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MIDDLEBURY - Early Tuesday afternoon, Roger Karns was excited, and with good reason.
His girls' swim team was about to lay waste to another Northern Lakes Conference victim.
Wawasee used its depth to drop Northridge 111-75. Wawasee improved to 7-1 overall and 3-0 in the NLC. Northridge fell to 2-2 and 1-1 in the NLC.
Like most swim meets, this one was not won at the first or second places, but rather at the battles for third and fourth. This is the area Wawasee controlled.
"It's our depth that did it," Karns said. "We just kept pounding away."
Pounding is probably a good term for what Wawasee did. The Warriors took seven of 12 third-place points and six fourth-place points. They also won seven events and placed second in six.
The team of Stacy Naugler, Jennifer Ganshorn, Jenny Marty and Kristine Shivers won the medley relay with a time of 1:59.52 to start out the meet.
The Warriors followed by taking second and third in the next event (200 freestyle), and then they won the next four in a row.
Laura Lundin picked up second in the 200 freestyle. Marty won the 200 individual medley. Naugler won the 50 freestyle and diving competitions. Laundin then won the 100 butterfly.
Add to this several second and third finishes, and Wawasee held a firm 55-39 lead at intermission.
"We were real aggressive throughout the meet," Karns said. "The standout swims were in the outside lanes. Those really helped us."
The Warriors returned from the break, and Shivers and Carrie Grothaus placed second and third respectively in the 100 freestyle.
Wawasee then placed first and third in the 500 freestyle and first and second in the 200 freestyle relay. The Warriors finished off the meet by winning the backstroke and placing second and third in the last two relays.
Wawasee is at Goshen on Saturday.
