The Red Bank Gators may have turned a big corner in their home swim meet with the Cumberland Currents Thursday evening.
Red Bank lost its first meet of the season at Big Ridge on Monday as several key swimmers were missing and the Gators made more than their share of silly mistakes.
Veteran Red Bank coach Ken Buchanan has worked with other Red Bank coaches since that meet in an attempt to correct those mistakes.
The Gators got back on the winning track with a 481-298 win in their latest meet, but more importantly, the Red Bank swimmers took to heart what was being taught and perhaps had one of their most impressive meets of the summer as a result.
“I’m about to starve,” Buchanan said while getting his swimmers in place for the last few events, including the all-important freestyle relays.
“We still had some kids missing, but the key ones were here. The biggest thing for us is that they actually applied what we’ve been working on since Monday. There are times when they don’t pick up on stuff right off, but they put it all into action tonight and that made a huge difference.
“We have a lot of fun on this team and every member has a role to play. And I’m so proud of the young ones as they continue to come along, but Monday is the big one when we face Big Ridge for the third time with first place in the division on the line,” Buchanan nodded.
Buchanan has been the Red Bank coach since 1986 and has had a really successful career since that time. Red Bank city officials honored him when they named the pool after him in 2016.
While Buchanan has been coaching at Red Bank a really long time, Julie Thornburg has been on the deck at Cumberland longer than that, this being her 44th summer.
Like Buchanan, she’s never coached anywhere else and loves working with the youngest kids more than anything.
“I have a lot of little ones this year and today’s meet is the first one for some of them ever,” she said while taking a brief break while the swimming continued.
“We’ve had better participation this summer than in recent years as we have just over 100 kids on our roster. We just want them to show up and do their best. If they do that, it’s been a win all the way around.
“We’re teaching life skills here and stuff like how to be a good teammate. I’ve never coached anywhere other than Cumberland and it’s still a lot of fun for me. When the day comes that it is no longer fun, that’s when I’ll hang my whistle up,” Thornburg said with a smile.
Addilyn Mayo, Noah Blake, Audrey Mayo and Madelaine Ellis all scored 19 points for Red Bank while Luke Blake, Allie West and Jem Robertson all followed with 17 each.
Zach Schurr and Jillian Schuster both maxed out with 19 points for Cumberland while Kymiri Turner had 17 and Carter Young 14.
While Red Bank will host Big Ridge on Monday, Cumberland will also be at home to host Cleveland.
While Red Bank improved to 5-1 with Thursday’s win, other meet winners included Ooltewah and Big Ridge. The Tidal Waves remained unbeaten with a 450-329 win at Signal Mountain while the Raiders defeated Cleveland on the road by a 408-360 final.
THURSDAY’S HIGH-POINT SCORERS:
CUMBERLAND:
19 – Zach Schurr, Jillian Schuster
17 – Kymiri Turner
14 – Carter Young
13 – James Chatard, David Davenport
11 – Ingrid Michael.
RED BANK:
19 – Addilyn Mayo, Noah Blake, Audrey Mayo, Madelaine Ellis
17 – Luke Blake, Allie West, Jem Robertson
15 – Arya Clinebell, Caleb Ross
14 – James Atchley, Benton Bilbrey, Adli Bowlin
13 – Ben Meagher, Caleb Grass, Maddie Grass, Lilah Blanchard
12 – Adalia Ross, Grace Martin, Avalie Bilbrey, Lily Robertson, Gage Thomas
10 – Dexter Miller, Maggie Rust, Hank Smith.
OOLTEWAH
19 – Easton Daniel, Jed Holliman, Keilah Holliman
17 – Anna Boyd, Shiwoo Song, Ella Cooper, Dalynn Daniel
16 – Noah Holliman
15 – Carmyn Watkins, Gunnar Corvin
14.5 – Nora Pace, Kaci Lambeth
13 – Bryson Lake, Max Emmert, Norah Petticord
12 – Julia Leite, Luke Oliver, Luke Combs
11 – Ella Garcia
10 – Nolan Holt, Wilder Erhard, Sophie Grier.
SIGNAL MOUNTAIN:
18 – Mitchell Maedel
17 – Nissa Ruth
16 – Kaylee Greene
13 – Luke Russell, Sophie Santola
11 – Natalie Ennen, Ben Hardin, Coop Holmes
10 – Owen Isch, Jacob Greene, Scarlett Gestosani.
BIG RIDGE:
19 – Kate White, Quinn Young, Nathan Jungels
17 – Jade Skiba, Lander Smith, Eli Haupert
15 – Noah Keener
14 – Haley Clark, Carling Smith, Sofia Mansueto
13 – Millie Watson, Alex Guo, Benson Wright, Blakely Martin
12 – Camden Ross, Maci Haustein, May Kountz
11 – Caroline Goode, Evan Scharff
10 – Megan Gill.
CLEVELAND:
19 – Elias Eldred
17 – Abigail Parrish, Kevin Curley
15 – Teddy Elliott, Addie Taubert, Reed Blackmon, Abby Anglin
14 – Palmer Blackmon, Joseph Scully
13 – Jaxon Moseley
12 – Ben Condo, Olivia Hughes
11 – Andrew Rutledge
10 – Carol Lynn Elliott.
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)
