Cambridge Boys and Girls Take Region-Runner Up Trophies
On Saturday, Cambridge joined Westminster, Kell, Blessed Trinity, and Centennial for Region Championships, hosted by Westminster. At the end of the day, it was Westminster and Cambridge fighting for the top titles! With such a competitive region, this was a good temperature check before heading into the final stretch of preparation for state. With what we saw on Friday, the Bears are energized and ready to work for the next month to see if we can change that outcome!
Boys Team Scores
Westminster 293
Cambridge 250
Blessed Trinity 140
Centennial 119
Kell 81
Girls Team Scores
Westminster 263
Cambridge 240
Blessed Trinity 226
Centennial 121
Kell 57
Swimming Preliminaries
The boys started off prelims with a lot of energy and brought in a huge first place victory in the preliminary round to earn the top seed going into finals! The relay, made up of Jax Jackson, Gavin Schoeling, Tayne Naude, and Bryson Mynatt, had a huge time drop from their seed time to finish with a time of 1:42.63, about three seconds off the school record. The B-relay, Pranav Kolathaya, Elijah Edison, Tom Berezitsky, and Brian Guy, had an almost eight-second time drop from their seed time to take 7th place. Only one relay team would return for finals, but they had an awesome performance!
The girls followed suit with a high-intensity preliminary round! The girls A-relay (Amber Naude, Alana Drevet, Caroline Gaines, Jennifer Griner) improved five-seconds from their seed time and earned the second place seed going into finals! The B-relay, made up of Ana-Clare Grann, Maya Berezitsky, Leila Kader, and Sydney Edison, had a great performance and took eighth overall.
In the boys 200-freestyle, John Murphy went a new best time by almost five-seconds to touch in fifth place with a time of 1:58.23. Aneesh Ayyagari also finished with a new best time to take ninth to earn a spot in the A-final. Campen Dawes finished in 13th place and Avi Saxena in 14th place to earn a spot in the B-final.
In the girls 200-freestyle event, Jennifer Griner was the top finish to earn the first place seed for finals with a time of 1:59.95. Molly Melchiors earned the third place seed, Sydney Edison earned ninth and Alexis Walkenhorst earned 10th, all earning their spot back in the A-final. Mihika Ayyagari took 13th with a new best time to earn a spot in the B-final!
In the boys 200-individual medley, Gavin Schoeling shaved over six-seconds off of his seed time to finish in 1:55.71 and take the first place seed for finals. Elijah Edison earned the third place seed, Tom Berezitsky earned the eighth place seed, and Shane Merrill earned the 10th place seed, all returning to the A-final. Raj Malik earned the 11th place seed and a spot in the B-final.
In the girls 200-individual medley, Caroline Gaines earned the second place seed with a time of 2:16.75. Caroline Gaijo earned the eighth place seed with a new best time, and Maya Berezitsky earned the 10th place seed, all returning to the A-final. Ella Fajen earned a spot in the B-final.
In the boys 50-free, Jax Jackson earned a fourth place seed, Bryson Mynatt earned a sixth place seed, and Brian Guy earned the ninth place seed with a new best time, all returning to the A-final. Tate Robertson earned 12th to return to the B-final.
For the girls, Amber Naude sailed easily into the first place seed position for finals with a time of 24.73. Audrey Lampa earned sixth and Ana-Clare Grann earned 10th for the A-final. Veronika Kolesnikov earned 14th for the B-final.
In the 100-fly, Tayne Naude earned the second place seed with a time of 54.60. Tom Berezitsky snuck into the 10th place position to snag the last spot in the A-final. Tate Robertson earned 11th, and Raj Malik took 12th to secure their spots in the B-final.
For the girls, Leila Kader took fifth and earned her first state qualifying time of 1:03.69! Audrey Lampa earned eighth and Caroline Gaijo earned 10th to secure their spots in the A-final. Sydney Edison took 16th to secure her spot in the B-final.
