Cambridge Falls to Greater Atlanta Christian in Close Dual Meet
On Saturday, the Bears traveled to Greater Atlanta Christian to compete against last year's region champions, the GAC Spartans. At the end of the meet, GAC came out on top with the Bears bringing a short roster for competition, but the Bears had a number of great performances to walk away with and plans for the rematch at Region Championships in January.
Combined Team Score
GAC - 330
Cambridge - 240
Girls Team Score
GAC - 168
Cambridge - 113
Boys Team Score
GAC - 162
Cambridge - 127
The divers started the meet off for the Bears with Brooklyn Petit and Lilah Versluis bringing some of their best performances of the season. Petit scored a number of 8s (dives are scored 1 - 10) and Versluis ranging from 6 to 8 on all of her dives as well. Petit took first with a score of 324.20 and Versluis took second with a score of 243.00. The divers really brought the energy and got the swimmers excited to continue their momentum.
The medley relay for the boys A-team (John Murphy, Zach Andersen, Oscar Ryzhkov, Bryson Mynatt) held a close race through the middle of butterfly, but started to slip behind and had to settle for second, but swam a solid time of 1:51.04. The B-relay (Ryan Robertson, Tate Robertson, Pranav Kolathaya, Shane Merille) took fourth.
The girls A-relay (Ana-Clare Grann, Molly Thompson, Audrey Lampa, Abby Harber) took second, but got disqualified for an early take-off. The B-relay (Alexis Walkenhorst, Hayden Whalen, Mihika Ayyagari, Christine McVicker) took fourth.
The 200-freestyle had John Murphy claiming first with a time of 2:04.18, followed by Shane Merille taking fifth.
For the girls, the sweep continued with Abby Harber taking first with a time of 2:18.42, followed closely by Hayden Whalen in second, and Mihika Ayyagari in fifth.
The Bears had the taste of gold and continued for the next three races with big wins. Oscar Ryzhkov took first with the 200-individual medley with a time of 2:13.16, just off the state cut and a new personal best time. Elijah Edison took third, Pranav Kolathaya took fifth and Raj Malik took sixth.
Audrey Lampa came up big with the win for the girls in the 200-individual medley with a new personal best time of 2:38.62. Molly Thompson claimed second, and Ana-Clare Grann took third.
Cale Coleman continued the winning streak by finishing in first for the boys 50-freestyle with a state qualifying time of 23.12. Yan Berezitsky went a new personal best time and took fourth, followed by Zach Andersen in fifth with a new personal best time. Ryan Robertson took 10th, and Raj Malik took 13th.
For the girls, Alexis Walkenhorst took fourth and Christine McVicker took 12th with a new best time.
In the boys 100-butterfly, Aneesh Ayyagari took fourth, Tate Robertson took fifth and Pranav Kolathaya took seventh.
In the boys 100-freestyle, Cale Coleman claimed another win with a time of 52.57, followed by Zach Andersen in second. Shane Merille took fifth with a new best time.
Abby Harber claimed first for the girls as well with a time of 1:00.38.
In the boys 500-freestyle, Yan Berezitsky claimed first just off the state time with a 5:25.45. John Murphy took third and Aneesh Ayyagari took fourth.
For the girls, Alexis Walkenhorst held a great pace and picked up momentum in the last 50 to overtake a GAC swimmer to claim second place overall.
In the boys 200-freestyle relay, the A-relay (Yan Berezitsky, Oscar Ryzhkov, John Murphy, Cale Coleman) took second, followed by the B-relay (Elijah Edison, Bryson Mynatt, John Murphy, Zach Andersen) was right behind in third. The C-relay (Aneesh Ayyagari, Shane Merille, Raj Malk, Pranav Kolathaya) took fifth.
For the girls, the A-relay (Molly Thompson, Hayden Whalen, Christine McVicker, Mihika Ayyagari) took fourth.
In the boys 100-backstroke, Ryan Robertson took second, followed by brother Tate Robertson in third with a new best time. Oscar Ryzhkov was disqualified but had touched in first with a new best time, as well as Bryson Mynatt who would have taken fourth.
In the girls 100-backstroke, Audrey Lampa won her second event of the day with a new best time of 1:11.60. Hayden Whalen claimed her second silver of the day with her finish. Mihika Ayyagari took sixth.
In the boys 100-breaststroke, Elijah Edison took third with a new best time and Bryson Mynatt took sixth with a new best time.
In the girls event, Molly Thompson took third, and Ana-Clare Grann took fifth. Christine McVicker was unfortunately disqualified.
In the last event of the day, the boys A-relay in the 400-freestyle (Yan Berezitsky, Oscar Ryzhkov, Bryson Mynatt, Cale Coleman) took first easily with a time of 3:44.90, which was 13-seconds before the GAC A-relay touched the wall. The B-relay (Elijah Edison, Aneesh Ayyagari, Raj Malik, Tate Robertson) took fourth.
For the girls, the A-relay (Audrey Lampa, Molly Thompson, Ana-Clare Grann, Abby Harber) also took gold in the event with almost a 20-second lead over the GAC A-relay. The B-relay (Hayden Whalen, Christine McVicker, Mihika Ayyagari, Alexis Walkenhorst) took third.
The Bears will compete in the Lakeside Invitational next weekend. The divers will compete on Friday evening and the swimmers will compete Saturday afternoon and evening. Keep an eye on these Bears as they finish up their regular season in December and head into championship season in January!