Warsaw sophomore Brenna Morgan advanced to the state swimming meet with wins in the 50 and 100-yard freestyle races in the sectional Saturday in Warsaw. Morgan’s 100 free time of 52.33 seconds and 50 free time of 24.07 were good enough to set sectional records. In the 50 free Morgan broke her own record. Morgan advances to Friday’s state finals, with preliminaries on Friday at the IUPUI Natatorium in Indianapolis. The Tigers’ 200 freestyle relay team of Morgan, Savannah Taylor, Lauren Kuhl and Erin Sandberg narrowly missed a trip to Indy, finishing four-thousandths of a second behind Rochester for an automatic bid. Based on time, the runner-up finish was not good enough to qualify for the state meet. “For sectionals, the first-place finisher is guaranteed a spot in the state meet,” Warsaw head coach Tony DeBrota said. “After all those spots are filled, anybody who got the state cut (in time) gets to go. Then after that, if there are still spots open, it’s whomever has the lowest time until the spots are filled. “The key for our girls is to get to the state cut, and then they don’t have to worry about first place in the sectionals. The good news is those four girls are all underclassmen, and will get another shot next season.” DeBrota said Morgan will be ready to compete at a high level in her second trip to the state finals. “She did get the new record in the 100, and lowered her record in the 50, so she’s definitely faster than she was last year at this point,” DeBrota said. “I think she’s going to have some good swims in Indy this weekend.” Warsaw’s 200 medley relay team also finished second, and the 400 free team finished fifth. Individually, Kuhl finished seventh in the 100 backstroke and eighth in the 200 free; Taylor fourth in the 500 free and sixth in the 200 IM; Sandberg was second in the 500 free and third in the 100 butterfly; and Jessica Haines took sixth in the 500 free. Laurel Moeller was fifth in the 100 breaststroke. Claire Barnett of Manchester finished sixth in the 50 freestyle and the 100 butterfly. Tippecanoe Valley’s Lea Stouder finished eighth in the 50 free, Mia McHaffey sixth in diving, and Katie Gunter was fifth in the 100 butterfly.
