Wawasee Wins Swim Sectional

Looking at the field for the finals of the girls swimming sectional, it was easily apparent that something would have to go extremely haywire for someone to unseat the Wawasee Warriors for the team championship at the Warsaw Girls Swimming Sectional.

It didn't happen. As a matter of fact, the Warriors had an easy time of it in outdistancing second place Plymouth by 119 points. Wawasee ended with 319 and Plymouth scored 200. Warsaw ended third with 160 and Manchester had 152. Valley took fifth with 148 points.

"For the most part, we swam real well, especially the younger girls," Wawasee head coach Roger Karns said. "There were a couple of places where we felt we should have done better, but overall I was happy."

In the first event, the 200 medley relay, Wawasee's team of Laura Karns, Laura Lundin, Jenny Marty and Jane Wamsley ran away with the championship. The Warriors' time of 1:56.44 was the only time better than two minutes. Manchester took second and Warsaw third in that event.

Wawasee continued the assault in event No. 4, the 50 freestyle. Lundin and Karns battled each other in the swim, and Lundin came out .08 seconds in front of her teammate with a :25.63. Valley's Amber Drudge placed third with a time of :26.14. Her time set a new school record that held up since 1979.

In diving, Wawasee's Jaime Conn placed ahead of Warsaw's Jennifer Keirn. Those two, along with Plymouth's Quinn Fall and Wawasee's Sarah Shirley, advanced to the regional competition.

In the 100 butterfly and the 100 freestyle, Wawasee took first places again. Marty won handily in the butterfly and Karns edged teammate Lundin for the freestyle title.

In the 500 freestyle, Marty took first place to give with a time 5:27.69, almost six seconds faster than anyone else.

The 200 freestyle relay marked the Warriors sixth consecutive first-place award. Karns, Lundin, Marty and Kristi Martin ran away with the event in a time of 1:43.95.

With three events left, that would be the final first-place finish that the Warriors would take. However, they did take a second-place finish, two third place finishes and two fourth-place finishes in the final three events.

Manchester's Heidi Yoder won the 100 backstroke after a disappointing second-place finish in the 200 individual medley.

Tippecanoe Valley's 400 freestyle relay team of Eve Boggs, Drudge, Kyleigh Gast and Hilary Vanlaningham destroyed the field with a swim of 3:54.61. They beat Wawasee's team by almost seven seconds for the title.

"I couldn't ask for anything better," Valley head coach and sectional co-coach of the year Steve Doerscher said. "They wanted it pretty bad and went out and took charge. I couldn't have asked for a better night. I don't think we had one bad swim (on the whole team)."

In all, Wawasee placed first in seven events. The Warriors also had three second places, two third places and three fourth places to defend its sectional championship.

Karns understands that, despite the success at the sectional, his team will have a lot of work to do if the Warriors are to do well at the state meet.

"We're pleased to qualify for the (state) meet," he said. "That's an extremely competitive field and we're going to have to improve on our sectional effort. They have to go down there understanding that they've got to go a lot faster."

None of the second-place finishers received any of the wildcard slots at the state meet, so only the champions in each event will move on to the state finals. In diving, the top four finishers move on to the regional competition.

WAWASEE 319, PLYMOUTH 200, WARSAW 160, MANCHESTER 152, VALLEY 148, BREMEN 114, CGA 84, HUNTINGTON NORTH 67, ROCHESTER 61, TRITON 12

200 medley relay - 1. Wawasee (Karns, Lundin, Marty, Wamsley) 1:56.44, 2. Manchester, 3. Warsaw, 4. Plymouth, 5. Culver Girls Academy, 6. Huntington North, 7. Rochester, 8. Bremen, 9. Valley