In the boys 100-freestyle, Tayne Naude swam his second back-to-back race and secured the second place seed again for this event with an improved time of 50.40. Bryson Mynatt took fifth with a new best time, and Brian Guy secured seventh with a new best time. In the B-final, James Kates swam a new best time to earn 14th, and Campen Dawes snagged the last spot for finals in 20th place.
In the girls 100-freestyle, Alana Drevet swam a new best time of 59.03 to take fourth. In the B-final, Leila Kader secured 11th place, and Alexis Walkenhorst secured 12th place.
In the boys 500-freestyle, Jax Jackson secured the second place seed with a time of 5:05.64. Yan Berezitsky joined Jackson in qualifying for the A-final with a fifth place finish.
For the girls, Jennifer Griner easily slid into the first place seed with a 12-second lead over the second place seed. Molly Melchiors secured the fourth place seed.
In the 200-freestyle relay, the A-relay (John Murphy, Gavin Schoeling, Tayne Naude, Yan Berezitsky) dropped almost four seconds from their time to finish in 1:31.82. The time earned them the first place seed going into finals! The B-relay (Pranav Kolathaya, Brian Guy, Shane Merrill, James Kates) took sixth.
The girls copied and pasted the boys' performance! The A-relay (Amber Naude, Caroline Gaijo, Caroline Gaines, Jennifer Griner) took first to secure their top seed in finals. The B-relay (Ana-Clare Grann, Audrey Lampa, Molly Melchiors, Alana Drevet) took fourth.
In the boys 100-backstroke, John Murphy finally earned his state qualifying time of 59.95 and took third going into finals. Elijah Edison secured the sixth place seed, and Pranav Kolathaya secured the 10th place seed, to have all three return to the A-final. Aneesh Ayyagari swam a new best time and took the 13th place seed, Shane Merrill dropped over three-seconds to secure 14th, and Avi Saxena secured 18th place, all returned to the B-final.
For the girls, Amber Naude secured the second place seed with a time of 1:01.52. Ana-Clare Grann secured seventh place, and Maya Berezitsky secured eighth place, all to return to the A-final. In the B-final, Christine McVicker grabbed 20th place.
In the boys 100-breast, Gavin Schoeling easily sailed into the first place seed position with a time of 58.66, which is a new best time for him AND also a new school record! What an incredible swim! Yan Berezitsky secured the second place seed. Pranav Kolathaya took 14th, and James Kates took 16th to earn a spot in the B-final.
In the girls event, Alana Drevet swam a new best time of 1:11.70 and secured the first place seed position. Teammate Caroline Gaines was right behind her to take the second place seed. Mihika Ayyagari swam a new best time and that earned her the last spot in the A-final. Veronika Kolesnikov earned the first spot in the B-final.
In the final event, the boys 400-free relay had the boys top relay taking fourth (Jax Jackson, Yan Berezitsky, John Murphy, Bryson Mynatt). The B-final (Elijah Edison, Aneesh Ayyagari, Tate Robertson, Shane Merrill) took seventh.
Diving
Between preliminary and finals swimming, the divers took to the boards to secure their own champions! On the girls side, Brooklyn Petit was near flawless as usual. Her performance displayed all of her talents and strengths and she walked away with the Region Champion title for the third year in a row! Congratulations, Brooklyn! Lilah Versluis missed the podium by eight points, to take fourth overall. Taylor Eastman took sixth place overall.
For the boys, Josh Oblen had an outstanding performance and earned the region runner-up medal! Carter Solomon also made the podium and took bronze! Jack Flores missed the podium by five points, but had an excellent routine! Congratulations, boys!
The divers scored incredibly valuable points that would help determine the outcome of the meet! Never underestimate the importance of the divers!
Finals Swimming
For finals, only the A-final can score. Each individual event allowed for 20 athletes to compete in an A (1-10) and a B (11-20) final. If you compete in the B-final and you go faster than someone in the A-final, you still can only earn as high as 11th place. These are championship rules and will also be applied at state. Athletes must always try to secure their place in the top 10 spots in order to ensure their points. Only one relay from each team could return to finals.
