There were no records broken at the annual Bill Caulkins City Swim meet that was held at Fort Oglethorpe this weekend, but there were a bunch of really close races as the Ooltewah Tidal Waves won this meet for the fifth straight year as they finished the two-day event with 2,814 points.
They had a lead of 517 points over runner-up Stuart Heights after Friday’s action and it just stretched a bit more on Saturday as the Sharks were second again with 2,028.5 points.
Signal Mountain was third with 1,233 while Fort Oglethorpe and Red Bank were fourth and fifth in the 13-team event with 1,163.5 and 1,132 points respectively.
As has been the case in recent weeks, it was really hot on the deck this weekend and every person got a chance to do a little sweating, but all had smiles on their faces and were having a really good time, despite the sweltering heat and humidity.
Ooltewah coach Todd Jones and his hard-working assistants do an outstanding job of putting kids in the right places where they are the strongest and fastest, so all he has to do on weekends like this is sit back and watch his swimmers perform at a high level.
As was the case on Friday, the Tidal Waves won four of the 10 relay races that were contested and they only had five other individual winners, but individual numbers make all the difference in meets like this and that’s where the Tidal Waves piled up the points in many cases with four or five scoring points in the same race.
Jones has put together a great plan for his team and he’s also put together a knowledgeable group of assistant coaches who make sure everyone is in the right place at the right time. He’s a very soft spoken man most of the time, knowing that kids have done the necessary work in the weeks leading up to this one. All he has to do is kick back and enjoy the show.
“I think we all swam faster today than we have all season, so I’m really happy with the effort,” Jones said long before the final team scores had been announced.
“Our kids had their heads on straight and did all we asked of them, but I couldn’t do it without the help of the assistant coaches and all the parents who help out as well. We have a bunch of little ones and they score a lot of points, but we didn’t have a single kid missing anything today and we get rewarded for our hard work.
“They just keep doing what we’ve been working on as they’re coming on strong. We’re losing six or seven seniors from this team, but I look forward to the future with these guys,” he added.
Stuart Heights coach Katie Sallee knows that Ooltewah has a huge advantage in team numbers alone, but she also knows that she has a bunch of quality swimmers who show up big in meets like this one.
“I love those final relays as they’re so much fun,” she began, still pumped after watching her team win the last two freestyle races.
“This is the fastest city meet I’ve ever been to as everyone ran really smooth and there were no delays. We know that we don’t have near the numbers that Ooltewah has, but we don’t worry about it. Our thought is that any point is a good point.
“I’m really proud of our seniors as they all really stepped up and scored a lot of points. It seems like we had five or six in every final. We didn’t win today, but we’re finished and we’re going to celebrate our hard work on Sunday afternoon.
“These kids have all worked really hard this summer. We had a lot of fun along the way and I couldn’t be any more pleased,” she concluded with a smile.
As is always the case in meets like this, there are always several individuals who really shine. That was certainly the case this weekend as there were five individuals who scored the maximum 100 points with five first-place finishes.
Red Bank’s Addilyn Mayo set the pace for 7-8 girls with 100 while Stuart Heights’ Lily Vicknair did the same among the 11-12 girls. Ridgeside’s Charlie Schrader (9-10 boys) and Fort Oglethorpe’s Foster Stevens (13-14 boys) also hit the century mark.
Ooltewah’s Calynn Daniel was close with 97 points to lead the 7-8 boys.
Certainly one of the highlights of this meet on the second day is the presentation of the Jennifer Fugate Awards, a scholarship awarded in memory of a young lady who died unexpectly at a really young age back in 1986. She was a member of the Ringgold Tiger Sharks and her parents have made this scholarship available every year since.
It started out with one winner, but has increased to two in recent years. This year, the competition was so close that three were recognized for their outstanding service as teammates and other areas of their life.
Those three include Ridgeside’s Abigail Carpenter, Cleveland’s Jae Dauphinais and Fairyland’s Ben Bevill.
Other nominees included Ooltewah’s Jack Christensen, Scout Chapin of Stuart Heights, Dalton’s Francis Cuaresma, Fort Oglethorpe’s Mariana Easley and Signal Mountain’s Jake Holmes.
All three winners were outstanding students with Carpenter being the salutarian at GPS. She will continue her education at William and Mary. Dauphinais is a Cleveland graduate who had a 4.0 GPA and is headed to Arkansas-Little Rock. Bevill also had a 4.0 GPA at McCallie who will continue his education at Denison University.
FINAL TEAM SCORES: 1. Ooltewah 2,814; 2. Stuart Heights 2,028.5; 3. Signal Mountain 1,233; 4. Fort Oglethorpe 1,163.5; 5. Red Bank 1,132; 6. Country Club 1,100.5; 7. Dalton 879; 8. Big Ridge 828.5; 9. Fairyland 591; 10. Ridgeside 584; 11. Cleveland 442; 12. Waterdogs 418; 13. Cumberland 133.
HIGH-POINT SCORERS:
6-UNDER GIRLS: 1. Palmer Blackmon (Cleveland) 37; 2. Caroline Kate Elrod (Cleveland) 33.