200 freestyle - 1. Schramm (Bremen) 2:05.74, 2. Boggs (Valley), 3. Thallemer (Warsaw), 4. Sturtevant (Plymouth), 5. Cassel (Manchester), 6. Barlow (Warsaw), 7. Brissette (Wawasee), 8. Redden (Plymouth), 9. Noggle (Warsaw), 10. Krost (Bremen), 11. Shivers (Wawasee), 12. Griffith (Wawasee)

200 individual medley - 1. Martha (CGA) 2:15.61, 2. Yoder (Manchester), 3. Beehler (Warsaw), 4. Vanlaningham (Valley), 5. Gilbert (Manchester), 6. Root (Bremen), 7. Wamsley (Wawasee), 8. Miller (Wawasee), 9. Knox (Plymouth), 10. Laudick (CGA), 11. Primiano (CGA), 12. Cook (Warsaw)

50 freestyle - 1. Lundin (Wawasee) :25.63, 2. Karns (Wawasee), 3. Drudge (Valley), 4. Wilcockson (Plymouth), 5. Dietz (Plymouth), 6. Martin (Wawasee), 7. Davis (Plymouth), 8. Masur (Warsaw), 9. Anderson (Bremen), 10. Gast (Valley), 11. Shirey (Triton), 12. Swain (CGA)

diving - 1. Conn (Wawasee) 332.20, 2. Keirn (Warsaw), 3. Fall (Plymouth), 4. Shipley (Wawasee), 5. Vanherk (Plymouth), 6. Rans (Rochester), 7. Hopka (Plymouth), 8. Moore (Warsaw), 9. Kozubik (Rochester), 10. Croff (Huntington North), 11. Auer (Bremen), 12. Christoffel (Wawasee)

100 butterfly - 1. Marty (Wawasee) 1:01.87, 2. Drudge (Valley), 3. Cassel (Manchester), 4. Spangle (Manchester), 5. Shirey (Triton), 6. Barlow (Warsaw), 7. Molitor (Huntington North), 8. Cook (Warsaw), 9. Blackburn (Rochester), 10. Feinstein (Warsaw), 11. Amburgy (Wawasee), 12. Krost (Bremen)

100 freestyle - 1. Karns (Wawasee) :56.26, 2. Lundin (Wawasee), 3. Vanlaningham (Valley), 4. Dietz (Plymouth), 5. Wilcockson (Plymouth), 6. Butt (Wawasee), 7. Gast (Valley), 8. Anderson (Bremen), 9. Kralovansky (Plymouth), 10. Noggle (Warsaw), 11. Fischer (Huntington North), 12. Bandy (CGA)

500 freestyle - 1. Marty (Wawasee) 5:27.69, 2. Schramm (Bremen), 3. Boggs (Valley), 4. Thallemer (Warsaw), 5. Brissette (Wawasee), 6. Sturtevant (Plymouth), 7. McKenzie (Manchester), 8. Smith (Warsaw), 9. Root (Bremen), 10. Porter (CGA), 11. Spangle (Manchester), 12. Griffith (Wawasee)

200 freestyle relay - 1. Wawasee (Karns, Lundin, Marty, Martin) 1:43.95, 2. Plymouth, 3. Valley, 4. Bremen, 5. Culver Girls Academy, 6. Warsaw, 7. Manchester, 8. Rochester, 9. Huntington North

100 backstroke - 1. Yoder (Manchester) 1:01.90, 2. Beehler (Warsaw), 3. Grothaus (Wawasee) 1:04.85, 4. Miller (Wawasee), 5. Knox (Plymouth), 6. Smith (Warsaw), 7. Drake (Wawasee), 8. Blackburn (Rochester), 9. Kolbe (Bremen), 10. Benincasa (Huntington North), 11. Brown (Huntington North), 12. Weller (Valley)

400 freestyle relay - 1. Valley (Boggs, Drudge, Gast, Vanlaningham) 3:54.61, 2. Wawasee, 3. Plymouth, 4. Manchester, 5. Bremen, 6. DQ, 7. Warsaw, 8. Rochester, 9. Huntington North