The Ooltewah Tidal Waves have been on quite a roll in the past five summers as they have totally dominated the Chattanooga Area Swim League during that time Their record proves it as they have won 42 straight dual meets and are on the verge of winning the 64th Annual Bill Caulkins City Meet for the fifth straight year.
At this point, as has been the case in recent years, it’s a two-team race between Ooltewah and the Stuart Heights Sharks as the Tidal Waves are in first place with 1,502 points while the Sharks are a distant second with 985.
Host Fort Oglethorpe is third with 661.5 points while Signal Mountain is fourth with 598 and Red Bank fifth with 569.
It was much closer at this point a year ago as Ooltewah’s lead after the first day was only 122 points, but the Tidal Waves entered this weekend’s meet at the Arlene Crye Municipal Pool at the beautiful Gilbert-Stephenson City Park in Fort Oglethorpe with more individual entries and appear well on their way toward winning again.
Todd Jones is back as the head coach for Ooltewah after turning the responsibility over to his son Stephen last summer. Nothing has changed as the Tidal Waves just keep getting stronger and stronger and faster and faster.
The Tidal Waves won three of the first five mixed free relays to start the finals on Friday night and they later added wins in four of the 10 medley relays. They only had four individual winners in other events, but they more than made up with lots of secondary points in those individual races.
Jones is just sitting back and watching as his youngsters really perform at a high level and they do so with smiles on their faces as they repeatedly turn in quality times.
“It seems like all of my kids dropped their times as we had some of our best races of the season today,” Jones began shortly after the final race had ended.
“We just need to stay focused and not set any limits. We had solid performances across the board and we just want to keep doing our thing. If we’re successful doing that, the results will take care of themselves.
“We just need to execute what we’ve done since the first day. It seems like we always do better on the second day, but if we just stay focused on doing a little bit better every day, we’ll be okay. It’s more than just winning as they kids really enjoy being around each other and they have a lot of fun along the way,” he added.
Stuart Heights has been Ooltewah’s toughest competition this summer although the Tidal Waves won both dual meets, the first by 99 points in the first meet of the season while winning by just 20 on July 1.
Coach Katie Sallee knows that her team doesn’t boast the numbers like Ooltewah, but she also knows that she has more than her share of quality swimmers and that they always represent themselves in the most positive ways.
“It’s been a great day as all of my kids have swam great,” she said when the last race had ended.
“I think we’re all tired and hot after a long day, but we showed up today and our big kids showed the others what it takes to succeed. I’m glad to see a lot of teams doing some quality swimming as the results are quite spread out.
“All of the longest events are over and now it’s time to just sit back and enjoy ourselves. There’s still a lot of swimming to be done on Saturday,” she added.
There were three individuals won each won three events while four others were double winners.
Ridgeside’s Charlie Schrader and Fort Oglethorpe’s Foster Stevens both claimed three firsts and were both part of winning medley relay teams. Lily Vicknair of Stuart Heights was also first in three events.
Double winners on the day included Red Bank’s Addilyn Mayo, Dalton’s Layla Brackett, Ooltewah’s Makayla McInnes and the Waterdogs Carter Gray.
Saturday’s action begins with the morning session at 8:30 and will wrap up with the finals at 5:30. Individual events include butterfly, freestyle and back stroke and will end with the ever-exciting freestyle relays.
TEAM SCORES FOLLOWING FRIDAY FINALS: 1. Ooltewah 1,502; 2. Stuart Heights 985; 3. Fort Oglethorpe 661.5; 4. Signal Mountain 598; 5. Red Bank 569; 6. Country Club 485.5; 7. Dalton 457; 8. Big Ridge 438; 9. Ridgeside 330; 10. Fairyland 243; 11. Waterdogs 198; 12. Cleveland 193; 13. Cumberland 35.
8-UNDER MIXED 100 FREE RELAY – 1. Ooltewah 1:12.84.
9-10 MIXED 200 FREE RELAY – 1. Red Bank 2:16.45.
11-12 MIXED 200 FREE RELAY – 1. Ooltewah 1:58.87.
13-14 MIXED 200 FREE RELAY – 1. Ooltewah 1:46.19.
15-OVER MIXED 200 FREE RELAY – 1. Stuart Heights 1:33.91.
8 & UNDER GIRLS
25 BREAST – 1. Addilyn Mayo (Red Bank) 22.06
50 FREE – 1. Kaylee Greene (Signal Mountain) 37.04
100 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY – 1. Addilyn Mayo (Red Bank) 1:30.34
100 MEDLEY RELAY – 1. Ooltewah 1:29.69
8 & UNDER BOYS
25 BREAST – 1. Carter Gray (Waterdogs) 21.98
50 FREE – 1. Calynn Daniel (Ooltewah) 37.72
100 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY – 1. Carter Gray (Waterdogs) 1:44.04
100 MEDLEY RELAY – 1. Ooltewah 1:33.26
9-10 GIRLS
50 BREAST – 1. Layla Brackett (Dalton) 41.03
100 FREE – 1. Layla Brackett (Dalton) 1:09.39
100 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY – 1. Evie Ranalli (Country Club) 1:18.93
200 MEDLEY RELAY – 1. Red Bank 2:40.03
9-10 BOYS
50 BREAST – 1. Charlie Schrader (Ridgeside) 38.62
100 FREE – 1. Charlie Schrader (Ridgeside) 1:04.69
100 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY – 1. Charlie Schrader (Ridgeside) 1:13.27
200 MEDLEY RELAY – 1. Ridgeside 2:31.67
11-12 GIRLS
50 BREAST – 1. Lily Vicknair (Stuart Heights) 32.65
100 FREE – 1. Lily Vicknair (Stuart Heights) 56.00
100 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY – 1. Lily Vicknair (Stuart Heights) 1:04.89
200 MEDLEY RELAY – 1. Ooltewah 1:43.36
11-12 BOYS
50 BREAST – 1. Max Shaw (Stuart Heights) 35.46
100 FREE—1. Zeki House (Country Club) 59.02
100 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY – 1. Christian Chai (Waterdogs) 1:08.82
200 MEDLEY RELAY – 1. Fort Oglethorpe 2:26.91
13-14 GIRLS
50 BREAST – 1. Makayla McInnes (Ooltewah) 32.37
100 FREE – 1. Sage Sillery (Stuart Heights) 56.39
100 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY – 1. Makayla McInnes (Ooltewah) 1:03.54
200 MEDLEY RELAY – 1. Ooltewah 2:05.38
13-14 BOYS
50 BREAST – 1. Foster Stevens (Fort Oglethorpe) 30.81
100 FREE – 1. Foster Stevens (Fort Oglethorpe) 52.40
100 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY – 1. Foster Stevens (Fort Oglethorpe) 58.24
200 MEDLEY RELAY – 1. Fort Oglethorpe 1:59.77
15 & OVER GIRLS
50 BREAST – 1. Adelaide Bond (Fairyland) 31.39
100 FREE – 1. Frances Bohner (Fairyland) 53.99
100 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY – 1. Ellie Lydon (Stuart Heights) 1:00.07
200 MEDLEY RELAY – 1. Stuart Heights 1:52.90
15 & OVER BOYS
50 BREAST – 1. Ryan Berry (Signal Mountain) 26.75
100 FREE – 1. Jed Holliman (Ooltewah) 47.42
100 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY – 1. Ben Bevill (Fairyland) 52.66
200 MEDLEY RELAY – 1. Stuart Heights 1:37.82.
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)