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Warrior Swimmers Win Third Straight Sectional Title

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On the 1980s television sitcom "Newhart," grungy restaurant entrepreneur Larry always introduced himself and his sheepish brothers as, "Hi, my name's Larry, this is my brother Darrell and this is my other brother Darrell."

Wawasee's girls swim team does not have any athletes named Darrell, but the Warriors can one-up Larry, Darrell and Darrell.

If the Warriors most responsible for why Wawasee won Saturday's Warsaw Sectional introduced themselves, one girl would say, "Hi, my name's Jenny, this is my teammate Laura, my other teammate Laura and my other teammate Laura."

Jenny Butt. Laura Coutinho. Laura Karns. Laura Lundin. These four fueled Wawasee to its third straight sectional title. Wawasee scored 294 to take first and was followed by Warsaw (214), Plymouth (212) and Tippecanoe Valley (160).

"I tell you, I think we had outstanding swims up and down the line," Wawasee coach Roger Karns said. "We're racing well, dropping times. This is the time to do it."

If the event was a freestyle sprint or relay, Wawasee had a stranglehold on it, thanks to these four.

Coutinho won the 50 freestyle with a time of 25.05 seconds and the 100 freestyle with a time of 55 seconds. Karns won the 200 freestyle with a time of 2:02.90 and took second in the 50 freestyle with a time of 25.37 seconds.

Lundin took second in the 100 freestyle with a time of 57 seconds and third in the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:23.35.

While her first name isn't Laura, Butt also did her part in individual events. She made sure Wawasee swept the top three spots in the seventh event of the day, the 100 freestyle. Butt took third with a time of 58.72 seconds. She also took sixth in the 50 freestyle with a time of 27.02 seconds.

How key was taking those top three places? After the sixth event, the 100 butterfly, Wawasee led second-place Plymouth by four points, 119-115.

One event later, after the 100 freestyle, Wawasee bolted out to a 36-point lead over second-place Plymouth, 160-124.

"The short freestyles have been our races all year," Karns said.

Butt, Coutinho, Karns and Lundin entered undefeated this season in the 200 freestyle relay, and they stayed that way. They set a personal record with a time of 1:42.98 in the 200 freestyle relay, good for first place.

The same four won the 400 freestyle relay with a time of 3:49.16.

Butt, Coutinho, Karns and Lundin were not the only Warriors to finish in the top six. Jane Wamsley finished third in the 100 breaststroke and fourth in the 500 freestyle. Tami Miller took second in the 100 backstroke. Jenna Rantz placed fifth in the 100 breaststroke.

"We scored points in other places that weren't as obvious," Karns said. "We moved up in a number of places. We scored 20 points more than I thought we would coming in."

Warsaw finished first in one event. Katie Beehler won the 100 backstroke with a time of 1:02.13.

Other top six finishes for Warsaw included Beehler (200 individual medley, third), Jacque Vogt (diving, third), Jaci Thallemer (500 freestyle, third; 200 freestyle, sixth), Hillary Barlow (100 freestyle, fourth; 200 freestyle, fifth), Kim Love (diving, sixth) and Juliane Eicher (100 backstroke, fifth).

Warsaw's 200 medley relay and 400 freestyle relay teams took second, while its 200 freestyle relay team took fourth.

Tippecanoe Valley took first in one event, the 200 medley relay. Valley's team of Hilary Vanlaningham, Amber Drudge, Kyleigh Gast and Angela Weller won with a time of 1:59.61.

Drudge and Vanlaningham combined for several top six places in individual events. Drudge took second in the 100 butterfly and third in the 50 freestyle. Vanlaningham placed fourth in the 200 freestyle and fifth in the 500 freestyle. Gast placed fifth in the 100 freestyle. Weller took sixth in the 100 breaststroke. Tippecanoe Valley's 400 freestyle relay team placed third.

Manchester finished in the top six twice, both times thanks to Hailey Cassel. Cassel won the 100 butterfly with a time of 1:02.27 and took fifth in the 50 freestyle.

All girls who finished first advanced from the sectional to Friday's state meet at the IUPUI Natatorium in Indianapolis.