The boys started us off in the medley relay. They were seeded first going into the event. Jax Jackson swam backstroke for us and touched the wall in third place. Gavin Schoeling was up next to swim our breaststroke leg. Schoeling was able to get neck-and-neck with the first place team with his leg. Tayne Naude jumped in to do our butterfly leg, where he was able to get only a small lead off from the Westminster team. Bryson Mynatt jumped in and it was a close and intense race. Mynatt held the small lead Naude had secured but he was being chased down. Mynatt held his place and out-touched the Westminster team by a half-second. The team held on to their gold medal standing, broke the school record, and set the new Region event record!
The girls hoped to do the same. The Bears were seeded in second place with tough competition from Westminster and Blessed Trinity. Amber Naude started them off in backstroke, holding a second place position. Alana Drevet took the breaststroke leg and the Blessed Trinity breaststroker gained some ground. Caroline Gaines took the butterfly leg and tried to hang on but lost a little more ground, even with an improved cut for her time. Jennifer Griner jumped in as the team trailed into third place. She tried to edge back into second place position but was untouched by Blessed Trinity. The team dropped over three-seconds from prelims and earned the bronze medals!
In the boys 200-freestyle, John Murphy was our top seed in fifth place. After swimming a best time in prelims, Murphy managed to do it again and drop another two-seconds to secure his fifth place spot and finish with a lifetime best time of 1:56.46. Aneesh Ayyagari took 10th, just off of his new best time he swam in prelims. Campen Dawes swam a new best time by over five-seconds to take 13th and Avi Saxena took 14th.
In the girls event, Jennifer Grinier easily sailed into first place with an improved time of 1:53.10, which cut almost seven-seconds from her time. Griner earned the gold medal! Molly Melchiors swam a new best time and dropped over three-seconds to finish just off the podium in fourth place. Sydney Edison swam a new best time to finish in eighth place and Alexis Walkenhorst swam a new best time and took 10th. Mihika Ayyagari took 13th.
In the boys 200-individual medley, Gavin Schoeling took the gold with a time of 1:57.47, which was six-seconds faster than the second place swimmer. Elijah Edison also secured a podium finish to take third with a new best time by over four-seconds. Tom Berezitsky took seventh with a new best time by almost four-seconds and Shane Merrill took 10th, besting his time by almost five-seconds. Raj Malik finished in 12th, improving his time from prelims.
In the girls event, Caroline Gaines swam a new best time of 2:13.26, dropping 3.5-seconds to earn the bronze medal! Caroline Gaijo swam a new best time by two-seconds to take eighth and Maya Berezitsky also dropped three-seconds to take 10th.
In the boys 50-freestyle, Jax Jackson finished just off the podium in fourth place but he swam a new best time and secured a state qualifying time of 23.09. Bryson Mynatt took sixth with a new best time, which is just off the state qualifying time. Brian Guy took ninth. Tate Robertson finished in 12th.
In the girls 50-freestyle, Amber Naude took the gold AND set a new school record of 23.68! She broke the school record earlier this season and then she broke it again in finals! Audrey Lampa took eighth with a new best time just off the state qualifying time, and Ana-Clare Grann took 10th with a new best time. Veronika Kolesnikov took 15th, and Christine McVicker took 16th.
In the boys 100-butterfly, Tayne Naude shaved off time again to maintain his silver medal placement but finish with a time of 52.26, less than a second off of the school record. Tom Berezitsky took ninth by dropping over 3.5-seconds, and Tate Robertson dropped a half-second to take 11th. Raj Malik took 12th.
In the girls 100-butterfly, Leila Kader finished in sixth, followed by Audrey Lampa in eighth place swimming a new best time and her first individual state qualifying time of 1:04.95! Caroline Gaijo took ninth.
In the boys 100-freestyle, Tayne Naude shaved off more time from finals to secure another silver medal and finish with a time of 49.71. Naude is chasing the school record time of 46.89 that has stood since 2017. Bryson Mynatt took sixth, and Brian Guy took eighth. James Kates cut time AGAIN in finals to take 13th, Campen Dawes also cut two-seconds to finish in 19th and Caden Whalen, an alternate from prelims, was able to swim and he dropped over a second from his time to take 20th.
