Skinner took 8th with a new best time and her second state qualifying time of the night with a time of 5:38.99. The girls knocked the 500-freestyle out of the park!
In the 200-freestyle relay, the boys A-relay (Aaron Grann, Gavin Grann, Zach Andersen, Cale Coleman) took fifth and the B-relay (Elijah Edison, Ryan Robertson, Matthew Harper, Bryson Mynatt) took 13th. In the girls event, the A-relay (Abby Harber, Olivia Skinner, Jamie Walsh, Samantha Hamilton) was disqualified for an early take-off, but the B-relay (Audrey Lampa, Ana-Clare Grann, Molly Thompson, Alana Drevet) took 12th.
In the boys 100-backstroke, Gavin Grann narrowly missed the state cut with a 10th place finish, but touched in a new best time of 1:00.69. John Murphy swam a new best time and finished in 12th place, Elijah Edison swam a new best time and took 15th, and Ryan Robertson took 27th. For the girls, Sophie Brison held onto her county championship title for the fourth year in the event by touching with a time of 56.05. Caroline Gaines took fifth, Ana-Clare Grann took 24th, and Liel Bigio took 27th.
In the boys 100-breaststroke, Aaron Grann took 12th, Yan Berezitsky took 14th with a new best time, Zach Andersent took 18th with a new best time, and Ian Grann took 29th with a new best time. For the girls, Caroline Gaines claimed the county champion runner-up position for the second year with a new season best time of 1:09.49. Alana Drevet swam a new season best time and took fifth, and Jamie Walsh took eighth. All three girls had state qualifying times.
In the final event of the night, the boys 400-freestyle A-relay (Gavin Grann, Gavin Schoeling, Zach Andersen, Cale Coleman) took fourth overall, the B-relay (Jax Jackson, John Murphy, Yan Berezitsky, Aaron Grann) took eighth. For the girls, the A-relay (Jennifer Griner, Kate Kerber Caroline Gaines, Sophie Brison) took the gold for the fourth year in a row by almost a full pool length with a time of 3:43.18. The B-relay (Samantha Hamilton, Ana-Clare Grann, Molly Thompson, Audrey Lampa) took 11th with Samantha Hamilton swimming a state qualifying time in the 100-free with her leadoff leg split of 57.16.
Next week, the Bears travel to Greater Atlanta Christian for the first ever Region Championships. The girls swimming preliminary events will be held on Thursday, and the boys on Friday. The top 16 in every individual and relay event will be invited back to compete in the finals heats on Saturday afternoon. The diving region championships will be held on Saturday morning. Come and support your Bears!
