The Warsaw girls swim team wrapped up its third-straight sectional crown Saturday, it's sixth in seven years.
"This was a nice one," Warsaw coach Terry Aukeman said. "I wasn't sure how we were going to do at the beginning of the season. Some of our kids came along over the course of the year, especially in the last three or four weeks."Tallying 313 points, the Lady Tigers found a way to hold off Culver Girls Academy, which posted just one first-place finish, but used depth to rack up 277 points.
"Culver was deeper than they've been in the past, so that was a concern," Aukeman said. "They usually swim really, really well, and they swam great today. They gave us a good run for our money."
By finishing first at the sectional, swimmers qualify for the state finals at the Natatorium on the campus of IUPUI in Indianapolis. Swimming prelims begin Friday at 6 p.m., with consolation and championship heats taking place Saturday at 1 p.m.
State qualifiers for Warsaw were all three relays, senior Leah Moore in the 100 fly (59.66) and freshman Ashley VanWormer in the 100 breast (1:11.99).
The meet was Moore's last at Warsaw Community High School, and she went out on high note. On top of winning the 100 fly, she also joined Erica Gauger, Julianne Divine and Claire Wack on the 200 medley relay (1:54.15) and Marisa Vogel, Kayla Hutcherson and Gauger on the 400 free relay (3:51.69).
"She had a nice meet, so she's real happy with where she's at," Aukeman said about Moore.
VanWormer was also happy with her performance, qualifying for the state meet on her first attempt.
"Ashley had a good race today," Aukeman said. "She hurt her foot before the race, but she gritted it out. That's a nice win for her as a freshman.
"We'll have to see how far we can get with her," he added. "There's always room for improvement. It'll be interesting to see what we can do in the next couple of years."
The 200 free relay of Divine, Jenna Moore, Marisa Vogel and Wack also placed first in a time of 1:45.28, helping the Lady Tigers sweep the relays.
"The hope was to get all three relays down to state," Aukeman.
While Warsaw was winning the meet, the most dominate swimmer at the sectional was Plymouth's Kenzie Miller.
Qualifying for the state meet, Miller won the 200 IM in 2:04.72, breaking the old sectional record of 2:05.33, which was set by Miller last year. Miller's time in the race was more than 13 seconds faster than Leah Moore's 2:17.80, which was good enough for second place.
Miller also won the 100 back in 56.77, just off the sectional record of 56.64, which was also set by her a year ago.
WARSAW 313, CGA 277, COLUMBIA CITY 178, PLYMOUTH 155, HUNTINGTON NORTH 133, LOGANSPORT 127, ROCHESTER 102, WABASH 50, TIPPECANOE VALLEY 24
