Pictured above are the Oak Ridge High School Wildcat state team qualifiers and coaches David Vander Sluis, far left, and Alicia Williamson, back right. (Photo courtesy Erik Groscost)
By Erik Groscost
The Oak Ridge High School Wildcat Swim Team dual meet record for the 2016-2017 swim season was 4 wins, 0 losses. We were undefeated for the second year in a row! The wins were over Farragut, Berean Christian, Knoxville Catholic, and Clinton/Anderson County high schools.
Our meet against Maryville was canceled due to the heater breaking at the Oak Ridge Civic Center pool in late December. Three weeks of key training were disrupted for both year round and high school swimmers. We found ways around that nuisance and our swimmers still had very good championship meet performances.
Our two big end-of-season championship meets:
KISL
The 2017 Knoxville Interscholastic Swim League (KISL) Swimming and Diving Championships were held January 29 at the Alan Jones Aquatic Center at the University of Tennessee. High school swimming and diving teams from the greater Knoxville area competed. A total of 33 teams were represented.
Oak Ridge High School finished ninth overall, with 218 points scored. A remarkable performance considering ORHS had two key performers out. Last year, ORHS finished tied for ninth but only scored 178 points.
Hardin Valley Academy took top honors with 678 points scored.
Here are standout performances from KISL 2017.
Relays
- Women’s 200 yard Medley Relay Team—Esther Gallmeier (backstroke), Madi Cottrell (breaststroke), Lucy Groscost (butterfly), and Ali Craig (freestyle). Time: 2:02.40. Place: 10th. Points: 14.
- Men’s 200 yard Medley Relay Team—Daeton Byars, Ethan Chou, Alex Greenhalgh, and Tyr Hondorf. Time: 1:47.22. Place: 6th. Points: 26.
- Women’s 200 yard Freestyle Relay Team—Katharina Gallmeier, Ali Craig, Lucy Groscost, and Natalie Ingle. Time: 1:49.97. Place: 10th. Points: 14.
- Men’s 200 yard Freestyle Relay Team—Ethan Chou, Daeton Byars, Vidar Hondorf, and Trevor Haisten. Time: 1:37.39. Place: 9th. Points: 18.
- Women’s 400 yard Freestyle Relay Team—Natalie Ingle, Katharina Gallmeier, Esther Gallmeier, and Madi Cottrell. Time: 4:05.90. Place: 7th. Points: 24.
- Men’s 400 yard Freestyle Relay Team—Alex Greenhalgh, Tyr Hondorf, Vidar Hondorf, and Trevor Haisten. Time: 3:42.81. Place: 7th. Points: 24.
Individual event top performances (top 16 finish at finals after qualifying at preliminaries scores points for the team)
- Alex Greenhalgh, sophomore
200 Individual Medley—7th overall
100 butterfly—13th
Total points responsible for including relays: 66 - Ethan Chou, freshman
200 IM—10th
100 breast—9th
Total points + relays: 60 - Tyr Hondorf, senior
200 freestyle—11th
500 freestyle—10th
Total points + relays: 63 - Trevor Haisten, sophomore
100 freestyle—10th
Total points + relays: 49 - Lucy Groscost, junior
100 butterfly—15th
100 breaststroke—13th
Total points + relays: 34 - Esther Gallmeier, junior
200 Individual medley—10th
100 breaststroke—11th
Total points + relays: 51 - Katharina Gallmeier, junior
200 Individual medley—12th
100 breaststroke—12th
Total points + relays: 34 - Natalie Ingle, sophomore
200 freestyle—13th
Total points + relays: 32 - Alison Craig, junior
100 freestyle—8th
100 backstroke—15th
Total points + relays: 41
The 2017 Tennessee Interscholastic Swim Coaches Association (TISCA) State Swimming and Diving Championships were held February 10 and 11 at the Alan Jones Intercollegiate Aquatic Center on campus at the University of Tennessee. Oak Ridge High School brought 12 swimmers who met stringent time qualifications in an individual event(s).
They swimmers and the events they qualified for were:
- Esther Gallmeier, junior—200 IM, 100 breaststroke
- Katharina Gallmeier, junior—200 IM, 100 breaststroke
- Lucy Groscost, junior—100 butterfly, 100 breaststroke
- Alison Craig, junior—100 freestyle, 500 freestyle
- Madi Cottrell, sophomore—200 freestyle
- Natalie Ingle, sophomore—50 freestyle, 100 butterfly
- Grant Groscost, senior—200 IM, 100 breaststroke
- Tyr Hondorf, senior, 200 freestyle, 100 backstroke
- Alex Greenhalgh, sophomore—200 IM, 100 butterfly
- Daeton Byars, junior—200 freestyle, 100 backstroke
- Ethan Chou, freshman—200 IM, 100 breaststroke
- Vidar Hondorf, freshman—200 IM, 500 freestyle
No ORHS swimmer had a top 16 swim in preliminaries to make finals, so no team points were scored this year at state. Competition is fierce at this meet!
The last ORHS state championship team was 1989, when the girl’s team won it all.
Erik Groscost is an ORHS Swim Team parent representative, meet director, and official.
Oak Ridge Wildcat swimmers pictured above at the KISL meet post warm ups are, from left to right, Esther Gallmeier, Natalie Ingle, Madi Cottrell, Lucy Groscost, and Katharina Gallmeier. (Photo courtesy Erik Groscost)
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