In the girls 100-freestyle, Alana Drevet secured her second state qualifying time with her fourth place finish, just off the podium, with a time of 58.49. Leila Kader took 11th, and Alexis Walkenhorst took 12th.
In the boys 500-freestyle, Jax Jackson took home the silver medal with a new best time of 4:53.32, over 12-seconds faster than his preliminary swim. Yan Berezitsky shaved off almost seven-seconds and earned fifth place and his first individual state qualifying swim of the season!
In the girls event, Jennifer Griner lapped the competition and easily took home another gold medal with a time of 5:01.33. This state champion wants to keep her crown! Molly Melchiors took fourth by dropping almost six-seconds from prelims!
In the boys 200-freestyle relay, they were seeded first. There is always pressure going in as the top seed, especially since they had already claimed a gold in the medley relay. Gavin Schoeling started them off with an individual cut in the 50-free with a time of 22.33, which kept the team in the first place position. John Murphy jumped in and tried to maintain, but there was Blessed Trinity and Westminster close on his trial. Yan Berezitsky jumped in, tired after the 500, and tried to maintain, but the three teams were neck and neck. Tayne Naude anchored the race and secured the couple inches that was needed to out-touch the other teams and secure their second relay gold medal of the night! They are two-seconds off of the school record they hope to chase down.
The girls were not happy with the third place podium finish in the medley, so they came out ready to keep their first place seed position. Amber Naude started the team off with a 23.89, which held the lead for the girls. Caroline Gaijo jumped in and tried to maintain the lead. When Caroline Gaines jumped in, they were still in first but a much smaller lead. Gaines held the lead and traded off to Jennifer Griner. Blessed Trinity with right with them and fighting for the finish, but Griner out-touched them to claim the gold medal! The girls are one-second away from the school record. Boys AND girls swept the event!
The boys 100-backstroke had John Murphy claiming fourth place and Elijah Edison improving his time from prelims to take sixth. Pranav Kolathaya took 10th with a new best time! Aneesh Ayyagari swam a new best time to take 11th, followed by Shane Merrill in 16th, and Avi Saxena in 18th.
For the girls, Amber Naude went into the race in the second place seed, but took gold in finals, overtaking the first place leader by two-seconds! Ana-Clare Grann dropped time from prelims to get back to being close to her best time and she took seventh place. Maya Berezitsky improved her time and took eighth place. Christine McVicker took 18th place with a new best time.
In the boys 100-breast, Gavin Schoeling kept his first place position and took the gold! Yan Berezitsky dropped time and took fourth place. Pranav Kolathaya took 14th place, and James Kates dropped time and took 15th.
In the girls event, Caroline Gaines held her second place seed position by shaving over 2.5-seconds off of her preliminary time to take home the silver medal! The race was down to the touch and the Blessed Trinity swimmer managed to grab gold. Alana Drevet took home the bronze medal with an improved time from prelims! Mihika Ayyagari took 10th, and Veronika Kolesnikov took 11th.
In the final event of the night, the boys went into the 400-free relay in fourth place and they held that spot, finishing just off the podium. Jax Jackson secured his individual 100-free state cut with his lead-off leg of 51.89. Yan Berezitsky was next, followed by John Murphy, and a finish by Bryson Mynatt.
The girls had a similar fate. They went in as the fourth place seed and held that spot in finals. Audrey Lampa led them off, followed by Molly Melchiors, Carolin Gaijo, and then Leila Kader. The group shaved off over 3.5-seconds.
The team had an OUTSTANDING weekend of performances! Every swimmer improved at least one of their times! The divers were outstanding and took home three medals. It was a great weekend for the Bears as they head into the last six-weeks of the regular season before state in February!
The Bears will head to Marist next weekend to compete in the Meet of Champions. Divers will compete on Friday and the swimmers will compete on Saturday. The divers will also compete in the Cambridge Dive Invitational on December 27th! Lots of action still to go! Come and support your Bears in the pool!