6-UNDER BOYS: 1. Caleb Ross (Red Bank) 40; 2. Warren Harman (Stuart Heights) 32.
7-8 GIRLS: 1. Addilyn Mayo (Red Bank) 100; 2. Kaylee Greene (Signal Mountain) 87.
7-8 BOYS: 1. Calynn Daniel (Ooltewah) 97; 2. Shiwoo Song (Ooltewah) 76.
9-10 GIRLS: 1. Layla Brackett (Dalton) 94; 2. Evie Ranalli (Country Club) 88.
9-10 BOYS: 1. Charlie Schrader (Ridgeside) 100; 2. Noah Keener (Big Ridge) 86.
11-12 GIRLS: 1. Lily Vicknair (Stuart Heights) 100; 2. Keilah Holliman (Ooltewah) 88.
11-12 BOYS: 1. Zeki House (Country Club) 89; 2. Elias Eldred (Cleveland) 87.
13-14 GIRLS: 1. Gracelyn Dauphinais (Waterdogs) 93; 2. Makayla McInnes (Ooltewah) 90.
13-14 BOYS: 1. Foster Stevens (Fort Oglethorpe) 100; 2. Noah Blake (Red Bank) 88.
15 & OVER GIRLS: 1. Frances Bohner (Fairyland) 87; 2. Ellie Lydon (Stuart Heights) 85.
15 & OVER BOYS: 1. Ben Bevill (Fairyland), Hayden Vicknair (Stuart Heights) and Ryan Berry (Signal Mountain) tied with 84 each; 4. Luke Waldrep (Stuart Heights) 81.
INDIVIDUAL EVENT WINNERS
6 & UNDER GIRLS
25 FREE – 1. Palmer Blackmon (Cleveland) 22.91
25 BACK – 1. Caroline Cleary (Fairyland) 24.05
6 & UNDER BOYS
25 FREE – 1. Caleb Ross (Red Bank) 19.63
25 BACK – 1. Caleb Ross (Red Bank) 26.04
7-8 GIRLS
25 FLY – 1. Addilyn Mayo (Red Bank) 17.11
25 FREE – 1. Addilyn Mayo (Red Bank) 15.10
25 BACK – 1. Addilyn Mayo (Red Bank) 18.67
100 FREE RELAY – 1. Ooltewah 1:16.93.
7-8 BOYS
25 FREE – 1. Calynn Daniel (Ooltewah) 19.01
25 BACK – 1. Calynn Daniel (Ooltewah) 16.58
25 FLY – 1. Calynn Daniel (Ooltewah) 21.54
100 FREE RELAY – 1. Ooltewah 1:18.02.
9-10 GIRLS
50 FLY – 1. Audrey Mayo (Red Bank) 35.27
50 FREE – 1. Layla Brackett (Dalton) 30.43
50 BACK – 1. Evie Ranalli (Country Club) 36.92
200 FREE RELAY – 1. Dalton 2:14.42.
9-10 BOYS
50 FLY – 1. Charlie Schrader (Ridgeside) 32.24
50 FREE – 1. Charlie Schrader (Ridgeside) 28.90
50 BACK – 1. Noah Keener (Big Ridge) 36.16
200 FREE RELAY – 1. Ridgeside 2:14.06.
11-12 GIRLS
50 FLY – 1. Lily Vicknair (Stuart Heights) 28.22
50 FREE – 1. Lily Vicknair (Stuart Heights) 26.24
50 BACK – 1. Keilah Holliman (Ooltewah) 31.71
200 FREE RELAY – 1. Ooltewah 1:54.66.
11-12 BOYS
50 FLY – 1. Christian Chai (Waterdogs) 29.24
50 FREE – 1. Elias Eldred (Cleveland) 26.92
50 BACK – 1. Zeki House (Country Club) 31.75
200 FREE RELAY – 1. Fort Oglethorpe 2:05.31.
13-14 GIRLS
50 FLY – 1. Gracelyn Dauphinais (Waterdogs) 27.16
50 FREE – 1. Gracelyn Dauphinais (Waterdogs) 25.86
50 BACK – 1. Gracelyn Dauphinais (Waterdogs) 28.59
200 FREE RELAY – 1. Ooltewah 1:51.99.
13-14 BOYS
50 FLY – 1. Foster Stevens (Fort Oglethorpe) 25.12
50 FREE – 1. Noah Blake (Red Bank) 23.52
50 BACK – 1. Foster Stevens (Fort Oglethorpe) 27.17
200 FREE RELAY – 1. Fort Oglethorpe 1:44.68.
15 & OVER GIRLS
50 FLY – 1. Ella Cooper (Ooltewah) 26.72
50 FREE – 1. Frances Bohner (Fairyland) 24.93
50 BACK – 1. Ellie Lydon (Stuart Heights) 28.26
200 FREE RELAY – 1. Stuart Heights 1:41.79.
15 & OVER BOYS
50 FLY – 1. Hayden Vicknair (Stuart Heights) 22.90
50 FREE – 1. Hayden Vicknair (Stuart Heights) 21.34
50 BACK – 1. Ben Bevill (Fairyland) 23.12
200 FREE RELAY – 1. Stuart Heights 1:26.78.
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)