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Had team points been awarded at the Warsaw Girls Swimming Sectional Thursday night, Wawasee coach Roger Karns would have reason to be happy.
"You never know what's going to happen," said Karns. "We haven't won any points or events yet, we wanted to put ourself into position to win it on Saturday. I thought the girls swam really well."
Last night's heat times are used to qualify the swimmers for Saturday's consolation and championship events. The Warriors own the top time in five of 11 events; diving will take place Saturdy; and they qualified with the second-best time in four events.
Tippecanoe Valley coach Steve Doerscher said he had reason to be happy after last night's qualifications as well.
"For the most part I was real pleased," said Doerscher. "The kids did well all year long and worked hard. You never know how the kids will respond. I was pleased but I was kind of worried the kids were having the jitters but they responded well."
Valley's Hilary Vanlaningham came out of the sectional preliminaries with second-best times in the 200 and 500 freestyles.
"In the 200 free she was two seconds off," said Doerscher. "She can do better."
Wawasee's Laura Karns finished ahead of Vanlaningham in the 200 freestyle. Karns was also on the 200 freestlye relay team with Laura Coutinho, Laura Lundin and Jenny Butt that qualified with a time of 1:42.79. Wawasee's time was seven seconds ahead of the field and almost a second faster than their own seed time. Their seed time coming in was six seconds faster than the rest of the field.
"They were flying," said Karns.
The same four Warriors swam in the 400 freestyle relay event and again finished with the top time, 3:48.14, and was eight seconds ahead of the field. Valley was in second with a time of 3:56.66.
Warsaw's Katie Beehler came away with the top time in the 100 backstroke (1:04.19) and the second-best time in the 200 individual medley (2:22.83).
Hailey Cassel of Manchester came away with a top time of 1:02.38 in the 100 butterfly and the sixth-best time in the 50 freestyle.
The sectional finals will be Saturday with the diving preliminaries starting at 9 a.m. Consolation and championship rounds will begin at 2 p.m.
WARSAW GIRLS SWIMMING SECTIONAL PRELIMINARY RESULTS
(Listed are the top six times in each event)
Abbreviations: War - Warsaw, Wawa - Wawasee, P- Plymouth, V - Valley, B - Bremen, R - Rochester, CGA - Culver Girls Academy, M - Manchester, HN - Huntington North
200 Medley Relay - 1. Valley 2:01.61, 2. Wawasee 2:02.19, 3. Warsaw 2:02.38, 4. Plymouth 2:03.74, 5. Bremen 2:05.26, 6. Hunt. North 2:07.21
200 Freestyle - 1. Laura Karns (Wawa) 2:04.06, 2. Hilary Vanlaningham (V) 2:06.81, 3. Erin Schramm (B) 2:07.22, 4. Liz Sturtevant (P) 2:07.43, 5. Hillary Barlow (War) 2:09.99, 6. Jaci Thallemer (War) 2:10.62
200 Individual Medley - 1. Katie Martha (CGA) 2:21.29, 2. Katie Beehler (War) 2:22.83, 3. Laura Lundin (Wawa) 2:24.34, 4. Meghan Root (B) 2:28.82, 5. Brynne Kolbe (B) 2:29.37, 6. Nona Hollenbaugh (P) 2:32.90
50 Freestyle - 1. Laura Coutinho (Wawa) :24.94, 2. Laura Karns (Wawa) :25.85, 3. Amber Drudge (V) :26.02, 4. Shannon Dietz (P) :26.57, 5. Jenny Butt (Wawa) :26.81, 6. Hailey Cassel (M) :26.97
100 Butterfly - 1. Cassel (M) 1:02.38, 2. Drudge (V) 1:05.50, 3. Sarah Robbins (HN) 1:05.50, 4. Kelsey Blubaugh (P) 1:06.17, 5. Nicole Molitor (HN) 1:07.42, 6. Brittany Blackburn (R) 1:08.46
100 Freestyle - 1. Coutinho (Wawa) :54.49, 2. Lundin (Wawa) :57.26, 3. Butt (Wawa) :59.06, 4. Kyleigh Gast (V) :59.29, 5. Barlow (War) :59.59, 5. Robbins (HN) :59.59
500 Freestyle - 1. Schramm (B) 5:35.14, 2. Vanlaningham (V) 5:46.13, 3. Thallemer (War) 5:47.64, 4. Sturtevant (P) 5:48.05, 5. Jane Wamsley (Wawa) 5:50.82, 6. Kristin Brubaker (Wabash) 5:57.75
200 Freestyle Relay - 1. Wawasee 1:42.79, 2. Plymouth 1:49.11, 3. Bremen 1:50.40, 4. Warsaw 1:50.87, 5. Valley 1:52.21, 6. Hunt. North 1:52.49
100 Backstroke - 1. Beehler (War) 1:04.19, 2. Tami Miller (Wawa) 1:06.33, 3. Blubaugh (P) 1:06.40, 4. Hollenbaugh (P) 1:09.87, 5. Juliane Eichler (War) 1:09.80, 6. Brubaker (Wabash) 1:10.74
100 Breaststroke - 1. Molitor (HN) 1:14.22, 2. Kolbe (B) 1:14.31, 3. Martha (CGA) 1:15.04, 4. Wamsley (Wawa) 1:15.52, 5. Jenna Rantz (Wawa) 1:15.86, 6. Angela Weller (V) 1:16.28
400 Freestyle Relay - 1. Wawasee 3;48.14, 2. Valley 3:56.66, 3. Plymouth 4:00.20, 4. Bremen 4:00.72, 5. Warsaw 4:01.11, 6. Culver Girls Academy 4:10.66
