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SYRACUSE - The University of Notre Dame's football team won one for the Gipper. Wawasee High School's boys swim team won one for Roger.
Swimming without head coach Roger Karns, who was with his family after the passing of his father, the Warriors won the Wawasee Sectional Saturday and dedicated it to their coach.
The sectional title was the fifth in the past six years for Wawasee, which fell to rival Warsaw by seven points a year ago.
The Tigers finished Saturday, trailing the Warriors 364-339.
"You hate to lose, but after hearing about that, it was good for them to win for Roger," said Warsaw coach Terry Aukeman. "They're a very strong team and a good group of kids."
Following Wawasee and Warsaw on the scoreboard were Culver Academies (182), Plymouth (98), Knox (91), Manchester (83), Columbia City (65), Rochester (62), Tippecanoe Valley (50), Northfield (9) and Fairfield (8).
The winning individual or relay team, as well as those who meet the state cut time, in each swim event advance to Friday's preliminary round of the state finals, which will be held at the IUPUI Natatorium in Indianapolis.
The top four divers advance to Tuesday's Mishawaka Regional.
Wawasee and Warsaw combined to win eight of the 12 events Saturday, with the Warriors and Tigers each winning four events. Wawasee also advanced in two events with runner-up finishes that met the state cut time, one of which was also a school record.
Tippecanoe Valley was the only other local team to garner a first-place finish, as Trent Newsome won the diving competition. Joining Newsome at the diving regional will be Warsaw's Nate Wilson and Adam Wishart and Culver Academy's William Teaney.
Culver Academy won the meet's other three events.
Wawasee's Aaron Phillippe won two individual events, taking claiming first-place finishes in the 200 freestyle (1:45.98) and the 500 freestyle (4:52.74).
In the 500 freestyle, Phillippe beat runner-up finisher Alex VanDuyne of Warsaw by 14 seconds.
The Warriors' other two-first place finishes came in the 200 freestyle relay with Mike Gunderson, Chris Szynal, Cory Smith and Phillippe (1:30.55) and the 400 freestyle relay with Andy Wolf, Jordan Rantz, Smith and Phillippe (3:18.10).
Wawasee's team of Tyler Wear, Rantz, Szynal and Gunderson finished second in the 200 medley relay with a runner-up time of 1:39.62 that met the state cut time.
Warsaw's Kyle Marose, Nate Taylor, Seth Smoker and Ryan Marose won the event with a time of 1:39.54.
Rantz advanced to state in the 100 breaststroke with his runner-up time of 58.73 seconds, a time that set a new school record.
Rantz finished second in the event to Taylor, the defending state champion in the event, who won the sectional with a time of 58.40 seconds.
Taylor also won the 200 individual medley with a time 1:56.84, beating runner-up finisher Smith of Wawasee by seven seconds.
Kyle Marose earned Warsaw's other individual sectional title, finishing first in the 100 backstroke with a time of 54.82 seconds.
After Saturday's sectional, Aukeman talked about Wawasee and Warsaw being the class of the sectional field again.
"We're definitely out front," Aukeman said of the Warriors and Tigers. "Last year it came down to the last relay. We tried to keep it close again. Overall, I thought we did a good job."
Manchester's best finishers were a pair of fourth-place finishes.
The Squires finished fourth in the 100 breaststroke with Gavin McNeeley's time of 1:06.15 and fourth in the 400 freestyle relay with Brandt Gheen, Daniel Brown, Ben Penrod and McNeeley, who swam a time of 3:39.84.
Manchester's foursome of Josh Garber, McNeeley, Penrod and Brown finished fifth in the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:51.53.
The Squires' times in those relay events were their best times in the last seven years.
"We swam so well Thursday that I was worried we had already peaked," said Manchester coach Kyle Wieland. "Fortunately I was wrong and the guys came back and improved on their times to finish up the season strong. This was an oustanding season, especially when you consider only four of the 13 guys were on the team last year."
