There’s still an awful lot of points to be scored and a bunch of exciting races to be contested, but we’re at the halfway point of the 2023 Bill Caulkins City Meet that’s being held at the Arlene Crye Municipal Pool at the Gilbert-Stephenson City Park in Fort Oglethorpe this weekend.
Right now, it’s a three-team race between three-time defending champion Ooltewah, Stuart Heights and Signal Mountain, a team with probably more City Meet titles than everyone else combined.
The Tidal Waves are currently in first place with 1,406.5 points while Stuart Heights is a close second with 1,284.5. The Green Giants, with the fewest entries for this meet in recent memory, is a distant third with 1,010.5 points.
The Country Club Wavemakers and host Catoosa Great White Sharks are fourth and fifth in the 14-team field with 504 and 470.5 points, respectively.
There were only four records broken on Friday and two of those were in the mixed freestyle relays that were just introduced to this meet a year ago.
Dalton had the first one with a time of 1:09.81 in the 8-under 100 free relay, breaking the old mark of 1:13.06 while Stuart Heights posted a time of 1:51.51 to break the old mark of 1:55.64 in the 11-12 200 race.
The other two records fell in the 13-14 age group with Signal Mountain’s Hayden Vicknair setting a new mark of 54.57 seconds in the 100 Individual Medley, erasing the old mark of 55.19.
The Stuart Heights girls clipped full second off the 200 Medley Relay with a winning time of 1:54.22.
Ooltewah coaches have always said that they produce better results on the second day of the city meet and that might be the case, but the Sharks from Stuart Heights are giving the Tidal Waves all they want and more, despite having less than half the team members at Ooltewah has.
Stuart Heights coach Katie Sallee was all smiles after her team prevailed in three of the last six 200 medley relay races.
“We had a lot of wins today as my kids are really excited and pumped up about swimming their best in this meet,” she began after a quick talk with some of her swimmers.
“We just want to race and have fun in the process and so far, we’ve done a lot of both. My kids love relays and that seems to bring out the best in them, but it seems like we moved up in every event in tonight’s finals.
“I’m really proud of their effort as I’m not sure we could have done any better,” she nodded.
Ooltewah’s lead is a slim 122 points over the Sharks, but Tidal Wave coach Stephen Jones doesn’t seem to be the least bit concerned.
“I feel like we did really well as a team and had a bunch of kids move up in tonight’s finals,” he began.
“Emma Elam dropped two seconds from her best time in the 100 IM this morning and then came back to take two more off tonight, so that’s what I’m talking about as our kids really swam phenomenal.
“I feel really confident going to Saturday’s events as we should be really strong in a lot of areas. We’re really happy with where we are right now. I had a nice pep talk with them this morning and they responded with some of their best times. They came back and swam even faster tonight, so I have nothing to complain about.
“If we just do what we’re supposed to do tomorrow, the results will take care of themselves,” he smiled.
Signal Mountain’s Lily Vicknair and Ooltewah’s Makayla McInness both won three races to highlight the girls results while Red Bank’s Noah Blake won twice. Signal’s Hayden Vicknair and Ryan Berry were also two-time winners on Friday night.
TEAM SCORES FOLLOWING FRIDAY’S EVENTS: 1. Ooltewah 1,406.5; 2. Stuart Heights 1,284.5; 3. Signal Mountain 1,010.5; 4. Country Club 504; 5. Catoosa 470.5; 6. Fairyland 335.5; 7. Dalton 326; 8. Ridgeside 318; 9. Red Bank 301; 10. Big Ridge 294; 11. Calhoun 185.5; 12. Waterdogs 180; 13. Cleveland 107; 14. Cumberland 42.
EVENT FINALS:
8-UNDER MIXED 100 FREE RELAY: 1. Dalton 1:09.81 (broke old record of 1:13.06)
9-10 MIXED 200 FREE RELAY: 1. Ooltewah 2:16.81;
11-12 MIXED 200 FREE RELAY: 1. Stuart Heights 1:51.51 (broke old record of 1:55.64);
13-14 MIXED 200 FREE RELAY: 1. Stuart Heights 1:41.66;
15-OVER MIXED 200 FREE RELAY: 1. Stuart Heights 1:34.05.
8-UNDER GIRLS
50 FREE: 1. Layla Brackett (Dalton) 36.34.
100 IM: 1. Results not available.
25 BREAST: 1. Cassidy Gray (Calhoun) 20.88.
100 MEDLEY RELAY: 1. Country Club 1:30.02.
8-UNDER BOYS
50 FREE: 1. Daniel Eason (Ooltewah) 36.77.
100 IM: 1. Results not available.
25 BREAST: 1. Turner Sharp (Red Bank) 23.75.
100 MEDLEY RELAY: 1. Ooltewah 1:30.70.
9-10 GIRLS
100 FREE: 1. Lily Vicknair (Signal Mountain) 1:04.99.
100 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY: 1. Lily Vicknair (Signal Mountain) 1:10.62.
50 BREAST: 1. Lily Vicknair (Signal Mountain).
200 MEDLEY RELAY: 1. Ooltewah 2:33.35.
9-10 BOYS
100 FREE: 1. Charlie Schrader (Ridgeside) 1:07.31.
100 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY: 1. Christian Chai (Waterdogs) 1:17.29.
50 BREAST: 1. Max Shaw (Stuart Heights) 38.49.
200 MEDLEY RELAY: 1. Ridgeside 2:49.69.
11-12 GIRLS
100 FREE: 1. Makayla McInness (Ooltewah) 59.21.
100 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY: 1. Makayla McInness (Ooltewah) 1:06.90.
50 BREAST: 1. Makayla McInness (Ooltewah) 35.28.
200 MEDLEY RELAY: 1. Ooltewah 2:13.86.
11-12 BOYS
100 FREE: 1. Noah Blake (Red Bank) 56.09.
100 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY: 1. Noah Blake (Red Bank) 1:06.20.
50 BREAST: 1. Walker Sewell (Stuart Heights) 36.91.
200 MEDLEY RELAY: 1. Stuart Heights 2:24.91.
13-14 GIRLS
100 FREE: 1. Ava Gipson (Stuart Heights) 54.99.
100 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY: 1. Molly Mae Ransom (Stuart Heights) 1:03.10.
50 BREAST: 1. Hadley Bolton (Stuart Heights) 32.65.
200 MEDLEY RELAY: 1. Stuart Heights 1:54.22 (broke old record of 1:55.22).
13-14 BOYS
100 FREE: 1. Hayden Vicknair (Signal Mountain) 49.63.
100 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY: 1. Hayden Vicknair (Signal Mountain) 54.57 (broke old record of 55.19).
50 BREAST: 1. Harrison Barnes (Fairyland) 30.08.
200 MEDLEY RELAY: 1. Ooltewah 1:55.32.
SENIOR GIRLS
100 FREE: 1. Scout Chapin (Stuart Heights) 54.30.
100 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY: 1. Ellie Lydon (Stuart Heights) 1:00.14.
50 BREAST: 1. Avery May (Signal Mountain) 30.83.
200 MEDLEY RELAY: 1. Stuart Heights 1:53.49.
SENIOR BOYS
100 FREE: 1. Jed Holliman (Ooltewah) 48.21.
100 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY: 1. Ryan Berry (Signal Mountain) 53.55.
50 BREAST: 1. Ryan Berry (Signal Mountain) 26.63.
200 MEDLEY RELAY: 1. Signal Mountain 1:39.92.
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)