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You get the impression that the Wawasee girls' swim team has been overlooked.
How, do you ask, can that happen to a team that has lost only once this season?
Easy. The Warriors have been upstaged somewhat by the unexpected success of their counterparts from the boys' team, who are undefeated and ranked No. 10 in the state.
But make no mistake about it, these girls are tough, talented and deep. And probably swimming at their peaks heading into tonight's sectional prelims at the Wawasee Middle School. Also swimming at Wawasee will be Warsaw, Tippecanoe Valley, Manchester, and Triton's Amber Shirey.
"It has happened lately, and that is odd because this is the best girls' swim team ever at Wawasee," Karns said. "They won the NLC by over 100 points.
"I think the boys were a little bit of a surprise and were better than people expected," he said. "That kind of catches your attention because it is different than what you were looking for."
The girls are so good in fact that Karns let them out of practice early Tuesday because they were doing so well, and he didn't want them to wear themselves out. In 14 years of coaching, it marks the first time Karns has done that with a swim team - boys or girls.
"We sent the girls home early last night (Tuesday)," Karns said. "The two things you want to accomplish right now is work on speeds and skills (turns, starts) and then rest them and not overwork them. We were three-quarters of the way done with what we had scheduled, and they were so sharp and so good, we sent them home because anything after that would just make them more tired, and that is not what we are trying to accomplish this late in the game."
Wawasee has its dominant swimmers like Laura Lundin and Jenny Marty, but the strength of this team lies in its depth.
"They are really deep," Karns said. "That has been the strength of them. They are good all the way down the lineup, event after event. It makes a real difference."
The prelims are set up to get as many swimmers into the finals and setting things up for a sectional title on Saturday.
"In the prelims, you are swimming for a spot in the finals," Karns said. "We want to come in and swim strong. Our goal, even though you rarely make it, is to qualify everybody you have entered for the finals on Saturday.
"We get to focus in on where they are at," he said. "They are doing an outstanding job in practice, in fact, better than I have ever seen. They have their minds in the right place, and they are ready to go to sectional and really try to get some things done."
