We haven't seen each other in a long, long time...so, if you want, add your story by adding a comment...

The internet is definitely great for catching up with old friends. I'm glad to hear that everyone is doing well. After I departed from the swimming arena due to my knee injury I went to a small school called Western Carolina for my first two years of college. Then, I transferred back to Univ. of TN and graduated with a degree in Political Science with a minor in Spanish. I worked for Xerox for a year as an advertising and marketing representative and then I headed out west. Three friends of mine from a sports camp that I worked at in NH for two summers needed a change of pace from the mid-west and so did I from the south. I'll have been in the Phoenix area for three years in November and I'm in my first year of teaching seventh grade social studies. I love it!! Now, if only they had a swim team that I could coach. I try to get back to E. TN at least twice a year. I've contemplated at least moving back to the south but AZ keeps growing on me more all the time. I wish you all well and I hope to see you in the future. Megan

Hey it sure is great to hear from you guys. Well I guess everybody is giving there stories. I went to Transylvania University in Lexington, KY where I swam on their team and had a great time. Rachell Zucker was there with me as was Jesse McBrayer and Caleb Bingham. After that I moved to Memphis and went to med school. While there I met my wife and we had our first child Madi, she is now 5 and growing faster each day it seems. 2 years later Caroline came along and that is when it got real busy. After living and going to school in Memphis (a real fun place to hang out) we then moved to Little Rock, Arkansas where we began our residencies. It has been 3 years now and we really like the town. I am a surgery resident and my wife is in family medicine. This is where we will be for the next 3 years until my residency is over. At which point we will probably move back towards the Knoxville area and my family. Otherwise nothing else new, the girls really keep me busy when I am not at work. I already have Madi in swimming lessons and she tells me she wants to join a team soon. I have heard rummors that there may be a reunion; let me know because I would love to see everybody again. Well thanks again for contacting me and it is great to hear from the old team.

Nathan Gardner I started teaching at Hillside School about a year ago, and still enjoy doing it. It's a junior high boarding school in Marlborough, MA. I live in a house with the kids, teach English and Spanish, coach sailing and tennis, and work every other weekend. I hang out in Boston a lot, and come to visit Oak Ridge sometimes, but mostly at Christmas. I work summer in Maine at a sports camp, where I head up the waterfront (this summer will be my 11th one).

So since high school …. I went to Carleton College up in Minnesota and swam there for all four years, mostly IM and distance free. That was enough of cold weather and snow, so I moved south to North Carolina for a Master’s degree from Duke, while Liz was at UNC. After that, I moved up to Takoma Park, MD, just outside of Washington DC, and got married, then divorced. Currently I work for a research institute at the University of Maryland, I do science and study various issues related to climate change and agriculture. Coincidentally, my employer is part of the same government lab system as Oak Ridge National Lab. So I now have a couple of colleagues who are parents of people we went to high school with, although I haven’t had a chance to take a business trip to ORNL. The DC area is crowded and expensive, but has its benefits, one of which is that it is a short drive to Chapel Hill to see Liz and the little nephews. It’s great to hear about where everyone has ended up, I bought a cute little house last year and have plenty of space so feel free to drop by if you are in town! And I look forward to a reunion. -Allison

