The Battle of Dalton beckoned Gilmer High swimmers to begin the season.
The Bobcats and Lady Cats attended the seven-team meet last Saturday and secured a pair of third-place times for their best placements of the day.
One of those third-place finishes came in the girls 200-yard medley relay. Evan May, Esther Bowman, Elizabeth Kucera and Yana Jones teamed up for a time of 2:29.11.
Bowman was also third in the 100-yard freestyle in 1:09.85. She was followed by teammates Kucera (sixth, 1:16.11), Jones (ninth, 1:21.06 and Lana Ginger (14th, 1:43.08).
Bowman (1:35.6) and May (1:29.04) went on to take sixth in the 100-yard breaststroke and 100-yard backstroke, respectively.
There was a tight race for fifth place in the 50 free as Jones (34.07) narrowly beat May (34.20) by 14 hundredths of a second. Next up were Ginger (45.15) and Rosalie Ballew (1:00.06) with respective finishes of 18th and 21st.
Kucera, Ballew, Ginger and Bowman clocked in at 2:56.31 for eighth place in the 200-yard freestyle relay.
Jacob Kucera was the only Bobcat in attendance and accounted for all 20 of their seventh-place team points. In the 200-yard individual medley, Kucera finished fourth in 2:40.42. He also secured sixth place in the 100 free with a time of 1:04.66.
Dalton (487 points) was No. 1 in the boys standings, and Northwest Whitfield was runners-up ahead of Coahulla Creek, 181-124.
The hometown Catamounts (349) also topped the girls standings. Coahulla Creek (186) and Pickens (181) rounded out the top three, and the Lady Cats (96) were fifth.
GHS will head to Calhoun High School Saturday for the TikTok Classic.