SPORTS WRITER

Sam Cowan

The Sewanee TigerSharks will be kicking off their summer swimming season on Saturday as they will be looking to maintain a strong history in their league.

The TigerSharks ended the 2025 summer season with a third-place finish as a group in the Race League championship meet with new head coach Lucy Rudman saying that a similar placement is her expectation for the team again this year.

“I always expect us to finish in the top three in our league,” she said. “My hope is, obviously, No. 1, I want us to perform well. No. 2, I want the season to be fun and engaging, I want swimmers to want to keep swimming and I want swimmers to come back to TigerSharks next year.”

Rudman said that the team’s enrollment numbers have declined a bit since the COVID-19 pandemic, but the TigerSharks have been able to maintain a sizable roster overall.

“Right now, we’re at about 60 swimmers. We always have some folks join a little later,” she said, referring to the roster’s chances to grow before talking about the veteran experience on her team. “We have this core group of swimmers that have been training year-round, that have been doing club swimming, competing in middle and high school swimming and are overall dedicated to the sport.”

Rudman said that her team also benefits from its connection to the University of the South with the TigerSharks’ home meets being hosted at the school’s Fowler Center.

“We have, of course, the privilege of training at the Fowler Center, which also means that we have connections with university students that coach and their club program,” she said, adding later that the Fowler Center has numerous major benefits as a meet venue. “I also love hosting teams at our pools because we do have a lot of deck space, we do have a really nice facility, and we have amazing parent volunteers that run our meets.”

The TigerSharks will spend most of the season at home with meets on Saturday against McMinnville and Lewisburg, June 13 against Fayetteville, June 20 against Manchester and June 25 against Winchester all scheduled to be held at the Fowler Center. Their lone road meet will be on June 30 at Tullahoma’s David R. Bean Swimplex.

Rudman said that the opening meet against McMinnville will be a pivotal one due to the size of McMinnville’s roster.

“McMinnville is historically the biggest team in the league. I think last year they brought maybe 110 swimmers to Race League,” she said. “It is interesting because swimming, particularly in the summer league, can be a sport where numbers matter, so I think that will be really interesting just to see where we’re at relative to a very strong team in our league.”

Rudman also said that the meets against Manchester and Tullahoma will be interesting to look at with both communities featuring strong club programs and dedicated swimmers.

The TigerSharks will conclude the 2026 summer season at home on July 11 with the Race League championship meet with Rudman saying that it is always an exciting honor to host such a critical event.

“It is really exciting for the kids to be able to race in the pool that we practice racing in. It’s always exciting when our older swimmers come and help in the morning with our younger swimmers because they’re able to do that, then go home and then come back for their session,” she said. “I’m very grateful for our facility, and I think that the kids get hyped up about it. They have a sense of pride about the pool and about their abilities.”

Rudman paid tribute to her coaching staff, including Rookie 1 coach Nan Long, Rookie 2 coach Loulie Frazier, pre-senior coach Janey Stevens and Junior 1 and 2 coach Will Turrell, as well as local parents for their assistance in making sure the program runs smoothly.

“This is a massive undertaking. We have kids from 4 years old to 18 years old. We have kids who have been swimming for 10 years and kids who have been swimming for three days. The diversity of skills we need to build, the range of personalities and individuals that we deal with, my coaching staff has already been doing an incredible job of handling all that,” she said. “We couldn’t do it without them and could not do it without our parents.”

The TigerSharks will hold their first meet of the year on Saturday against the McMinnville Swim Team and the Marshall County Swim Club at the Fowler Center. The meet is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m.