Signal Mountain Leading CASL City Meet After First Day

Dalton, Stuart Heights & Ooltewah In Close Fight For Second Place

  • Friday, July 14, 2017
  • John Hunt
photo by Greg Davick

The Signal Mountain Green Giants are certainly no stranger to winning the biggest swim meet of the summer season and they appear to be on their way to winning for the second straight year.

The Green Giants rolled through the Chattanooga Area Swim League’s Blue division unbeaten and they entered this weekend’s Bill Caulkins City Meet at Fort Oglethorpe as the favorite to win.

There’s still a lot of points to be scored during Saturday’s final day, but the Green Giants are leading the way after the first day with 1,204 points.

The Dalton Dolphins are in second with 928 points while Stuart Heights is third with 832.  Ooltewah and Country Club are fourth and fifth in the 13-team field with 777 and 476 points, respectively.

Jake Sosna is the head coach for Signal Mountain and he’s looking for his second straight city meet title as the leader of the Green Giants.  He knows a little about winning this meet as he was on nine straight championship teams during his days as a competitor.

Sosna is all about team spirit.  His beard has been dyed the exact same green color as his team colors and he even has painted fingernails and toenails to boot.

He was all smiles when Friday’s action was finally in the books.

“That was something,” he began shortly after the final medley relay race of the day had ended.

“From top to bottom, we had a phenomenal day.  We also had a few silly DQs that cost us some big points, but the key for us was the performance of our “B” relays.  We had at least seven or eight and they scored a lot of points.

“We had a really outstanding season where we were undefeated in dual meets and we came here today expecting to perform like that.  I know there’s a lot of swimming still to go, but we’re right where we want to be right now,” Sosna concluded with a grin.

Dalton coach Jason Mezaros couldn’t have asked for more from his Dolphins.

Of the eight records that were broken on Friday, seven were among the guys and five of those seven swim for Dalton.

“We had a really good day as we really did some outstanding work here tonight,” he said as swimmers, coaches and parents headed toward the parking lot at the end of the day.

“We came here today ready to race and compete as well as we could and we wanted to show that we’re better than our dual-meet record might suggest.

“We broke a bunch of records and our relays were great.  We swam really fast this morning, but came back and swam even faster tonight. 

“Signal Mountain is a really good team and they will be tough to beat. Normally we are a stronger team on the second day, but our breast strokers really put on a show.  We had a great first day and I couldn’t be more proud of them all,” Mezaros concluded.

Roman Valdez and Henry Bethel both broke a pair of records and the 12-year-old Valdez was probably a member of the record-breaking 11-12 200 Medley Relay.    Valdez won the 100 free and 200 IM while Bethel claimed victory in the 200 IM and 50 breast.

Signal Mountain’s Trey Freeman broke the record in senior boys for the 100 free while Red Bank’s Luke Massey did the same in the 50 breast.

Fairyland’s Ellie Taliaferro was the only record breaker among the ladies as she rewrote the standard in the 50 breast.  She was also victorious in the 100 free before taking second in the 100 IM.

Ooltewah’s Anna Boyd, Signal Mountain’s Jewel Gordon and Luke Waldrep of Stuart Heights all won three events while Dalton’s Sophia Wagner joined Signal’s Freeman and Dalton teammates Bethel and Valdez as double winners.

Saturday’s action begins early with preliminary heats at 7 a.m. and will continue all day.  The final session that includes championship races in the butterfly, shorter freestyle and backstroke before wrapping up with the always-exciting freestyle relays.

TEAM SCORES AFTER FRIDAY: 1. Signal Mountain 1,204; 2. Dalton 928; 3. Stuart Heights 832; 4. Ooltewah 777; 5. Country Club 476; 6. Fairyland 450; 7. Cleveland 405; 8. Big Ridge 316; 9. Catoosa 216; 10. Ridgeside 141; 11. Red Bank 98; 12. Waterdogs 87; 13. Cumberland 82.

INDIVIDUAL RESULTS

8 & UNDER GIRLS

50 FREE – 1. Anna Boyd (Ooltewah) 35.84.

100 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY – 1. Anna Boyd (Ooltewah) 1:26.03.

25 BREAST – 1. Anna Boyd (Ooltewah) 21.15.

100 MEDLEY RELAY – 1. Ooltewah 1:22.93.

8 & UNDER BOYS

50 FREE – 1. Kyle Powroznik (Ooltewah) 38.99.

100 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY – 1. Noah Holliman (Ooltewah) 1:36.87.

25 BREAST – 1. Sam Laramore (Signal Mountain) 21.58.

100 MEDLEY RELAY – 1. Ooltewah 1:22.69.

9-10 GIRLS

100 FREE – 1. Scout Chapin (Stuart Heights) 1:06.66.

100 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY – 1. Sophia Wagner (Dalton) 1:11.64.

50 BREAST – 1. Sophia Wagner (Dalton) 38.75.

200 MEDLEY RELAY – 1. Stuart Heights 2:22.90.

9-10 BOYS

100 FREE – 1. Luke Waldrep (Stuart Heights) 1:05.52.

200 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY – 1. Luke Waldrep (Stuart Heights) 1:14.85.

50 BREAST – 1. Luke Waldrep (Stuart Heights) 38.53.

200 MEDLEY RELAY – 1. Stuart Heights 2:26.52.

11-12 GIRLS

100 FREE – 1. Maddie Weathers (Ooltewah) 59.17.

200 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY – 1. Caroline Schenck (Country Club) 1:08.24.

50 BREAST – 1. Alexis Vaughn (Dalton) 34.76.

200 MEDLEY RELAY – 1. Signal Mountain 2:12.00.

11-12 BOYS

100 FREE – 1. Roman Valdez (Dalton) 51.41 (breaks old mark of 53.85).

200 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY – 1. Roman Valdez (Dalton) 59.81 (breaks old mark of 1:00.48).

50 BREAST – 1. Grayson Officer (Cleveland) 33.26.

200 MEDLEY RELAY – 1. Dalton 1:59.85 (breaks old mark of 2:03.81).

13-14 GIRLS

100 FREE – 1. Ellie Taliaferro (Fairyland) 55:00.

200 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY – 1. Ellie Waldrep (Stuart Heights) 1:00.11.

50 BREAST – 1. Ellie Taliaferro (Fairyland) 30.71 (breaks old mark of 30.75).

200 MEDLEY RELAY – 1. Ooltewah 1:57.67.

13-14 BOYS

100 FREE – 1. Aidan Sims (Signal Mountain) 50.94.

200 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY – 1. Henry Bethel (Dalton) 55.19 (breaks old mark of 55.81).

50 BREAST – 1. Henry Bethel (Dalton) 27.92 (breaks old mark of 28.60).

200 MEDLEY RELAY – 1. Dalton 1:49.52.

SENIOR GIRLS

100 FREE – 1. Jewel Gordon (Signal Mountain) 53.73.

200 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY – 1. Jewel Gordon (Signal Mountain) 1:00.84.

50 BREAST – 1. Jewel Gordon (Signal Mountain) 31.09.

200 MEDLEY RELAY – 1. Signal Mountain 1:53.55.

SENIOR BOYS

100 FREE – 1. Trey Freeman (Signal Mountain) 46.54 (breaks old mark of 46.56).

200 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY – 1. Trey Freeman (Signal Mountain) 52.27.

50 BREAST – 1. Luke Massey (Red Bank) 26.14 (breaks old mark of 26.73).

200 MEDLEY RELAY – 1. Dalton 1:41.67.

(email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)

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