Cedar Ridge freshmen Matthew Czar wasn’t sure what to expect in his first Central Carolina Conference championship meet on Thursday night at the Orange County SportsPlex, but it went exceedingly well. Czar won three gold medals. In the 50 yard freestyle, Czar finished first at 24.15 seconds, narrowly edging his Cedar Ridge teammate Nikhil Agans by eight-hundredths-of-a-second. In the 100 yard freestyle, Czar finished well ahead of the pack with a time of 56.60 seconds, three seconds better than runner-up Tigre Hipps of Walter Williams. Czar also claimed the gold medal in the 200 yard freestyle relay, where he teamed with Agans, Jason Pattinson and Alexander Hill at 1:40.21. Czar has qualified for the 3A Central Regionals in three events. Though he is a freshman, Czar has grown up swimming at the Greensboro Aquatic Center, but because of the pandemic, he hasn’t competed there since 2020. Next Saturday, Czar and some of his teammates will return to Greensboro for the regionals.