Wildcats qualify 25 for KISL; 12 to compete

January 24, 2024 by Ken Lay

As the 2023-24 high school swimming and diving season enters its home stretch, the senior class members of the Oak Ridge High School teams are looking to complete their respective careers on a high note.

“We’ve had a pretty good four-year stretch,” ORHS Coach Chad Hodge said. “We only had four meets this year because the Clinton meet got canceled.

“We’ve strung together four good years. We went 3-1 this year, and in four years, our seniors have gone 16-5.”

The Wildcats and Lady Wildcats will be in action this weekend in the Knoxville Interscholastic Swim League city championships at the University of Tennessee’s Allan Jones Aquatics Center.

The city championships were originally scheduled to be held last weekend, but the winter storm that battered East Tennessee caused the meet to be postponed and rescheduled for this Friday and Saturday (Jan. 26-28).

The new date has changed things a bit for Oak Ridge as several of the school’s athletes won’t be able to compete at the city meet due to prior commitments.

“I think we qualified 25 kids, but as far as those who are going, I think I have six boys and six girls going because they changed the date on us,” Hodge said. “I wish they could all go, but that’s the way it goes sometimes.”

The coach said he’s looking to have more swimmers back for the state championships, which will be held in Nashville next month.

Oak Ridge’s KISL meet qualifiers included Natalie Williamson, Stephen Zhukov, Andrew Chou, Eurydice Delmau, Brennan Toth, Connor O’Neil, William Shen, Micah Brown, Solomon Karisa, Rosalee Wenhame, Natalie Reynolds, Amelia Hodge, Dylan Hodge, Colin Suddeth, Justin Krogel, Natalie Steger, Alice Perez, Makayla Kuhns, Gracie Saunders, Olivia Foy-McDaniel, Kashus Blanco, Rhett Hovater, Aleyna Russell, Esther Krogel and Mason Greenhalgh.

Oak Ridge’s state qualifiers include Dylan Hodge, Amelia Hodge, Zhukov, Chou, Brown, Wehame, Greenhalgh, Foy-McDaniel, O’Neil, Steger and Suddeth.