DUNLAP – Saturday’s Northern Lakes Conference Girls Swimming Championships certainly will be remembered by Wawasee fans as a historical day.

Wawasee pulled off what a dozen season’s worth of NLC teams have not been able to do, beat Northridge, and did so resoundingly by scoring 447 points to trump the field. The victory ended ‘Ridge’s 12-year run as conference champion, and gave the Lady Warriors its first team title since 1996. And the margin of victory, which had runner-up Goshen at 350 and Northridge at 347, wasn’t even close.

Wawasee claimed seven of the 12 event titles up for grabs, and benefitted from having three swimmers in every individual event to provide needed depth.

Bre Robinson was outstanding as usual, setting yet another record in the conference by barnstorming the 200 freestyle at 1:50.30, breaking her old pool record of 1:50.33 and also the event record of 1:50.75 set by Brittany Walters of Northridge last year. Walters is the only swimmer to have beaten Robinson at an NLC or sectional in Robinson’s three years to date. The junior also had no problems cruising to a butterfly title at 56.10, a full four seconds faster than runner-up Natalie Evans of Goshen.

As good as Robinson was by herself, her final leg of the 200 freestyle relay may have been the showstopper. After Concord, Goshen and Northridge had all taken leads on Wawasee after two legs by Kendra Miller and Shelby Adams, Paige Miller was third up for Wawasee and closed the gap on each of the three teams. As Concord’s Kenzie Wright and Robinson both entered the pool, Robinson emerged from the entry just behind Wright but immediately sped past and into the lead. At the wall for a 1:41.10 finish, Robinson’s split of 23.31 was a sight to see, and a statement Wawasee as a whole were making all day.

“It was more of just racing,” Robinson said. “I love to race. In the two free relay, that’s just the best opportunity to race. It was just how fast can I go and what can I do for my team.”

Miller, a freshman, also had a huge day in her first NLC championship. Starting the day with a major upset in the individual medley, beating favored Ashley Schrock of Concord by a half-second at 2:08.58, Miller then set herself up for another big swim in the 500 free. Going stroke for stroke with Northridge’s Katie Hughes, Miller pulled away in the final two laps for a 5:06.28, the second time in a week the two had a showdown in the event, and the second time Miller won straight up.

“It’s unreal to know that I’m part of a team that was able to do what we did today,” Paige Miller said. “I’m really excited to know that I helped bring my team a conference championship for the first time in 16 years. Hopefully we can bring a sectional back to Wawasee in a couple weeks.”

Kayla Hershberger added another title to Wawasee’s list with an exciting win in the backstroke. Hershberger and Goshen’s Emma Hussey were even for the entire race except for the final 20 yards, where Hershberger pulled slightly ahead after the turn and made it stand up at the touch at 1:02.12.

Wawasee’s 400 relay team of Hershberger, Robinson, Paige Miller and Kendra Miller won handily to close out the monster day with a 3:38.26, breaking the meet record of 3:38.49 set by Northridge’s relay team in 2010.

After head coach Julie Robinson, who was voted NLC Coach of the Year, had time to dry off from the traditional champion’s leap into the pool, the release of relief was well deserved.

“I slept well last night,” smiled coach Robinson. “After the girls came out Thursday, they all did what they needed to do. I came into the meet feeling confident. Just like we practiced all season, they went into it one event at a time. It was just a relaxing, fun meet.”

Watch a clip of the official announcement of Wawasee’s team title.

While Wawasee had its reasons to brag, Warsaw also had quite a day given what it had to work with. Stepping into the forefront as a freshman, Brenna Morgan didn’t let the bright lights and excitement get in the way of her goals. After lowering the school record in the 50 freestyle at the prelims Thursday night, Morgan just missed the mark Saturday but still won the event going away at 24.44. Not to be outdone, Morgan came back about an hour later and held off the challenge of Goshen freshman speedster Meagan Ronci for a win at 53.20.

“It was just relief for me,” Morgan noted of her 50 freestyle win. “I was pretty nervous before the race and it was just really nice to know that I did well and I could get the job done. (In the 100) I just tried to picture the race and how I want it to go. I knew (Ronci) was really pushing, but I just wanted it.”

Warsaw nearly added a third title in the breaststroke. In an event that did not feature a freshman contender, the breaststroke had junior Schrock of Concord and senior Ashley VanWormer of Warsaw racing each other to the finish. VanWormer had a small lead on Schrock with about three strokes to go, but Schrock managed to touch the wall at 1:07.78, .21 ahead of VanWormer’s reach.

