It was early February and Charles Todd was having a crisis.
The Chattanooga Area Swim League city meet was still five months away, but it had no home. The head of the Carpet Capital Aquatics Club and coach of the Dalton Dolphins, Todd was supposed to be hosting the event, meaning the usual spot at the Baylor School was in order. However, Baylor is undergoing construction, which left the meet without a home.
Todd, a former Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe High School athlete and Fort Oglethorpe Marlins swimmer and coach, sought to move the city meet to Warner Park, only to find out the park had been reserved for softball this weekend. It was then the Fort Oglethorpe resident looked down the road to the recently renovated Arlene Crye Pool at Gilbert Stephenson Park.
The pairing was a perfect match, it turned out. As day one of the CASL meet wore down with favorite Signal Mountain holding a comfortable 1,562 to 1,260 lead over Stuart Heights, only a brief afternoon storm slowed things.
"We could have run it in Dalton with two pools, but we have six-lane pools, which meant putting 12 in the finals (instead of the usual 16)," said Todd, whose Dolphins are solidly in third place with 661 points. "This way we can take the top 16 and keep the records consistent. (Tournament director) Rob Cushman, (Fort Oglethorpe coach) Jeff Long, the mayor and myself worked to make this happen, and it's gone great."
Not only is Fort Oglethorpe benefiting from this weekend's event, but city officials hope it can lead to more meets.
"They want to prove they can run a big meet here," Todd said. "They are shooting to host the GRPA (Georgia Recreation and Parks Association) state championships next year. Currently, it's held in Tifton, on the other end of the state. Those meets are usually 500-600 competitors. This one has 900, so if they show they can pull this off, they will prove they can handle the big meets.
"They renovated the pool two years ago and the building last year. They've put a lot of money in this. The pool was originally built in 1972 and I grew up swimming here. Now the pool is larger, the bathrooms are great, there is a bigger concession area. In my opinion, it's the best public pool in the Chattanooga area."
The meet also is being closely watched in Dalton, where officials want to see if the expanded pool is something their city could benefit from.
"This has gone great, wonderful," said Sandy Mathis, CCAC treasurer. "I just got off the phone with the Dalton mayor. They were interested in coming and seeing the facility in hopes of doing something like this in Dalton. That would be great for that city, just as it is for Fort Oglethorpe."
The meet concludes today with morning and evening sessions.