The top four divers advanced to Wednesday's Kokomo Regional.

1998-1999 WARSAW GIRLS SWIM SECTIONAL

Saturday finals at Warsaw

Team results -Ê1. Wawasee 294, 2. Warsaw 214, 3. Plymouth 212, 4. Tippecanoe Valley 160, 5. Bremen 157, 6. Huntington North 113, 7. Culver Girls Academy 84, 8. Manchester 59, 9. Rochester 40, 10. Wabash 18.

Top 12 individual results - 1-6 = championship round; 7-12 = consolation round

200 medley relay -Ê1. Tippecanoe Valley (Hilary Vanlaningham, Amber Drudge, Kyleigh Gast, Angela Weller) 1:59.61, 2. Warsaw 2:00.30, 3. Wawasee 2:01.72, 4. Plymouth 2:01.74, 5. Huntington North 2:04.65, 6. Bremen 2:05.17, 7. Culver Girls Academy 2:06.97, 8. Manchester 2:07.50, 9. Rochester 2:10.85

200 freestyle - 1. Laura Karns (WAW) 2:02.90, 2. Erin Schramm (BRE) 2:04.64, 3. Liz Sturtevant (PLY) 2:05.89, 4. Hilary Vanlaningham (TV) 2:07.26, 5. Hillary Barlow (WAR) 2:11.42, 6. Jaci Thallemer (WAR) 2:11.54, 7. Katy Mertes (PLY) 2:10.46, 8. Sarah Noggle (WAR) 2:12.56, 9. Gennie Brissette (WAW) 2:12.71, 10. Isabella Angelis (TV) 2:14.26, 11. Whitney Krost (BRE) 2:14.28, 12. Staci Pulliam (PLY)

200 individual medley -Ê1. Katie Martha (CGA) 2:19.52, 2. Katie Beehler (WAR) 2:19.76, 3. Laura Lundin (WAW) 2:23.35, 4. Meghan Root (BRE) 2:28.38, 5. Brynne Kolbe (BRE) 2:28.41, 6. Nona Hollenbaugh (PLY) 2:34.79, 7. Nikki McKenzie (MAN) 2:32.53, 8. Amber Lyon (WAW) 2:33.28, 9. Ashley Sturtevant (PLY) 2:33.43, 10. Meaghan McCammon (WAR) 2:33.79, 11. Becky Cook (WAR) 2:36.03, 12. Kristy Laudick (CGA) 2:41.63

50 freestyle - 1. Laura Coutinho (WAW) :25.05, 2. Laura Karns (WAW) :25.37, 3. Amber Drudge (TV) :25.58, 4. Shannon Dietz (PLY) :26.69, 5. Hailey Cassel (MAN) :26.77, 6. Jenny Butt (WAW) :27.02, 7. Kyleigh Gast (TV) :27.08, 8. Kathryn Masur (WAR) :27.28, 9. Sonja Kralovansky (PLY) :27.34, 10. Kathryn Anderson (BRE) :27.49, 11. Angela Weller (TV) :27.75, 12. Jaclyn Jennings (BRE) :27.82

Diving - 1. Quinn Fall (PLY) 307.40, 2. Tami Vanherk (PLY) 306.65, 3. Jacque Vogt (WAR) 291.80, 4. Lisa Howe (HN) 276.00, 5. Sara Auer (BRE) 257.30, 6. Kim Love (WAR) 246.90, 7. Jennifer Keirn (WAR) 242.90, 8. Staci Vanlue (WAW) 242.50, 9. Alyssa Anglin (TV) 225.90, 10. Becky Baumgartner (PLY) 219.50, 11. Stephanie Huffman (WAW) 218.40, 12. Rebekah Judy (WAW) 209.75

