ORCA’s 11-12 Boy’s Medley Relay Team, which placed fifth overall with a time of 2:15.53 at the annual GKAISA City Meet Knoxville 2014. Pictured left to right are Harrison Whitson, Jake Cheney, Vidar Hondorf, and Ethan Chou. (Submitted photo)

By Erik Groscost

The Oak Ridge City Aquatic summer league swim team finished its 2014 campaign on July 27 with a two-win, two-loss dual meet record and many smiling faces at the conclusion of City Meet. Wins over Beaver Brook Country Club and University Swim Club balanced losses to a very strong Northside YMCA team and Cherokee Country Club over the course of the Greater Knoxville Area Intersquad Swim Association (GKAISA) summer league season, which runs annually from early June through the end of July.

Two thousand and three hundred swimmers representing 33 summer league teams converged on the Allan Jones Aquatic Center on campus at the University of Tennessee from July 25-27. By the end of Sunday’s Finals, close to 10,000 races had been entered into the books. It is one of the largest swim meets held annually in the United States.

Eighteen ORCA swimmers—along with coaches Lars Hondorf, Betsy Hondorf, Luke Johnson, and Kathleen O’Neal—competed in Sunday’s finals going stroke for stroke with some of the finest young athletes in the Knoxville area. Top ORCA point scorers included: [Read more…]