"They threw me in that's for sure," Ruger said. "They get a big kick out of that."
The Woodland swimmers enjoy throwing their coach in the pool, but Ruger said his team does not plan its season around winning the county meet.
"They want to win [but] to be honest with you, I don't know if they go into it like, 'We're going to win county,'" said Ruger, whose team has won the county meet all seven times, which includes the five years before Cartersville joined the fray. "We don't go into the year setting up our season around the county meet, but they definitely like to win."
Woodland finished with a combined score of 329 to finish ahead of Cartersville (215), Adairsville (206) and Cass (165).
The Woodland boys scored 172 points, placing ahead of Cass (115), Adairsville (100) and Cartersville (58), but the girls proved much more interesting.
Cartersville, in its second year competing at the county meet, tied with Woodland in the girls' standings with 157 points, while Adairsville and Cass finished behind those two co-leaders with 106 and 50 points, respectively.
"I've been in the sport for 22 years, and I'd never experienced a tie until today," said Ruger, who commended Cartersville's team.
Overall, Ruger said it was a good day as 15 county records were broken, including boys 200-yard freestyle, girls 200 freestyle, boys 200 individual medley, girls 200 IM, boys 50 freestyle, girls 50 freestyle, boys 100 butterfly, girls 100 butterfly, boys 500 freestyle, girls 500 freestyle, boys 200 freestyle relay, boys 100 backstroke and girls 100 breaststroke.
Woodland set the stage for another county title in preliminaries by qualifying 51 out of 110 swimmers for the finals.
Woodland's Travis T. Culp (200-yard freestyle), Allison Warren (200 freestyle), Zach Naelitz (200 individual medley, 100 butterfly) and Jason P. Wood (100 freestyle) had the best times of their respective events during prelims.
Cartersville's Elise Hart (200 IM, 100 butterfly), Erin Williams (100 freestyle) and Chloe Hobgood (100 backstroke), Cass's Shane Walters (50 freestyle, 100 breaststroke), and Adairsville's Tyler Herron (50 freestyle, 100 breaststroke) and Austin L. Hancock (100 backstroke) swam the fastest prelim times in their respective events.
Naelitz (2:27.84, 200 IM; 59.38 100 butterfly), Hart (2:25.60, 200 IM; 1:05.70, 100 butterfly), Walters (23.05, 50 freestyle), Herron (25.51, 50 freestyle; 1:12.78, 100 breaststroke) and Hancock (1:03.00, 100 backstroke) each broke county records during prelims, which had the added bonus of being state-qualifying performances for Cass's Walters and Adairsville's Herron in the 50-yard freestyle.
Below are results from the finals of Saturday's county swim meet.
Boys 200 Medley Relay
1. Adairsville "A" 2:01.28
2. Cass "A" 2:04.21
3. Cartersville "A" 2:11.69
4. Cass "C" 2:33.03
Girls 200 Medley Relay
1. Cartersville "A" 2:08.71
2. Adairsville "A" 2:15.39
3. Woodland "A" 2:17.38
4. Woodland "B" 2:35.52
5. Cass "A" 2:55.16
6. Adairsville "B" 3:02.38
7. Cass "B" 3:13.01
Boys 200 Freestyle
1. Woodland -- Travis T. Culp 1:57.09
2. Cass -- Patrick Johnson 2:08.14
3. Woodland -- Cody M. Zaring 2:09.79
4. Woodland -- Mathew Wisby 2:16.81
5. Adairsville -- Nic Lawhorn 2:42.41
6. Cass -- Zach Mathison 2:58.11
7. Cartersville -- Brad Wilbanks 3:02.11
8. Woodland -- Chris McAdams 3:07.06
Girls 200 Freestyle
1. Woodland -- Allison Warren 2:24.07
2. Adairsville -- Katlyn Robinson 2:31.29
3. Woodland -- Kaiti Meade 2:34.59
4. Cartersville -- Emily Williams 2:36.38
5. Woodland -- Kelly Brooks 2:43.73
6. Woodland -- Kaleigh Twilley 3:07.43
7. Woodland -- Katie Broyles 3:11.63
8. Cass -- Abbi Holton 3:13.85
Boys 200 IM
1. Woodland -- Zach Naelitz 2:23.06
2. Adairsville -- Cole Wallace 2:28.87
3. Woodland -- Justin Coetzee 2:29.53
4. Woodland -- Jack L. Bucher 2:50.62
5. Cass -- Stephen Hambrick 2:53.87
Girls 200 IM
1. Cartersville -- Elise Hart 2:23.10
2. Woodland -- Samantha Patterson 3:01.01
3. Woodland --Bailee Smith 3:07.12
4. Woodland -- Mallory Ketchum 3:10.99
5. Adairsville -- Erin Davis 3:15.80
6. Cartersville -- Meara Coy 3:18.87
7. Woodland -- Katie Broyles 3:22.68
8. Cass -- Madison Ainsworth 3:39.90
Boys 50 Freestyle
1. Cass -- Shane Walters 23.28
2. Woodland -- Jason P. Wood 24.69