Warsaw’s opening medley relay team also had a surprising start, taking fourth and beating Northridge, while Cynthia Juarez erased 16 seconds off her prelim time in the 500 freestyle to finish fourth at 5:35.63.

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“I think we had all but one career-best time, and Cynthia went under 5:40 for the first time this season,” stated Warsaw head coach Nate Long. “Just killer swims all the way around. Everybody all the way down. The whole team just stepped up tremendously today. It was awesome.”

Goshen started the meet with a big win in the medley relay after qualifying fifth, swimming to a 1:55.06 time. Concord freshman diver Lauren Boone blew away the field with an 11-dive set of 413.60, beating Memorial’s Ally Roskos by 27 points.

Northern Lakes Conference Girls Swimming Championships – Concord High School
1. Wawasee 447
2. Goshen 350
3. Northridge 347
4. Concord 279
5. Elkhart Memorial 257
6. Warsaw 225
7. NorthWood 115
8. Plymouth 80

Medley Relay -1. Goshen (Claire Palczynski, Lynnsey James, Natalie Evans, Olivia Wenger) 1:55.06; 2. Wawasee 1:56.75; 4. Warsaw 1:57.70

200 Freestyle – 1. Bre Robinson, Wawasee 1:50.30 (Meet Record, Pool Record); 6. Anna Park, Wawasee 2:08.02; 7. Madison McBride, Wawasee 2:09.02; 9. Cynthia Juarez, Warsaw 2:04.42; 14. Jessica Haines, Warsaw 2:14.23; 16. Charlene Orr, Warsaw 2:19.00

Individual Medley – 1. Paige Miller, Wawasee 2:08.58; 4. Shelby Adams, Wawasee 2:18.19; 9. Ashley VanWormer, Warsaw 2:24.56; 10. Erin Sandberg, Warsaw 2:25.62; 12. Caitlin Clevenger, Wawasee 2:28.02

50 Freestyle – 1. Brenna Morgan, Warsaw 24.44; 2. Kendra Miller, Wawasee 25.77; 6. Mikala Mawhorter, Wawasee 26.12; 10. Cassidy Manning, Wawasee 27.17

Diving – 1. Lauren Boone, Concord 413.60; 10. Mercedes Sanchez, Warsaw 246.05; 12. Hannah Rhoades, Wawasee 224.35

Butterfly – 1. Bre Robinson, Wawasee 56.10; 3. Mikala Mawhorter, Wawasee 1:03.36; 7. Erin Sandberg, Warsaw 1:06.49; 8. Caitlin Clevenger, Wawasee 1:08.22; 16. Karly Poyner, Warsaw 1:18.53

100 Freestyle – 1. Brenna Morgan, Warsaw 53.20; 3. Kayla Hershberger, Wawasee 54.74; 5. Kendra Miller, Wawasee 56.35; 9. Cassidy Manning, Wawasee 58.78

500 Freestyle – 1. Paige Miller, Wawasee 5:06.28; 4. Cynthia Juarez, Warsaw 5:35.63; 6. Anna Park, Wawasee 5:40.56; 12. Hannah Winters, Wawasee 5:57.82; 13. Emily Thompson, Warsaw 6:06.91; Charlene Orr, Warsaw 6:07.50

200 Freestyle Relay – 1. Wawasee (Kendra Miller, Kayla Hershberger, Paige Miller, Bre Robinson) 1:41.10; 5. Warsaw 1:44.86

Backstroke – 1. Kayla Hershberger, Wawasee 1:02.12; 5. Madison McBride, Wawasee 1:05.78; 10. Sam Bontrager, Wawasee 1:11.86; 11. Jessica Haines, Warsaw 1:11.94; 12. Megan Bixler, Warsaw 1:13.50

Breaststroke – 1. Ashley Schrock, Concord 1:07.78; 2. Ashley VanWormer, Warsaw 1:07.99; 4. Shelby Adams, Wawasee 1:12.87; 5. Bridgette Yoder, Wawasee 1:13.33; 7. Hannah Winters, Wawasee 1:16.14; 15. Allison Miller, Warsaw 1:22.43

400 Freestyle Relay – 1. Wawasee (Kendra Miller, Kayla Hershberger, Paige Miller, Bre Robinson) 3:38.26; 6. Warsaw 4:09.25