Boys Win the Metro Championships Hosted by Westminster
On Friday and Saturday last week, the Bears traveled to Westminster to participate in the 54th Metro Atlanta Swimming and Diving Championships. This is the annual culminating meet for the regular season and usually provides a good preview for the state meet. With athletes performing at the peak of their training, the boys' team came out on top for the first time in program history, topping the 4A dominating programs of Marist, Blessed Trinity and Westminster.
Diving
On Friday, the divers competed for points to kick off the meet. Brooklyn Petit performed at her usual high caliber and took first by almost 30 points with a score of 305.35. Lilah Versluis took sixth with 205.30 points. The girls started the team off with 20 points going into Saturday.
For the boys, they were challenged by the rigor of the meet. The boys had to have a higher level of difficulty than they had been competing in to be able to participate. At the end of the day, all three boys completed all of their dives and scored the Bears points. Josh Oblen took eighth overall to score 5 points, Jack Flores took ninth to score 2 points and Carter Solomon took 11th.
Swimming
Prelims
On Saturday, the swimmers showed up nice and early to start a very long day at Westminster. The morning started off strong with the medley relay. The boys' team (Tayne Naude, Gavin Schoeling, Oscar Ryzhkov, Jax Jackson) took first in their heat with a new school record of 1:39.44. They were seeded first going into finals!
The girls' team had similar success with Caroline Gaines, Alana Drevet, Jennifer Griner, and Amber Naude. Their time of 1:54.86 earned them third place going into finals.
In the boys' 200-freestyle, John Murphy kicked things off with a new personal record. Jax Jackson also swam a new personal record. Jackson earned sixth place seed going into finals, Yan Berezitsky sneaked into the A-final in 10th place, John Murphy in 11th, and Aneesh Ayyagari in 24th, just missing the finals cut.
For the girls, Christine McVicker swam a new best time, as well as teammates Caroline Garijo, and Leila Kader. Garijo punched her ticket to return to finals as the 18th place seed and Molly Melchiors as the 20th place seed. Leila Kader just missed the cut off in 24th and McVicker took 42nd.
In the boys' 200-IM, Caden Whalen competed in the event for the first time and he was joined by John Murphy in his back-to-back individual events, Gavin Schoeling, and Elijah Edison who swam a new best time. Schoeling was seeded first going into finals, followed by Murphy in 14th for the B-final and Edison in 15th. Whalen missed the cut off in 30th.
For the girls, Alexis Walkenhorst swam a new best time as well as teammate Sydney Edison. Jennifer Griner had a solid swim and earned the fifth place seed going into finals, while Walkenhorst sneaked into finals in 20th place and Edison was the alternate.
In the very competitive 50-freestyle event for the boys, Avi Saxena swam a new best time as well as Brian Guy and Oscar Ryzhkov with a new state qualifying time. With a very tight field of athletes, Tayne Naude was able to carve in his spot in fourth going into finals, Ryzhkov earned 16th, and Mynatt secured the alternate spots. Guy missed finals in 27th place, Tate Robertson in 51st, and Saxena in 79th.
The girls were equally competitive, but Caroline Garijo was able to clock a new state qualifying time in her heat, which earned her eighth place going into finals. Tied for the first alternate spot, Audrey Lampa had to complete a swim-off. Competing right before finals began, Lampa and her opponent from Wesleyan had a full crowd as they fought for the spot. After a quality flipturn, Lampa not only won the race, but she also clocked her state qualifying time in the event to give her two overall state events. Ana-Clare Grann took 49th, Alana Drevet took 50th, Ella Fajen took 85th, and Sela Guy took 91st.
In the boys' 100-butterfly, Shane Merrill and Campen Dawes clocked new best times in the first heat. Merrill had a 12-second drop in his time and Dawes had a four-second drop. Gavin Schoeling swam a new best time and earned the second place seed going into finals. Bryson Mynatt sneaked into the finals in 19th place. Merrill missed the cut at 25th, and Dawes at 39th.
For the girls, Amber Naude swam a new best time by eight-seconds to earn her the sixth place seed going into finals. Veronika Kolesnikov took 27th, Christine McVicker took 31st, and Ella Fajen took 35th.
