Cambridge Takes on Westminster for First Region Match Up
Cambridge and Westminster have been each other's biggest competition in the past few years at the state meet, and now that match-up has made its way into region competition as well. Both teams want to take home the state championship at the end of the season, so this was their first match-up of the season. The next will be at Region Championships on December 14th. In this first match-up, Cambridge came up short against the swimming and diving powerhouse, but the team walked away with many new state qualifying times, many new best times, and two additional Iron Bears.
Combined
Westminster 387
Cambridge 222
Boys
Westminster 194
Cambridge 107
Girls
Westminster 193
Cambridge 115
In the boys 200-medley relay, the A-relay (Tayne Naude, Gavin Schoeling, Oscar Ryzhkov, Bryson Mynatt) took 1st with a state time of 1:42.19. The B-relay (Pranav Kolathaya, Campen Dawes, Raj Malik, James Kates) took fifth.
In the girls event, the A-relay (Amber Naude, Caroline Gaines, Jennifer Griner, Caroline Gaijo) took first as well, with a state time of 1:55.08. The B-relay (Ana-Clare Grann, Mihika Ayyagari, Audrey Lampa, Alexis Walkenhorst) took 4th, and the C-relay (Sydney Edison, Ella Fajen, Leila Kader, Molly Melchiors) took fifth.
In the boys 200-freestyle, Gavin Schoeling took second place with a new best time and state cut of 1:51.20. Tayne Naude took fourth, Tate Robertson swam a new best time in sixth, and Brian Guy took seventh.
In the girls event, Amber Naude took second with a state cut of 2:04.62. Alana Drevet took fourth, Veronika Kolesnikov took sixth, and Ella Fajen took eighth.
In the boys 200-individual medley, Pranav Kolathaya took fourth with a new best time, followed by Campen Dawes in fifth.
In the girls event, Jennifer Griner took second with a state cut of 2:15.65.
In the boys 50-freestyle, Bryson Mynatt got out-touched at the end to settle for second, but with a new best time that is tapping on the door of his first individual state cut. Raj Malik took seventh, and Caden Whalen took eighth with a new best time.
In the girls event, Jennfier Griner wins with a state cut of 25.78, followed by teammate Caroline Gaines in third. Molly Melchiors took sixth, Audrey Lampa took seventh, Leila Kader took eighth, Ana-Clare Grann took ninth, and Sydney Edison took 13th.
In the diving event, Carter Solomon took second with a score of 119.30, a new high score for the season. Jack Flores took third with a score of 104.55.
For the girls, Brooklyn Petit remains undefeated for the season with a win and a score of 294.50. Lilah Versluis was right behind in second place, and Taylor Eastman scored 141.45 and took sixth.
In the boys 100-butterfly, Elijah Edison had a time drop to take fourth place, Brian Guy was right behind him in fifth place, and James Kates took eighth.
For the girls, Caroline Gaines finished first with a state qualifying time of 1:02.14, a new best time. Molly Melchiors took sixth, Caroline Gaijo took seventh, and Mihika Ayyagari took ninth with a new best time.
In the boys 100-freestyle, Oscar Ryzhkov took second with a state qualifying and new best time of 50.85, and Bryson Mynatt took fourth.
In the girls event, Ella Fajen took fifth.
In the boys 500-freestyle, Pranav Kolathaya took fourth with a new best time and Campen Dawes took sixth.
For the girls, Audrey Lampa took fourth and Alexis Walkenhorst took fifth with a new best time.
In the boys 200-freestyle relay, the A-relay (Gavin Schoeling, Bryson Mynatt, Oscar Ryzhkov, Tayne Naude) took second with a time of 1:33.63. Schoeling clocked a state qualifying time in the 50-free with his lead-off leg of the relay with a time of 22.93. Naude swam an amazing anchor split to bring the Bears back within a touch of winning the event, but the touchpads had Westminster finishing first. The B-relay (Campen Dawes, Brian Guy, Elijah Edison, Tate Robertson) took fourth.
For the girls, the A-relay (Caroline Gaines, Caroline Gaijo, Jennifer Griner, Amber Naude) took second place with a state cut of 1:42.23. Gaines clocked her last individual state cut with the lead-off leg of the 50-freestyle where she went 26.45. This earned her the title of Iron Bear, the second athlete of the season. For the B-relay (Alana Drevet, Mihika Ayyagari, Molly Melchiors, Veronkia Kolesnikov) took fourth.
In the boys 100-backstroke, Gavin Schoeling took second with a state qualifying time of 59.27, which was the last event Schoeling needed to secure his Iron Bear title, being the third athlete this season to earn it and the first male swimmer to ever earn the coveted title. Elijah Edison took third in the backstroke event, and Raj Malik took eighth.
In the girls event, Amber Naude took first with a state qualifying time of 1:14.96. Alexis Walkenhorst swims another best time of the night and takes fifth place, and Sydney Edison took eighth.
In the last event of the evening, the boys A-relay for the 400-freestyle (Tate Robertson, Elijah Edison, Pranav Kolathaya, Brian Guy) took third and the B-relay (James Kates, Caden Whalen, Raj Malik, Avi Saxena) took fifth.
For the girls, the A-relay (Audrey Lampa, Alana Drevet, Ana-Clare Grann, Molly Melchiors) took second and that required Melchiors to carry a heavy load as the anchor. The Bears had fallen behind and were going to come in third, but Melchiors swam an amazing last leg to bring them back and out-touch Westminster to take second. The B-relay (Ella Fajen, Sydney Edison, Veronika Kolesnikov, Alexis Walkenhorst) took fourth.
For our athletes of the meet, the team recognized Campen Dawes, Caroline Gaijo, Gavin Schoeling, and Caroline Gaines. Dawes swam two events that really challenged him and required a lot of energy to complete! His contributions were significant that night! Gaijo played a really important role in stepping up to the top medley and 200-freestyle relay and helping secure top times and finishes! Schoeling and Gaines both earned their Iron Bear titles that night and deserve tons of credit for the hard work and diverse talent required for such a recognition!
The captains recognized our "meet chefs" as Elijah Edison and Taylor Eastman! They "cooked" at this meet!
The Bears will host Milton on November 25th at Cumming Aquatic Center at noon! Come and watch the swimmers and divers as they head into the critical phase of their season in preparation for championship season!