4A State Dive Champion and Prelims of Swimming
The Bears are setting themselves up for an exciting last day of the state meet! With two days of action behind them, the last closing performance is all that is standing between them and the podium.
Diving on Tuesday kicked off the Bears' pursuit of gold with a championship performance! Brooklyn Petit had an incredible performance and ended her day as a state champion. With her score of 659.80 and the next best score of 499.05, Petit left the competition in the dust. Petit's performance broke her existing school record AND set a new pool record for Westminster. She was five points away from breaking the GHSA diving record. Adding 24 points to the Bears' score to kick off the meet will be a huge help for when the swimmers take over the competition. Lilah Versluis also had her best performance she's had in her four years at the state meet. Earning seventh place adds 16 points to the Bears' score. Josh Oblen took eighth in the boys' competition, but without breaking the 190 threshold, no additional points were added to the Bears' score. Starting off incredibly strong, Oblen made the Bears proud with his performance!
Swimming began their journey to the podium on Wednesday. The Bears kicked off the meet strong with the boys' 200-Medley Relay (Tayne Naude, Gavin Schoeling, Oscar Ryzhkov, Jax Jackson) broke their own school record and won their heat. After all heats, they will go into finals as the second-place seed behind Northview. They trail by less than a second.
The girls also started off strong with a new best time. The relay (Amber Naude, Caroline Gaines, Jennifer Griner, Caroline Garijo) is leading the pack and going into finals in first place. Their lead is less than a second over Blessed Trinity, but the girls have the podium on their minds.
In the boys' 200-freestyle, Jax Jackson shaved some time and heads into finals as the sixth place seed. For the girls, Jennifer Griner heads into finals in third place, but she's looking to grab that second event state championship to add to her collection. Molly Melchiors will join her in finals as the 15th place seed.
In the 200-individual medley, Gavin Schoeling is seeded third going into finals, but he has his eye on that event title so we'll see what he can pull out on Thursday. Yan Berezitsky will join him as the 17th place seed. Elijah Edison took 28th in his first state championship meet. For the girls, Caroline Gaines heads into finals as the seventh place seed with the podium an arm's reach away.
In the boys' 50-freestyle, Tayne Naude swam a new best time and won his heat easily and he heads into finals as the third place seed. Naude wants that event state championship and it's so close he can taste it. Bryson Mynatt took 27th. For the girls, Amber Naude easily won her heat and heads into finals as the fourth place seed. She has some surprises in store and is not going to give up the possibility of claiming that event championship as a freshman. Caroline Garijo had a huge time drop and defied the odds to make it into the top event final as the ninth place seed. Audrey Lampa took 33rd.
For the girls' 100-butterfly, Leila Kader and Audrey Lampa are the first two alternates for the event in 21st and 22nd place.
In the boys' 100-freestyle, John Murphy swam a new best time and will return as the 16th place seed. Bryson Mynatt will be right next to him as the 17th place seed in the event. Alana Drevet had a great time drop and gets another chance at the event in 19th place.
The 500-freestyle is going to open up lots of opportunities for the Bears with Jax Jackson as the 10th place seed and Yan Berezitsky returning as the 20th place seed. For the girls, Jennifer Griner leads the charge as the top seed with a comfortable gap, but she has a lot more to give in this event to try to claim it for the second year in a row. Molly Melchiors had a great time drop and claims her spot in the top final as the seventh place seed. We'll see what she can do to grab some more points for the Bears.
The boys' 200-free relay (Tayne Naude, Oscar Ryzhkov, Jax Jackson, Gavin Schoeling) head into finals as the top seed with a second-lead over Marist. This race is going to get tighter in finals and the Bears will have to fight to keep this spot. They've got Marist and Northview trailing close behind. The girls have a similar situation. The relay (Amber Naude, Caroline Garijo, Caroline Gaines, Jennifer Griner) are seeded second to Midtown, with Marist right on their heels and Westminster and Northview not far behind. They will have a fight ahead of them for their finish, but they also have more to give.
In the boys' 100-backstroke, Tayne Naude is seeded second going into finals by about a second. Oscar Ryzhkov will join him in the top final as the sixth place seed with two-seconds shaved off of his seed time. John Murphy had a great prelims to also claim a spot in the finals as 16th place. Amber Naude leads the girls in the 100-backstroke as the sixth place seed. She has a lot more to give in this event and we expect this to be very exciting!
In the 100-breast, Gavin Schoeling is heading to finals as the fifth place seed. He knows he can do more in this event and he has the podium within reach. This event will be a huge help for the girls with two people in the A-final. Alana Drevet is seeded fifth with teammate Caroline Gaines in sixth. They both are capable of moving up their spots and they'll need to grab those points if the girls want to get on the podium.
In the final event, the boys' 400-free relay (John Murphy, Bryson Mynatt, Yan Berezitsky, Oscar Ryzhkov) is seeded eighth going into finals. They are going to drop time in finals and make a run for a podium finish, but they've got tight competition with Northview, Westminster, Marist and Blessed Trinity all ahead of them and wanting those spots. The girls relay (Molly Melchiors, Caroline Garijo, Leila Kader, Alana Drevet) took ninth at prelims and will need to push some others out of the way to claim some more points for the Bears.
We're looking forward to the final day of the meet to see how this exciting season will end! Let's go Bears! Finals begins at 1:30 PM at Georgia Tech.