3. Woodland -- Bronson Castro 25.69
4. Adairsville -- Eric Craig 26.03
5. Cass -- Jared Purdy 27.02
6. Adairsville -- Garrett Alford 27.60
7. Cass -- Calen Pass 27.97
8. Cass -- Collin Rediger 29.50
Girls 50 Freestyle
1. Adairsville -- Tyler Herron 25.72
2. Cartersville -- Erin Williams 28.54
3. Woodland -- Lexi Davis 29.78
4. Adairsville -- Jessica Cochran 32.28
5. Woodland -- Emily Hardy 32.49
6. Woodland -- Ashley Owen 32.77
7. Adairsville -- Annie Hill 32.79
8. Cass -- Ashley Merchant 33.17
Boys 100 Butterfly
1. Woodland -- Zach Naelitz 1:00.26
2. Cartersville -- Gus Rutledge 1:01.00
3. Adairsville -- Austin Hancock 1:04.12
4. Woodland -- Sky J. Jones 1:05.68
5. Woodland -- Hunter H. St. Clair 1:13.94
6. Woodland -- Austin L. Stone 1:19.03
7. Cass -- Drew Eldridge 1:24.42
8. Cass -- Stephen Hambrick 1:26.39
Girls 100 Butterfly
1. Cartersville -- Elise Hart 1:03.66
2. Cartersville -- Madeline Braid 1:10.65
3. Woodland -- Kayla M. Bryant 1:19.40
4. Adairsville -- Kayla Broughton 1:24.77
5. Cass -- Robyn Ellenburg 1:30.39
6. Woodland -- Mallory Ketchum 1:31.61
7. Cass -- Mallory Pitelka 1:52.14
Boys 100 Freestyle
1. Cartersville -- Gus Rutledge 54.98
2. Woodland -- Jason P. Wood 54.99
3. Woodland -- Justin Coetzee 56.20
4. Adairsville -- Cole Wallace 57.84
5. Cass -- Jared Purdy 1:03.48
6. Cartersville -- Trent Johnson 1:03.74
7. Adairsville -- Miller Barnett 1:09.37
8. Cass -- Collin Rediger 1:10.14
Girls 100 Freestyle
1. Cartersville -- Erin Williams 1:04.49
2. Cartersville -- Chloe Hobgood 1:04.62
3. Woodland -- Kayla M. Bryant 1:12.98
4. Woodland -- Ashley Owen 1:13.40
5. Woodland -- Emily Hardy 1:14.09
6. Woodland -- Brandee Godfrey 1:22.51
7. Adairsville -- Kassidi Woodcum 1:22.73
8. Woodland -- Violetta Khirina 1:26.02
Boys 500 Freestyle
1. Woodland -- Travis T. Culp 5:24.69
2. Cass -- Patrick Johnson 6:03.72
3. Woodland -- Cody M. Zaring 6:11.45
4. Cartersville -- Ben Justus 7:02.44
5. Adairsville -- Nic Lawhorn 7:23.43
6. Adairsville -- Cody Miller 9:08.53
Girls 500 Freestyle
1. Cartersville -- Madeline Braid 6:35.35
2. Woodland -- Allison Warren 6:38.84
3. Adairsville -- Katlyn Robinson 6:59.72
4. Woodland -- Kaiti Meade 7:22.62
5. Woodland -- Kelly Brooks 7:40.37
6. Cartersville -- Meara Coy 8:17.69
Boys 200 Freestyle Relay
1. Woodland "A" 1:38.75
2. Cass "A" 1:45.27
3. Woodland "B" 1:45.32
4. Adairsville "A" 1:47.74
5. Cartersville "A" 1:57.53
6. Cartersville "B" 2:05.44
7. Cass "B" 2:12.58
8. Woodland "C" 2:16.21
Girls 200 Freestyle Relay
1. Cartersvillle "A" 1:56.52
2. Adairsville "A" 2:02.59
3. Woodland "A" 2:08.05
4. Cartersville "B" 2:16.88
5. Cass "A" 2:21.08
6. Cartersville "C" 2:26.49
7. Cass "B" 2:36.46
Boys 100 Backstroke
1. Adairsville -- Austin L. Hancock 1:01.97
2. Woodland -- Bronson Castro 1:09.73
3. Adairsville -- Eric Craig 1:15.79
4. Woodland -- Austin Stone 1:18.92
5. Woodland -- Jack L. Bucher 1:22.53
6. Woodland -- Blake Bishop 1:29.23
7. Cass -- Calen Pass 1:30.43
Girls 100 Backstroke
1. Cartersville -- Chloe Hobgood 1:15.00
2. Woodland -- Samantha Patterson 1:27.51
3. Cartersville -- Hannah Surrett 1:27.64
4. Adairsville -- Erin Davis 1:27.84
5. Woodland -- Amanda L. Weldon 1:28.88
6. Adairsville -- Morgan Sutton 1:36.62
7. Woodland -- Catrina Gage 1:38.44
8. Woodland -- Emily Cook 1:38.56
Boys 100 Breaststroke
1. Cass -- Shane Walters 1:11.01
2. Woodland -- Sky J. Jones 1:15.27
3. Woodland -- Mathew Wisby 1:21.14
4. Woodland -- Hunter H. St. Clair 1:24.67
5. Cartersville -- Brice Harreld 1:28.69
6. Adairsville -- Garrett Alford 1:30.95
7. Adairsville -- Miller Barnett 1:31.04
8. Adairsville -- John Branton 1:31.97
Girls 100 Breaststroke
1. Adairsville -- Tyler Herron 1:12.74
2. Woodland -- Lexi Davis 1:26.60
3. Cartersville -- Emily Williams 1:26.79
4. Woodland -- Bailee Smith 1:32.62
5. Cartersville -- Hannah Surrett 1:35.02
6. Woodland -- Amanda L. Weldon 1:36.78
7. Cartersville -- Maggie Dowling 1:45.71
8. Woodland -- Brandee Godfrey 1:47.02
Boys 400 Freestyle Relay
1. Woodland "A" 3:42.53
2. Woodland "B" 4:02.15
3. Cass "B" 4:31.84
4. Adairsville "A" 4:46.64
5. Woodland "C" 5:31.76
Girls 400 Freestyle Relay
1. Woodland "A" 4:45.44
2. Adairsville "A" 4:58.31
3. Woodland "B" 5:02.19
4. Cartersville "A" 5:16.49
5. Cass "A" 5:40.63
6. Cartersville "B" 5:49.63