Fairyland and Country Club are both newcomers to the Chattanooga Area Swim League's Red Division this year after the Flash dropped down from the Blue and the Wavemakers were promoted from the White.
It appears that Fairyland's stay in the middle division will be a short one as the Flash concluded a perfect regular season on Tuesday night with a win at Country Club in conclusion of the meet that was suspended on June 5.
The Flash had a lead of 140-111 when storms interrupted in the first week of the season. They maintained that advantage and even added a little bit to it as they headed back up Lookout Mountain with the 399-306 victory.
Ironically, the meet at Fairyland last week was also suspended, but Country Club elected to forfeit as that makeup date would have no bearing on the regular-season standings, no matter what the result.
The Wavemakers are now 3-4 and will conclude their regular season at home next Tuesday when they host the Ringgold Tiger Sharks.
While black clouds, gusting wind and in general, bad conditions surrounded the Country Club pool in Riverview that first Thursday in June, there was not a cloud in the sky on Tuesday.
It's been a busy and hectic last few days as both teams have been trying to finish the regular season while making up suspended meets and even going to a big meet at Auburn over the weekend.
And while there's always a friendly rivalry between swimmers on these teams, there is a unique bond between the coaches as Fairyland coaches Caroline Bentley and Kendall Jacobs work at GPS while Country Club coach Stan Corcoran is the main man at McCallie.
"It almost doesn't feel like a meet because we're all friends. It's still a fun rivalry, but we coach most of these kids on both teams," said Bentley near the end of Tuesday's competition.
"Right now, we're trying to focus on the city meet. It's been a hectic season with all the weather delays and the kids are starting to lose interest a little bit. But we needed a year of winning meets after only winning once last year," Bentley added.
Jacobs offered similar feelings.
"I'm just glad that we got through it. We still have a lot of stuff to work on, but we're all getting ready for next week's city meet at Warner Park," she explained.
"We have a lot of new kids from last year, which makes the whole experience different. I haven't been able to be present for all the practices because of other obligations and I feel guilty about that, but I'm glad that we don't have another meet the rest of this week.
"It's been a good year for us and we're excited about moving back up to the Blue division as you always want to swim against the best competition. But at the same time, I'm really excited to see how we'll do in the city meet against kids from teams other than in our division," she concluded.
Country Club's Corcoran is proud of the way his team has held its own in a tougher division after totally dominating the White a year ago.
"We began the year as the new team in this division and we won three meets, which is awesome. We were the lowest seeded team in the division while Fairyland was the top seed after moving down. It's nice that we were competitive among these teams. Even in two of our losses, we were really close, but we're glad that we get to stay in this division another year.
"I thought we swam really well today as they look a whole lot better today than we did a month ago. But we'll finish up our regular season against a good Ringgold team next Tuesday," Corcoran nodded.
Kristen Myers was the only Fairyland swimmer with 19 points, but she had plenty of support from Ellie Taliaferro, who was next with 18.
Anne Dassow and Benjamin Bevill both contributed 17 points while Frances Bohner finished with 16 for the Flash.
Cecelia Turner and William Turner both had 19 points to lead the Country Club effort.
Maxwell Smith was next with 17 while Sarah Large, Emelia Richey and Robert Buntin all finished with 14 points.
CALHOUN REMAINED unbeaten in the White division on Tuesday with a 428-300 victory over Fort Oglethorpe in another makeup meet.
FAIRYLAND HIGH-POINT SCORERS:
19 -- Kristen Myers
18 -- Ellie Taliaferro
17 -- Anne Dassow, Benjamin Bevill
16 -- Frances Bohner
15 -- Meredith Bevill, Simon Parker
14 -- Ethan Bevill
13 -- Carley Braman
12 -- Natalie Lopez-Durel, Madalyne Mullins, Andrew Horne, Leland Holsonback
11 -- Kylie Eiselstein
10 -- Quinn Nash, Matthew Nease.
COUNTRY CLUB HIGH-POINT SCORERS:
19 -- Cecelia Turner, William Turner
17 -- Maxwell Smith
14 -- Sarah Large, Emelia Richey, Robert Buntin
13 -- Zane Smith, Cooper Bell
12 -- Jane Becksvoort, Erik Buntin
11 -- Madalyn Reichman, Dalton Restelli, Charles Crump
10 -- McCay Mathis, Zane Restelli.
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@Comcast.net)