Wawasee Dominates Swim Prelims

If there was any doubt that the Wawasee Warriors girls swimming team was the favorite to win the Warsaw Swim Sectional for the second consecutive year, that was dispelled in the preliminaries on Thursday.

The Warriors will send 22 of their 24 individuals and three relay teams to the consolation or finals on Saturday. So dominant was Wawasee that in five events, two swimmers will be swimming for the sectional title. And in two events, the 50 freestyle and the 100 breaststroke, Wawasee has three swimmers among the top six.

Warsaw, Manchester and Valley were also successful in getting numerous swimmers onto the Saturday finals. The Tigers have 16 members with the opportunity to swim on Saturday, nine for sectional championships. The Squires put seven swimmers into the championship round, and the Vikings will tote eight athletes into the finals.

"The times for all the teams were pretty slow for every event except for the breaststroke," Warsaw head coach Eric Mohler said. "As far as my team went, I thought we did really well. We got a few girls into the finals that I wasn't sure were going to make it. I was real happy with how we swam."

Even Triton, a school without a team, has a swimmer in the championship round. Amber Shirey, who swims individually, advanced to the consolation round in the 50 freestyle and the championship in the 100 butterfly.

Wawasee got it going early on Thursday. In the first event, the 200 medley relay, Wawasee's team was almost six seconds faster than any other team. Manchester took second and Warsaw third in that event.

In event No. 4, the 50 freestyle, Wawasee's Laura Lundin, Laura Karns and Kristi Martin took the top three spots and will swim in the favorable three, four and five lanes on Saturday. Valley's Amber Drudge placed fourth.

In the 100 butterfly, Wawasee's Jenny Marty swam almost four seconds quicker than any of her opponents in running away with the No. 1 seed. Manchester's Hailey Cassel and Annie Spangle, along with Valley's Amber Drudge and Warsaw's Hillary Barlow, qualified for the championship swim. All six swimmers in the finals are from local teams when Triton's Shirey is thrown into the mix.

In the next event, the 100 freestyle, Lundin and Karns continued the Wawasee tsunami, placing first and second. Valley's Hillary Vanlaningham finished third.

Marty grabbed another No. 1 seed for the Warriors in the 500 freestyle. Valley's Eve Boggs swam to a third place finish and Warsaw's Jaci Thallemer was fourth.

In the 200 freestyle relay, the Warriors team outdistanced second place Valley by almost five seconds. The Vikings broke the school record to get into that position.

In the 100 backstroke, Warsaw's Katie Beehler wrestled away the No. 1 seed from Manchester's Barlow by just .38 seconds. Wawasee's Carrie Grothaus and Tami Miller finished third and fourth.

In the 100 breaststroke, Jane Wamsley, Stephanie Shivers and Jenna Rentz grabbed three of the top six spots for the Warriors heading into the finals. Manchester's Sarah Gilbert also made it into the final round.

In the final event, the 400 freestyle relay, Valley took first place and Manchester swam to second. Wawasee took fourth.

"I'm real pleased (with the relay teams)," Valley head coach Steve Doerscher said. "In the 400, they were about three seconds off (of the school record). I told the kids, we're right where we want to be right now."

Manchester's Heidi Yoder was the No. 1 seed in both of her individual events but dropped to No. 2 after the prelims. According to Squires head coach Abby Zerkel, it doesn't matter though.

"It doesn't bother us too much. She's ready to go and she's got her heart set on it."

In all, Wawasee took the No. 1 seed in six of 11 events heading into Saturday's final. However, the Warriors had two swimmers swim the seventh best time. That is one of the worst spots to be in because there is no opportunity for those swimmers to move up into the top six. All they can do is stay in seventh or drop as far as 12th, but that still doesn't take away from what they accomplished.

"We've got most of our kids through and that's always good," Wawasee head coach Roger Karns said. "We did better than we were seeded. It's a lot easier to come in chasing. I'd rather be coming in chasing."

The finals will take place on Saturday beginning at 2 p.m. The diving will begin at 9:30 a.m. that same day.