In the boys' 100-freestyle, Raj Malik kicked things off with a new best time. He was followed by Pranav Kolathaya, Shane Merrill and James Kates with new best times. None of the boys made the cut to finals.
For the girls, Mihika Ayyagari shaved off a second from her time, followed by Alexis Walkenhorst doing the same in her race. Jennifer Griner had a solid swim and earned the fifth place seed for finals. Walkenhorst missed the cut at 34, Ayyagari in 45th, and Sela Guy in 63rd.
In the boys' 500-freestyle, Jax Jackson earned the third place seed for finals, followed by Elijah Edison in eighth, and then Aneesh Ayyagari in 13th for the B-final, along with James Kates in 14th.
For the girls, Sydney Edison had a huge time drop along with Maya Berezitsky. Both earned spots to return to finals in the B-final, along with teammate Alana Drevet and Leila Kader.
The boys' relays kept rolling with another top seed finish. Tayne Naude, Oscar Ryzhkov, Jax Jackson and Gavin Schoeling matched their entry time for the meet and slid easily into the top spot for finals with their eyes on the school record.
The girls' relay (Amber Naude, Caroline Garijo, Caroline Gaines, Jennifer Griner) had similar hopes as they took on the 200-free relay. With a season-best time, the girls' team headed into finals in sixth place.
In the boys' 100-backstroke, Tate Robertson kicked things off with a new best time as well as Pranav Kolathaya. Tayne Naude had a solid swim and earned fifth going into finals. Kolathaya missed the cut and took 23rd, Robertson took 26th, and Raj Malik took 36th.
For the girls, Audrey Lampa swam a new best time as well as Ana-Clare Grann. For finals, Amber Naude qualified to sneak into finals in ninth, along with teammate Caroline Gaines in 10th. Lampa qualified to return in the B-final in 16th, and Ana-Clare Grann earned the first alternate position. Someone did scratch from the event and Grann was placed into the final event.
In the 100-breaststroke, Brian Guy swam the event for the first time, while Oscar Ryzhkov and Tom Berezitsky swam new best times. Yan Berezitsky qualified to return to finals in 17th place.
For the girls, Maya Berezitsky swam the event for the first time, while Mihika Ayyagari swam a new best time. Caroline Gaines qualified to return to finals in seventh, while Molly Melchiors qualified to return in the B-final in 14th place.
In the final event of the night, the boys' 400-freestyle relay (Yan Berezitsky, Bryson Mynatt, Elijah Edison, John Murphy) clocked a solid time to earn fifth place going into finals.
For the girls, Caroline Garijo, Ana-Clare Grann, Molly Melchiors, and Alana Drevet earned 11th place overall to lead the B-final.
Finals
Saturday evening, the Bears got back into the water to swim for points. They were energized and ready for a fast night of swimming, even after struggling with days off earlier in the week due to snow.
The boys were seeded first going into the 200-medley relay, and they wanted to maintain that position and they did. Not only did the boys win the event over conference rivals Marist and Westminster, but they did so in school-record fashion. After breaking the record in the morning, they broke it AGAIN in finals with a time of 1:37.91 (Naude, Schoeling, Ryzhkov, Jackson).
The girls' team went in focused and ready. With a time drop of over four-seconds, the girls' team maintained third place with a new season-best time of 1:50.71 (Naude, Drevet, Gaines, Griner), which topped conference favorite Westminster, but followed the Marist and Blessed Trinity powerhouse teams.
In the boys' 200-freestyle, John Murphy kicked things off in the B-final with a new best time and just off of the state qualifying time. Jax Jackson and Yan Berezitsky were up next in the A-final. After a tight race, Jackson secured a third place finish with a new best time by four-seconds with a time of 1:47.72. Berezitsky had a great race and clocked his fourth state qualifying time to take ninth overall.
For the girls, Molly Melchiors took 18th and Caroline Garijo took 20th in the B-final. Melchiors had a nice time drop from prelims to finals.
In the boys' 200-IM, the B-final was full of excitement! Elijah Edison had a huge swim with a time drop of over five-seconds to earn his first individual state qualifying time. John Murphy took 15th. In the A-final, Gavin Schoeling led the pack through butterfly and backstroke, but started to get caught by the Blessed Trinity swimmer and was training by a hand going into the freestyle leg. Schoeling was out-touched and had to settle for second.
