Please allow me to let you in on a little secret. The Cambridge Bears track & field team is pretty good and now they are on their way to the GHSA state meet later this week in Columbus, Georgia after a record-setting day that saw six school records broken.

 

On Saturday, May 6, the team went to Jefferson High School for one of the two 5A state sectionals. Vying for the right to advance to the state meet, the team advanced the largest number of girls since the 2019 team that finished second in the state and the highest number of boys in the history of the school. Following up on last year's fifth place finish at state for the girls and the 13th place finish for the boys (the highest finish and point total ever - 20.5 - at the state meet), the team is looking to exceed those finishes and point total this season. The excitement and drive of the seniors (as well as the entire team) has truly been apparent since the region meet last month and was on full display all day Saturday.

 

Those advancing to the state meet include:

 

Noah Bollenbacher - pole vault

 

Julia Versluis - high jump, pole vault and triple jump

 

Brandon Moss - 100 meters

 

Gabrielle Dandridge - 200 meters and 400 meters

 

Dominick Lawshea - 110 meter hurdles (in a school record time) and 300 meter hurdles (in a school record time)

 

Logan Huddle - 800 meters (in a school record time)

 

Dillon Shin - 800 meters and 1600 meters

 

Anna Filipek - 3200 meters

 

Lilah Versluis - high jump and triple jump

 

Ibrahim Bangura - 110 meter hurdles and 300 meter hurdles

 

Preston Clemmer - 400 meters

 

Also advancing were four relay teams: the girls 4x200 meter relay (in a school record time); the boys 4x100 meter relay (in a school record time); the girls 4x400 meter relay; and the boys 4x400 meter relay (in a school record time).

 

Some noteworthy performances came from three athletes that set personal records but did not advance in their individual event: Rohan Lidhar in the triple jump; Phillip Kittila in the 300 meter hurdles; and Nina Campbell in the 400 meters.

 

The state meet begins on Thursday (5/11) with field events and the preliminaries of the 4x200 meter relay. On Friday, the running event preliminaries and the finals in the 1600 meters and 3200 meters will take place. On Saturday, the finals will take place in all the other running events. We hope to do our best!