Team scores - Wawasee (Wawa) 364, Warsaw (War) 339, Culver Academies (Cul) 182, Plymouth (Ply) 98, Knox (Kno) 91, Manchester (Manch) 83, Columbia City (CC) 65, Rochester (Roch) 62, Tippecanoe Valley (TV) 50, Northfield (NF) 9, Fairfield (FF) 8
Note - Listed are the top six in each swim event, which are those who competed in the finals. The winner in all swim events, as well as those who made the state standard, will swim in the state finals. The top four divers will compete in the regional.
200 medley relay - 1. Warsaw (K. Marose, Taylor, Smoker, R. Marose) 1:39.54, 2. Wawasee 1:39.62, 3. Culver Academies 1:41.19, 4. Plymouth 1:49.96, 5. Manchester 1:51.53, 6. Columbia City 1:54.13
200 freestyle - 1. Phillippe (Wawa) 1:45.98, 2. Hoffman (Wawa) 1:51.78, 3. VanDuyne (War) 1:51.80, 4. Tyronis (Kno) 1:53.11, 5. Petro (War) 1:55.62, 6. Suhany (War) 1:58.58
200 IM - 1. Taylor (War) 1:56.84, 2. Smith (Wawa) 2:03.01, 3. Garner (Wawa) 2:06.09, 4. Gunderson (Wawa) 2:06.24, 5. Thallemer (War) 2:08.14, 6. Larkin (Cul) 2:08.25
50 freestyle - 1. Krantzburg (Cul) :22.11, 2. Szynal (Wawa) :22.51, 3. Rantz (Wawa) :22.86, 4. Wolf (Wawa) :23.33, 5. Lowrance (War) :23.46, 6. Brown (Manch) :23.72
Diving - 1. Newsome (TV) 404.60, 2. Wilson (War) 391.15, 3. Wishart (War) 383.50, 4. Teaney (Cul) 333.0, 5. Thompson (Wawa) 327.75, 6. Martinez (Kno) 296.70
100 butterfly - 1. McLaughlin (Cul) :53.64, 2. Szynal (Wawa) :53.83, 3. K. Marose (War) :54.01, 4. Garner (Wawa) :55.72, 5. Smoker (War) :56.56, 6. Simpson (Roch) :58.02
100 freestyle - 1. Krantzburg (Cul) :48.53, 2. Smith (Wawa) :48.67, 3. Gunderson (Wawa) :50.62, 4. Lowrance (War) :51.47, 5. Wolf (Wawa) :51.48, 6. R. Marose (War) :51.80
500 freestyle - 1. Phillippe (Wawa) 4:52.74, 2. VanDuyne (War) 5:06.45, 3. Larkin (Cul) 5:07.32, 4. Petro (War) 5:14.33, 5. Suhany (War) 5:14.55, 6. Conway (Wawa) 5:19.87
200 freestyle relay - 1. Wawasee (Gunderson, Szynal, Smith, Phillippe) 1:30.55, 2. Warsaw 1:35.45, 3. Culver Academies 1:37.52, 4. Plymouth 1:39.15, 5. Rochester 1:40.63, 6. Columbia City 1:43.20
100 backstroke - 1. K. Marose (Wa) :54.82, 2. Wear (Wawa) :56.55, 3. Thallemer (War) :56.93, 4. Tyronis (Kno) :58.56, 5. Wickens (Ply) :58.91, 6. R. Marose (War) :59.58
100 breaststroke - 1. Taylor (War) :58.40, 2. Rantz (Wawa) :58.73, 3. Wurtzel (Wawa) 1:05.34, 4. McNeeley (Manch) 1:06.15, 5. Haneline (Wawa) 1:07.48, 6. Brock (CC) 1:10.27
400 freestyle relay - 1. Wawasee (Smith, Wolf, Rantz, Phillippe) 3:18.10, 2. Warsaw 3:20.20, 3. Culver Academies 3:20.40, 4. Manchester 3:39.84, 5. Knox 3:42.46, 6. Rochester 3:46.31
Coach of the Year - Roger Karns (Wawasee)
