DUNLAP — Back brace or not, Wawasee swim coach Julie Robinson was taking a dip into the pool Saturday afternoon.
Undergoing back surgery a month earlier, Robinson took the traditional plunge into the Concord High School pool after her 19th-ranked Wawasee girls swim team ended Northridge’s 12-year Northern Lakes Conference dominance, winning the school’s first NLC title since 1996.
“I was a lot nervous,” she said about shedding the back brace to jump into the pool. “I’m four weeks out of back surgery. I’m not supposed to be doing anything, so I wasn’t quite sure how that was going to work out. That in itself was a good experience, getting in an not having any pain.”
Robinson’s exuberance wasn’t just because Wawasee won the conference meet, they owned it.
After going through the conference season with a 7-0 mark, the Wawasee Lady Warriors tallied 447 points at the NLC Championships, giving them plenty of distance from second-place Goshen’s 350, while Northridge was third with 347.
Having already gotten the inside track on the conference title by defeating Northridge 105-81 at home Monday night, Robinson didn't feel like her girls would let up in the conference meet, especially after they placed at least two girls in the championship heat of every single swimming event following Thursday’s preliminary round.
“Well, I slept well last night,” the NLC coach of the year said about her confidence-level going into the finals. “The girls all did what they needed to do Thursday. I came into this meet confident. The girls, just like we practiced all season, they came out and took it one race at a time. They just did an amazing job. It was actually an exciting, relaxing meet.”
In the win, junior Breanna Robinson won the 200 free in a pool and meet record time of 1:50.30, then claimed the 100 fly in a time of 56.10, four-hundredths-of-a-second behind the meet record time of 56.06, set by her older sister Brittany Robinson, who’s currently swimming at the University of Louisville.
However, Breanna Robinson wasn’t Wawasee’s only multi-winner, as freshman Paige Miller won the 200 IM (2:08.58) and 500 free (5:06.28).
The two girls then joined forces on the relays, accompanying junior Kendra Miller and freshman Shelby Adams on the winning 200 free relay (1:41.10), as well as Kendra Miller and Kayla Hershberger on the victorious 400 free relay (3:38.26).
Hershberger also won the 100 back in 1:02.12, helping the Lady Warriors win seven of the 12 events.
Favored to win the meet, the Wawasee coach had to make sure her girls were focused on the task at hand.
“We talked about coming out and swimming flat,” she said. “We discussed that a lot Friday and then today. They kind of knew what they needed to do, and we continued to talk about taking it one race at a time.”
Her daughter, Breanna, who had already won the 100 free NLC title as a freshman and sophomore was also aware of the potential letdown, but didn't let it happen.
“It was definitely nerve-racking, because I know we can’t just say, ‘Oh, here we are seeded first.’,” Breanna said. “We always have to expect the worst and just work for the best.”
Also giving her best was Warsaw freshman Brenna Morgan, who along with Breanna Robinson and Paige Miller picked up two individual victories, winning the 50 free (24.44) and 100 free (53.20).
“I know it’s possible for every single one of our girls,” Warsaw coach Nathan Long said. “It’s kind of on them whether or not they want to do it. She’s one of them that decided this was one of her goals at the beginning of the season – to win conference, sectionals and go down to state.”
With Morgan's performance, Warsaw finished sixth at the meet with 225 points.
“When we went into prelims, I kind of scored it out and there were six teams within 150 points,” Long said. “That’s a big deal. I just told my girls, ‘This is kind of up to you guys. If you swim well enough on Thursday, we can set ourselves up to do something really fun on Saturday.’ They did well Thursday, and today, we had all but one career-best time.”
Along with Wawasee and Morgan’s performances, only Goshen (200 medley relay) and Concord (diving, 100 breast) won events at the meet.
Dominating like they did, Breanna Robinson said her team were pretty relaxed coming in on the bus ride.
“Everybody was just really excited,” she said. “There wasn’t really any tension. It was just more of swimming for fun more than it was anything else.”
And with just one senior on this year’s team, Wawasee may be having fun for a while, but it’s coach isn’t looking too far ahead.