100 butterfly - 1. Hailey Cassel (MAN) 1:02.27, 2. Amber Drudge (TV) 1:04.12, 3. Sarah Robbins (HN) 1:04.38, 4. Kelsey Blubaugh (PLY) 1:06.33, 5. Nicole Molitor (HN) 1:07.40, 6. Brittany Blackburn (ROC) 1:09.39, 7. Tasha Harper (WAW) 1:08.29, 8. Amber Lyon (WAW) 1:08.51, 9. Becky Cook (WAR) 1:10.16, 10. Meaghan Neill (WAR) 1:10.74, 11. Sonja Kralovansky (PLY) 1:11.24, 12. Meghan Root (BRE) 1:12.27

100 freestyle - 1. Laura Coutinho (WAW) :55.00, 2. Laura Lundin (WAW) :57.00, 3. Jenny Butt (WAW) :58.72, 4. Hillary Barlow (WAR) :58.86, 5. Kyleigh Gast (TV) :59.53, 6. Sarah Robbins (HN) 1:00.05, 7. Shannon Dietz (PLY) :58.18, 8. Kathryn Anderson (BRE) 1:00.52, 9. Alyssa Anglin (TV) 1:00.76, 10. Kathryn Masur (WAR) 1:00.91, 11. Staci Pulliam (PLY) 1:01.15, 12. Leigh Bandy (CGA) 1:01.40

500 freestyle - 1. Erin Schramm (BRE) 5:25.39, 2. Liz Sturtevant (PLY) 5:41.76, 3. Jaci Thallemer (WAR) 5:41.85, 4. Jane Wamsley (WAW) 5:44.35, 5. Hilary Vanlaningham (TV) 5:48.49, 6. Kristin Brubaker (WAB) 5:52.07, 7. Gennie Brissette (WAW) 5:55.72, 8. Nikki McKenzie (MAN) 5:57.83, 9. Katy Mertes (PLY) 5:58.25, 10. Katie Ryan (BRE) 6:09.26, 11. Abbie Youse (WAR) 6:15.95, 12. Shannon Kollin (TV) 6:16.97

200 freestyle relay - 1. Wawasee (Laura Karns, Laura Lundin, Jenny Butt, Laura Coutinho) 1:42.98, 2. Plymouth 1:48.69, 3. Bremen 1:49.26, 4. Warsaw 1:50.74, 5. Huntington North 1:50.85, 6. Tippecanoe Valley 1:53.52, 7. Culver Girls Academy 1:52.66, 8. Manchester 1:54.64, 9. Rochester 1:55.79

100 backstroke - 1. Katie Beehler (WAR) 1:02.13, 2. Tami Miller (WAW) 1:05.63, 3. Kelsey Blubaugh (PLY) 1:05.07, 4. Nona Hollenbaugh (PLY) 1:08.74, 5. Juliane Eicher (WAR) 1:09.47, 6. Kristin Brubaker (WAB) 1:09.85, 7. Sandy Drake (WAW) 1:11.37, 8. Ann Foraker (CGA) 1:12.99, 9. Kristy Laudick (CGA) 1:14.99, 10. Evangelina Garcia (WAW) 1:14.63, 11. Jeanuea Jones (BRE) 1:14.73, 12. Lindsey Hix (MAN) 1:15.49

100 breaststroke - 1. Brynne Kolbe (BRE) 1:12.15, 2. Nicole Molitor (HN) 1:12.59, 3. Jane Wamsley (WAW) 1:14.45, 4. Katie Martha (CGA) 1:14.66, 5. Jenna Rantz (WAW) 1:14.82, 6. Angela Weller (TV) 1:16.89, 7. Stephanie Shivers (WAW) 1:17.12, 8. Brandi Blackburn (ROC) 1:17.74, 9. Michelle Brown (HN) 1:19.26, 10. Meaghan McCammon (WAR) 1:20.50, 11. Sarah Easterday (PLY) 1:21.23, 12. Juliane Eichler (WAR) 1:29.08

400 freestyle relay -Ê1. Wawasee (Laura Karns, Jenny Butt, Laura Lundin, Laura Coutinho) 3:49.16, 2. Warsaw 3:55.92, 3. Tippecanoe Valley 3:56.55, 4. Bremen 3:58.89, 5. Plymouth 4:01.77, 6. Culver Girls Academy 4:09.07, 7. Huntington North 4:37.18, 8. Rochester 5:08.22