SYRACUSE – With the Northern Lakes Conference girls swim championships just a week away, several scores still needed settling in the conference round robin. The first came Saturday morning as Wawasee hosted Goshen in a huge girls swim showdown. And the hosts stunned Goshen, 113-73, in a huge statement heading into one of the biggest weeks of Wawasee’s recent program history.

Wawasee’s Shelby Adams takes a commanding lead over Goshen’s Emma Hussey in the individual medley Saturday morning, eventually swimming a lifetime-best 2:20.39 as part of Wawasee’s huge team win. (Photos by Mike Deak)

“We’ve talked a lot about this meet, obviously Goshen having a great team, we knew this would be tough,” began Wawasee head coach Julie Robinson. “This really came down to Christmas training and who wanted it. There are really three phenomenal teams in the conference with us, Goshen and Northridge. I’m just a little surprised at how lopsided today was.”

The upstart Lady Redskins entered Saturday’s competition 10-1 overall with its lone loss by four points to perennial power Northridge. In what many thought would be a photo finish turned into a landslide as Wawasee pulled away with some improbable showings.

The meet had three moments that defined the outcome. The 50 free had Wawasee’s Paige Miller win in her first swim in the event this year at 25.24 while Goshen’s stars Olivia Wenger and Natalie Evans took second and third. Goshen’s third swimmer, the usually speedly Claire Palczynski, fell off pace and finished sixth while Wawasee’s Mikala Mawhorter and Cassidy Manning chased Evans.

The backstroke turned the tide in Wawasee’s favor for good. Kayla Hershberger rose up for a 1:05.29 win, splitting between the chase of Goshen’s Palczynski and Emma Hussey. Lost in the muddle was Wawasee’s Madison McBride, who quietly picked up steam in the final 50 yards, and after a solid turn at the bulkhead, beat Palczynski to the wall at 1:06.82 for a huge four points.

Wawasee’s Madison McBride comes home for a key runner-up finish in the backstroke against Goshen.

The Lady Warriors also opened the day with a 10-6 lead as a trio of Wawasee divers set the tone. Tori Sylvester returned after a bout with injuries before the holiday break to post a 196.00 to beat Goshen’s Emily Yoder by 7.5 points head-to-head. Hannah Rhoades (134.55) bested Lynnsey James by 12.55 points while Taylor Freel was fifth at 119.60.

Wawasee’s breaststrokers also went one-two-four with Shelby Adams leading the pack at 1:14.15.

“Madi McBride was amazing,” beamed Robinson of the backstroke swim. “That was probably one of the most important moments of the meet for us. I was having one of those goose bumps moments with her, she works so hard in practice, every single day. It is so cool to see a kid like that come out and shine.”

In all, Wawasee overwhelmed Goshen with 11 of 12 event wins, letting its stars shine and its role players do its work.

Miller also won the 500 at 5:11.17 and Adams the individual medley at 2:20.39. Hershberger claimed top notch in the 100 free (57.08) and Bre Robinson won the 200 free 1:53.35 and butterfly at 57.60. The 200 free win for Robinson went head-to-head against Goshen’s ace, Meagan Ronci, where Robinson pulled away after 100 yards to garner a four-second win.

Bre Robinson of Wawasee motors home for a win in the butterfly.

The Wawasee 200 relay team of Kendra Miller, Paige Miller, Adams and Robinson won going away at 1:42.45 while the 400 relay team of Miller, Miller, Hershberger and Robinson had no trouble in its 3:46.18 triumph.

Goshen’s lone win came in the opening medley relay, where Palczynski, James, Evans and Wenger sped out to a 1:58.75 victory, offering hope for the Lady Redskins as the day began to unfold.

Goshen head coach Steve Guipe was stunned at the way Wawasee buried his upstart club.

“Wawasee is really strong and are really deep, they swam very well today,” Guipe said. “I put out there my deepest and fastest lineup, pretty much the same one we swam against Northridge. I thought our best chance to win this meet was with that lineup. They (Wawasee) have to be the favorite heading into the finals.”

Wawasee (8-0, 6-0 NLC) now hosts Northridge for a winner-take-all conference showdown Monday evening at the Wawasee Natatorium. Both clubs are 6-0 and with Goshen at 5-2, the winner will have the regular season title in hand heading into the NLC prelims Thursday at Concord. The level of buzz around the Wawasee deck for Monday is already high.

“Northridge has always been the big team,” Robinson said. Wawasee is just 7-17 overall against Northridge all-time and has not won a dual against the Lady Raiders since 1996, before several of this year’s team members were born. “We just have to stay confident, build it one event, one race at a time. It was all strategic today and they all did their jobs. We’ll need that again Monday if we want to beat Northridge.”