Chris, you have always had a great way with words. I remember that letter to the editor you wrote about our team, must have been 15 years ago. I still have a copy! I’m amazed how many people have been “found,” and love hearing what y’all are up to now. My story… I majored in biology at Cornell and swam all 4 years (IM, backstroke, mid-distance free). Then I went to UNC for my masters in marine biology. I also started swimming with the UNC masters team and did a few open water races each year, and a few triathlons (ugh). Fun swimming anecdote: my grad school advisor’s son, Chip, swam open water with us once – he was about 8 yrs old then – and this year he won the open water 10k world championships and the USS summer nationals in the mile. Must have been my positive influence. Anyway, in 1999 I married Brian (from Cornell), we bought a house in Chapel Hill, and I got a job at RTI International (environmental research/consulting-type thing). Our first son Sean was born in March 2003, we moved south of town to the middle of nowhere (also called Pittsboro, NC) in 2004, and then Eric was born in April 2005. I've been on "leave" from work since Eric arrived and probably will be until the kids are in school. Having lots more fun than I ever expected to as a mom! We spend a month every summer in Sodus Point, a tiny town on Lake Ontario where Brian's family lives. Hope to spend full summers up there when the kids are a bit older (NC getting way too hot with all this global warming). My parents moved back to California when I was in college, so haven't been back to Oak Ridge since then. Sean starts real USS swimming lessons this summer – it’s the circle of life! I have a website of photos at http://home.nc.rr.com/sullivanfamily. Occasionally I do take photos of things other than my own children. Really. And would love to see photos of everyone and all the kids, post them if you can! Hope to see you all in 2007! -Liz

I agree with Chris. It is great to hear from everyone and I think it is so exciting that we are able to get back in touch. I look forward to seeing everyone again. Here is my update. After graduating from the University of Minnesota I moved to Columbia, MO. I took a job as the graduate assistant swim coach for the Men's and Women's swim teams during the school year and I managed a country club pool in the summer. Columbia was great! It is a fun party town and all of my favorite restaurants are there. Coaching was fun my first two years and then we had some changes in the staff that made it a little harder my last year. I still feel loyal to the program and probably follow it a little closer than I do Minnesota. My last year in Missouri I met my husband Darin. He was in grad school with my roommate. After he graduated we moved to Austin, TX to search for jobs (his mom took us in while we were unemployed). Darin got a job in the DC area so we moved out here (we live in Burke, VA). I took a job with an airport association and I now know more about airports than I thought possible. Darin and I got married in November of 2003. We got our first baby, Truman a 95 lb all black german shepherd in February of 2004 and had our son Quinn in July of 2005. Parenthood has been great. After Quinn was born I quit my job and now am a stay at home mom and am trying to convince Darin to buy a mini-van:)!! We spend a lot of time entertaining Quinn, walking our dog or taking him to the dog park, watching St. Louis Cardinal baseball either on TV or live, watching U2 concerts either on dvd or live and traveling. We get back to Knoxville pretty often (next trip is planned for this memorial day). My parents still live in the same house as they did when I was in high school. I guess I have rambled on long enough. Can't wait to hear from everyone! Bye - Jess Grass

Here's the long and short of it without all the gory details. Went to Southern Illinois University for seven years and swam for three. Changed majors five times. Got a job as a cook at a local restaurant and worked my way to bartender. My now wife, Lori was one of the first people I met when I got to school. We ended up working at the same restaurant and that's when our relationship took off. Our first child Zachary was born in 1999. After the first year we moved to Chicago and stayed with Lori's mom. This didn't work out so well, so we moved to Oak Ridge and stayed with my parents for like 3 years. I got a job with Chili's as a cook and Lori started working at Girl's Inc. as a program coordinator for after school programs. I spent a year as a Corporate Trainer opening new Chili's all over the South and Midwest. In 2003 we finally married and I decided to move into management. Zach was getting to school age and it was hard to be away from him for three weeks at a time. In June of 2004 we were blessed with our second child Claudia Ann. Yes, that makes her initials CAT. Lori and I bought a house in Oak Ridge about 4 minutes from Linden Elementary in 2005. It is really great to see all the enthusiasim about all of us getting back together. I actually got all of my High School yearbooks out the other day and looked over everybody's pictures and the comments we wrote to each other. We have all had a lot of time to grow over the last ten years since most of us have seen each other. It is amazing that we have all been able to reconnect so quickly. Almost amazing. I may be wrong, but I think that noone that reads this can deny that for all our differences and diverse backgrounds we were a family. Brothers, sisters, and friends that fought, cried, laughed, and lived more in the few years of High School than most do in a lifetime. I look forward to seeing everyone in 2007. Chris