“Northridge has some great swimmers coming in, and so does Concord,” she said. “We’re just going to take it one year at a time and enjoy the moment right now.”

NORTHERN LAKES CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS
Team Scores - 1. Wawasee 447, 2. Goshen 350, 3. Northridge 347, 4. Concord 279, 5. Elkhart Memorial 257, 6. Warsaw 225, 7. NorthWood 115, 8. Plymouth 80
(1st Place, Warsaw, Wawasee Results)
200 Medley Relay - 1. Goshen (Claire Palczynski, Lynnsey James, Natalie Evans, Olivia Wenger) 1:55.06, 2. Wawasee (Kayla Hershberger, Bridgette Yoder, Mikala Mawhorter, Shelby Adams) 1:56.75, 4. Warsaw (Jessica Haines, Ashley Van Wormer, Erin Sandberg, Brenna Morgan) 1:57.70; 200 Free - 1. Breanna Robinson (Waw) 1:50.30*, 6. Anna Park (Waw) 2:08.02, 7. Madison McBride (Waw) 2:09.02, 9. Cynthia Juarez (War) 2:04.42, 14. Jessica Haines (War) 2:14.23, 16. Charlene Orr (War) 2:19.00; 200 IM - 1. Paige Miller (Waw) 2:08.58, 4. Shelby Adams (Waw) 2:18.19, 9. Ashley Van Wormer (War) 2:24.56, 10. Erin Sandberg (War) 2:25.62, 12. Caitlin Clevenger (Waw) 2:28.02; 50 Free - 1. Brenna Morgan (War) 24.44, 2. Kendra Miller (Waw) 25.77, 6. Mikala Mawhorter (Waw) 26.12, 10. Cassidy Manning (Waw) 27.17; Diving - 1. Lauren Boone (C) 413.60, 10. Mercedes Sanchez (War) 246.50, 12. Hannah Rhoades (Waw) 224.35; 100 Fly - 1. Breanna Robinson (Waw) 56.06, 3. Mikala Mawhorter (Waw) 1:03.36, 7. Erin Sandberg (War) 1:06.49, 8. Caitlin Clevenger (Waw) 1:08.22, 16. Karly Poyner (War) 1:18.53.
100 Free - 1. Brenna Morgan (War) 53.20, 3. Kayla Hershberger (Waw) 54.74, 5. Kendra Miller (Waw) 56.35, 9. Cassidy Manning (Waw) 58.78; 500 Free - 1. Paige Miller (Waw) 5:06.28, 4. Cynthia Juarez (War) 5:35.63, 6. Anna Park (Waw) 5:40.56, 12. Hannah Winters (Waw) 5:57.82, 13. Emily Thompson (War) 6:06.91, 14. Charlene Orr (War) 6:07.50; 200 Free Relay - 1. Wawasee (Kendra Miller, Shelby Adams, Paige Miller, Breanna Robinson) 1:41.10, 5. Warsaw (Brenna Morgan, Ashley Van Wormer, Cynthia Juarez, Erin Sandberg) 1:44.86; 100 Back - 1. Kayla Hershberger (Waw) 1:02.12, 5. Madison McBride (Waw) 1:05.78, 10. Sam Bontrager (Waw) 1:11.86, 11. Jessica Haines (War) 1:11.94, 12. Megan Bixler (War) 1:13.50; 100 Breast - 1. Ashley Schrock (C) 1:07.78, 2. Ashley Van Wormer (War) 1:07.99, 4. Shelby Adams (Waw) 1:12.87, 5. Bridgette Yoder (Waw) 1:13.33, 7. Hannah Winters (Waw) 1:16.14, 15. Allison Miller (War) 1:22.43; 400 Free Relay - 1. Wawasee (Kendra Miller, Kayla Hershberger, Paige Miller, Breanna Robinson) 3:38.26*, 6. Warsaw (Jessica Haines, Emily Thompson, Charlene Orr, Cynthia Juarez) 4:09.25.
* - Meet and Pool Record