In the girls' event, Alexis Walkenhorst swam another personal best time in the B-final and finished in 19th. In the A-final, Jennifer Griner had a great swim and dropped four-seconds from her best time and almost eight-seconds from her prelims time. Griner jumped from fifth to second in finals.
In the 50-freestyle, Oscar Ryzhkov in the B-final swam ANOTHER new best time to improve his state qualifying time and take 13th overall. Tayne Naude had a great swim and set a NEW SCHOOL RECORD in the event with a time of 21.60, which earned him fourth place.
In the girls' event, Caroline Garijo took 10th place.
In the boys' 100-butterfly, Bryson Mynatt had an amazing swim in the B-finals with a time drop of almost six-seconds! His time was a half-second off of the state qualifying time and earned him 14th place. Gavin Schoeling had another impressive swim in the A-finals and took another runner-up ribbon in the event.
For the girls, Amber Naude was the only girl representing the Bears. Dropping another almost two-seconds from prelims, Naude was a new best time of 58.22 and jumped from sixth place to third place.
While the boys didn't have any people in the 100-freestyle finals, the girls had Jennifer Griner! In the A-finals, Griner had a huge time drop of over two-seconds to finish with a time of 53.35 to take second overall.
In the boys' 500-freestyle, Aneesh Ayyagari leads off the Bears in the B-final with a 12th place finish, followed by James Kates with a new best time in 13th place.
The girls took the opportunity to rack up a bunch of points in the B-final for the 500-free. Alana Drevet swam an improved time from prelims to take 12th, followed by Leila Kader with a 17-second time drop from prelims, Sydney Edison dropped another seven-seconds to break the 6-minute threshold, and Maya Berezitsky took 18th.
In the boys' 200-freestyle relay, the team was going into finals at the top and they were aiming to not just hold on to it, but also break the school record that had been haunting them all season and had been there since 2016. The boys managed to check both boxes in championship fashion. With a time of 1:28.77, they crushed the school record and the competition.
For the girls, all members locked in and swam solid splits to advance their place from sixth to fifth and managed to drop over two-seconds from prelims to break the school record! The existing record was 1:40.22 and the girls touched in 1:40.19. This record had stood since 2020!
In the boys' 100-backstroke, Tayne Naude was the only Bear that advanced to finals. In the A-finals, Naude dropped almost 2.5-seconds to advance from fifth place to second place with a time of 51.92.
In the girls' event, Audrey Lampa took 17th and Ana-Clare Grann jumped from 20th to 18th place in the B-final. In the A-final, Caroline Gaines had an almost two-second time drop to advance to eighth place. Amber Naude dropped 2.5-seconds to advance from ninth to fourth place.
In the last individual event of the night, the boys' 100-breaststroke had Yan Berezitsky in the B-final. After dancing on the line of a state cut in prelims, Berezitsky secured his time in the finals with 1:05.67, clocking his fifth state qualifying event time.
For the girls, Molly Melchiors secured 15th place in the B-finals. In the A-final, Caroline Gaines dropped over a second off her time to advance from seventh place to sixth place.
In the boys' 400-freestyle relay, the A-final brought stiff competition, but the Bears stepped up and advanced from fifth place to fourth and dropped almost three-seconds from prelims.
In the girls' event, the relay placed 12th overall.
Scores
The boys' team topped their rivals with 147 points, followed by Westminster with 141, Marist with 117, and Blessed Trinity in fourth. Other notable 4A schools included Midtown and Northview. While this is a good sign leading into the state meet, this also shows that it is going to be incredibly competitive and close. All of these teams will be trying to grab any points they can because any small amount could amount to a big difference for the podium. With an unusual set of events entered for the meet, putting the boys in their strongest events and with some rest might create a different outcome.
The girls' team was also entered in a variety of events they don't normally swim in and while they had many great performances, their fifth place finish at the meet is not an indicator of what these girls have in store for the state meet. Not to be overlooked, these girls are in it to win it and won't settle for anything less. This may be the first year our boys and girls get to be on the podium.
Keep an eye out for the team next week as they travel to Westminster and Georgia Tech to end the season!