Green Giants Focus On City Meet After Winning Blue Division
by John Hunt
posted July 17, 2008
The Signal Mountain Green Giants are the champions of the Chattanooga Area Swim League's Blue division after a resounding 475-328 win over previously-unbeaten Dalton Thursday night at Signal Mountain.
Dalton had beaten the Green Giants by a 421-403 margin on June 23, but Signal Mountain wins the division title on the tie-breaker, which is the point differential in the two dual meets.
Not only did Dalton get knocked out of first place, it was the first defeat for the Dolphins since the first meet of the 2005 season.
Signal Mountain’s victory snapped a 30-meet win streak for the visitors from the Carpet Capital and it was never close.
Neither team was at full strength as both had key swimmers missing who were competing in meets out of town.
As it turned out, the missing swimmers had a more devastating effect on Dalton’s performance, although one never knows what might have happened had everyone been present.
Most of the individual races were close, but that wasn’t the case among the relays.
Signal Mountain had the advantage in the freestyle (63-47), breaststroke (54-53), backstroke (64-45) and butterfly (58-51) while Dalton’s only advantage in the individual races came in the individual medley when the Dolphins outscored the hosts, 45-42.
Signal Mountain more than doubled Dalton in both the medley relays (76-32) and freestyle relays (118-55) to win going away in convincing fashion.
“We expected it and we knew it was coming, but I at least thought that we would be competitive,” said Dalton coach Trey Tharpe, standing in for head coach Charles Todd, who was in Savannah with at least 20 other Dolphins for the Georgia State Championships.
“It’s always a tough meet here, but we were out of it from the start. We were fairly close in the individual races, but the relays are our strength and that depth was gone today.
“We lost the division, but maybe we can bounce back and win the City Meet next week. That’s what Signal Mountain did last year. We should be close to full strength at that time,” Tharpe added.
Brian Gill was happy when the meet ended as you might expect, but he was looking for a much more competitive meet.
“I came up here today expecting a close meet, so I’m a little surprised the score is so lopsided," he began.
"We were both missing some key swimmers and that hurt, but this is a great win for our program and a great way to head into the City Meet next week.
“We haven’t beaten Dalton in a long time, but I can guarantee you that Charles (Coach Todd) will have them ready. We’ll be ready too. We have 112 kids entered, so our depth will help a lot.
“Winning the division wasn’t really our focus this year, but it’s a great way to end the regular season. We won almost every relay today and that’s always a key, but we’re in pretty good shape for next week,” Gill added.
While Signal Mountain had 22 swimmers scoring in double figures, Dalton only had 13. The Green Giants also won five of the six diving categories.
McKinnon Sowell, Lindsay Limerick, Cutler Cole and Matt Limerick all scored the maximum 19 points in Signal’s victory parade.
Sarabeth King was next with 17 points while Thomas Porter, Abby Bittel and Jay Torrance all finished with 15.
Nathan Bird pitched in with 14 points while the trio of Hallie Hunt, Sam McHugh and Mathias Porter all finished with 13. Benedict Brown and Daniel Sawyer both added a dozen points.
Mary Grayson Hunt, Eleanor Porter, Connor Ballard, Ashley Rutledge and Crosby Wheeler all finished with 11 points while Laura Holland, Katie McHugh and Jackson Cooper all added 10 apiece.
Rylee Maret and Chas Jones were tops for the Dolphins with 17 points apiece.
Peyton Maret added 16 while Tanner Storey and Joanna Rosales both finished with 15.
Maddie Scarborough was next with 14 while Jacob Myers and Maranda Storey added 13 each.
Macie Maret and Stephen Jones both had a dozen points while McCall Waldrop and Elizabeth News both chipped in with 11. Oli Valdez was next with 10.
Signal Mountain’s diving winners included Thomas Porter, Sara Smith, Matthew Smith, Susanna Larochelle and Jordan Mauney while Dalton’s lone diving winner was Ashley Miles in Senior Girls.
In another meet Thursday night, Ringgold defeated Hamilton YMCA, 410-332.
Nikki Paulsen, Clay Quinn and Zannie Carabo all scored 19 points to lead Ringgold while Andrew Tallent led Hamilton with 19 points.
Other high-point scorers for Hamilton included:
17 points - Tanay Patri, Jeorgia Hicks, Brooke Thomas
15 points - Austin Miller
13 points - Carter Miller, Delaney Miller
12 points - Gabby Claborn, Stacy Brock, Cory Thomas
11 points - Jake Marcum, Kaan Alp
10 points - Megan Aldridge
Other high-point scorers for Ringgold included:
17 points - Lindsay Hudson, Caitlin Quinn, Courtney Patrick, Mitch Chow
15 points - Brooke Paulsen, Landry Taylor
14 points - Joe Bodnar, Sydney Gurley
13 points - T. J. Lewis
12 points - Tripp Church, Evan Moeller, Cody Gravitt
11 points - Greyson Gurley, Marcy, Gregory
10 points - Jessi Carabo, Matthew Carabo
(Email John Hunt at tnmoose2002@aol.com)
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