Robinson Shines, Warriors Roll
NAPPANEE – NorthWood didn’t provide Wawasee with much of a challenge in terms of competition Tuesday night in girls Northern Lakes Conference swimming. The challenge came from within, as Wawasee is looking to sharpen up for what could be a wild final week of the regular season.
The Lady Warriors took care of business against the host Lady Panthers, 142-32, sweeping 10 of the 11 swim events.
Out front of the charge for Wawasee was Bre Robinson, who continues to build her résumé for another state finals push. The junior speedster added her name to the NorthWood swim records board in two places Tuesday. The first was a smashing of NorthWood swim legend Julia Warnken’s 1998 pool record of 58.04 in the butterfly with a 57.04. Not to be outdone, sister Brittany Robinson’s name will come off the board after little sister swam a 58.52 in the backstroke, erasing the 59.01 set during Brittany’s senior season.
Bre also holds the NorthWood pool record in the 100 free (52.80), set the same day Brittany set the old backstroke mark in 2011.
“I wanted to try to get the records, but it wasn’t so much about the records more of just needing to be where I need to be at this point in the season,” Robinson said. “I still have no idea what events I am going to finish up with at the end of the season. It just depends on seeing what feels right next month.”
Robinson’s accomplishments were in line with how smashing Wawasee looked as a whole. The only individual event NorthWood managed to take a second or third-place time was in the individual medley, which Wawasee’s Shelby Adams won at 2:22.63 while NorthWood’s Jamie McBride beat Wawasee’s Caitlin Clevenger to the wall at 2:32.52 for the lone runner-up position.
Adams also won the breaststroke (1:14.60) and swam on both the medley (1:58.84) and 200 free relays (1:50.35). Paige Miller won the 200 (2:02.08) and the 500 (5:19.27) and was part of the medley and 400 free relays (3:56.49). Mikala Mawhorter won the 50 at 27.57, barely beating Kendra Miller to the wall and Kayla Hershberger was the clear cut winner in the 100 at 58.27. Hershberger had a leg in the medley and 400 relays as did Robinson while Mawhorter, Kendra Miller and Anna Park were on the 200 free relay team.
“It’s nice to see our kids step up and swim when they aren’t necessarily being challenged by the other team,” said Wawasee assistant coach Cheryl Miller, filling in for head coach Julie Robinson who had back surgery earlier in the day. “I thought we had a lot of good races all the way across the board.”
NorthWood had a 50-50 chance to get a win in diving, and Tori Schwartz took the opportunity and grabbed it, scoring a 126.95 in her six dives. Wawasee’s Hannah Rhoades was the other diver, totaling 87.70.
For the Lady Warriors, now 6-0 on the season and 4-0 in the NLC, eyes slowly move to the future. A home matchup Thursday with a light Plymouth squad should be navigable, but all eyes in the conference will be peeled on Jan. 7 when Wawasee hosts Northridge. Wawasee then hosts Goshen four days later to wrap up the NLC round robin.
To make matters even more interesting, Northridge beat Goshen 95-91 Tuesday night, needing to win its 400 free relay to escape Goshen, handing the Lady Skins its only NLC loss to date. Northridge is currently 4-0 in the NLC.
“We can’t dwell on looking ahead right now, looking at Northridge and Goshen after the break,” Miller said. “We have to worry about right now, and tonight it was NorthWood. Thursday it will be Plymouth and getting in work there. The girls are training hard and doing what they need to do to be ready for that push in January.”