Warsaw Girls Swimming Sectional

Top six are finalists, next six are consolation swimmers

200 medley relay - 1. Wawasee 1:57.81, 2. Manchester, 3. Warsaw, 4. Plymouth, 5. CGA, 6. Huntington North, 7. Rochester, 8. Bremen, 9. Valley

200 freestyle - 1. Schramm (Bremen) 2:06.97, 2. Boggs (Valley), 3. Sturtevant (Plymouth), 4. Thallemer (Warsaw), 5. Cassel (Manchester), 6. Barlow (Warsaw), 7. Brissette (Wawasee), 8. Redden (Plymouth), 9. Krost (Bremen), 10. Griffith (Wawasee), 11. Shivers (Wawasee), 12. Noggle (Warsaw)

200 individual medley - 1. Martha (CGA) 2:20.17, 2. Yoder (Manchester), 3. Beehler (Warsaw), 4. Vanlaningham (Valley), 5. Gilbert (Manchester), 6. Wamsley (Wawasee), 7. Root (Bremen), 8. Cook (Warsaw), 9. McCammon (Warsaw), 10. Miller (Wawasee), 11. Laudick (CGA), 12. Knox (Plymouth)

50 freestyle - 1. Lundin (Wawasee) :25.92, 2. Karns (Wawasee), 3. Martin (Wawasee), 4. Drudge (Valley), 5. Dietz (Plymouth), 6. Wilcockson (Plymouth), 7. Shirey (Triton), 8. Masur (Warsaw), 9. Anderson (Bremen), 10. Swain (CGA), 11. Davis (Plymouth), 12. Gast (Valley)

100 butterfly - 1. Marty (Wawasee) 1:01.83, 2. Cassel (Manchester), 3. Drudge (Valley), 4. Spangle (Manchester), 5. Shirey (Triton), 6. Barlow (Warsaw), 7. Cook (Warsaw), 8. Molitor (Huntington North), 9. Blackburn (Rochester), 10. Amburgy (Wawasee), 11. Krost (Bremen), 12. Feinstein (Warsaw)

100 freestyle - 1. Lundin (Wawasee) :56.65, 2. Karns (Wawasee), 3. Vanlaningham (Valley), 4. Dietz (Plymouth), 5. Butt (CGA), 6. Gast (Valley), 7. Wilcockson (Plymouth), 8. Buit (Wawasee), 9. Bandy (CGA), 10. Anderson (Bremen), 11. Kralovansky (Plymouth), 12. Fischer (Huntington North)

500 freestyle - 1. Marty (Wawasee) 5:32.34, 2. Schramm (Bremen), 3. Boggs (Valley), 4. Thallemer (Warsaw), 5. Sturtevant (Plymouth), 6. Brissette (Wawasee), 7. Smith (Warsaw), 8. McKenzie (Manchester), 9. Root (Bremen), 10. Spangle (Manchester), 11. Porter (CGA), 12. Griffith (Wawasee)

200 freestyle relay - 1. Wawasee 1:43.91, 2. Valley, 3. Plymouth, 4. Warsaw, 5. Bremen, 6. CGA, 7. Rochester, 8. Manchester, 9. Huntington North

100 backstroke - 1. Beehler (Warsaw) 1:03.20, 2. Yoder (Manchester), 3. Grothaus (Wawasee), 4. Miller (Wawasee), 5. Knox (Plymouth), 6. Smith (Warsaw), 7. Drake (Wawasee), 8. Leao (Manchester), 9. Roe (Rochester), 10. Wandland (Warsaw), 11. Burris (Huntington North), 12. Primiano (CGA)

100 breaststroke - 1. Martha (CGA) 1:12.23, 2. Wamsley (Wawasee), 3. Shivers (Wawasee), 4. Gilbert (Manchester), 5. Rentz (Wawasee), 6. Molitor (Huntington North), 7. Davis (Plymouth), 8. Kolbe (Bremen), 9. Blackburn (Rochester), 10. Benincasa (Huntington North), 11. McCammon (Warsaw), 12. Brown (Huntington North)

400 freestyle relay - 1. Valley 4:00.85, 2. Manchester, 3. Plymouth, 4. Wawasee, 5. Bremen, 6. CGA, 7. Warsaw, 8. Rochester, 9. Huntington North